Everyday Global: What is the State of the Union Address delivered by the US President?

Joe Biden's State of the Union address, his first, was the 98th in-person Address/Annual Message in US history.

President Joe Biden shakes hands with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, after delivering his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Washington. (AP)

United States President Biden delivered his first State of the Union (SOTU) address to a Joint Sitting of Congress on Tuesday (March 1). He spoke for an hour, on both his international and domestic agendas, condemning President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and assuring the American people that his administration was working for their economic and social wellbeing in the post-pandemic world.

The Address was delivered at what is a politically insecure time for the President, with 70 per cent of Americans in an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey saying the US was headed in the wrong direction. Biden’s own approval rating has not crossed 44 per cent in recent days, and a large number of political analysts believe the Democratic Party will lose control of both chambers by comprehensive margins in the midterm elections scheduled for November.

State of the Union: How did the tradition originate?

According to a historical note on the website of the House of Representatives, the formal basis of the State of the Union Address lies in the US Constitution.

According to Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution, the President “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient”.

President George Washington delivered the first of these messages in 1790. From then up to 1946, the address was formally known as the Annual Message. Thereafter, until 1946, it was informally called the “state of the Union” message/address. From President Harry S Truman’s message to Congress on January 6, 1947, it has been officially known as the State of the Union Address.

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Where is it delivered?

Modern SOTU addresses are delivered in the chamber of the House of Representatives. A House concurrent resolution decides on the day and time for the Joint Session of Congress to listen to the President. Until 1934, the Annual Message was delivered in December; since then, the Annual Message/SOTU has been delivered in January or February.

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Biden’s SOTU address, his first, was the 98th in-person Address/Annual Message in US history. Franklin D Roosevelt’s 1945 address was read to a Joint Session of Congress — since the President did not deliver it himself, it is not counted as an in-person address.

What does the address contain?

Annual Messages by earlier Presidents included agency budget requests and general reports on the health of the US economy. Subsequently, as Congress required more in-depth reports on these aspects, separate from the Annual Message, the Budget Message was instituted by a 1921 law, and the Economic Report by an Act of 1946.

The practice of speaking to Congress in person was revived by Woodrow Wilson in 1913, after a gap of 113 years. Ever since, SOTU has served as a platform for the President to rally support for his agenda.

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How has the address changed over time?

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Calvin Coolidge’s 1923 SOTU address was the first to be broadcast on radio, Truman’s 1947 address was the first one to be televised, and George W Bush’s 2002 address was the first that was webcast live. All these developments have allowed Presidents to speak directly to more and more Americans every year.

The longest written address has been by Jimmy Carter (33,667 words) in 1981; the longest spoken address by Bill Clinton (9,190 words) in 1995. The first address, by George Washington in 1790, was the shortest at only 1,089 words.

In the 19th century, the average address was about 10,000 words long; from the late 20th century, it has been about 5,000 words.

FDR gave 12 Messages/Addresses, the most in US history, 10 of which were in person. Zachary Taylor delivered only one address, and William Henry Harrison and James A Garfield, none.

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