Reuters North American News Service, January 28th, 2008
(Reuters) - When President Bush gives
his State of the Union speech Monday, he will continue a
constitutionally mandated tradition begun over 200 years ago by
George Washington.
Following are some key facts about presidential State of
the Union messages:
ORIGINS:
* State of the Union messages to Congress by the president
are required by Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution
which says, "He 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."
* The State of the Union has become an annual speech given
before a joint session of Congress in the House of
Representatives chamber at the U.S. Capitol.
* George Washington gave the first State of the Union
speech on Jan. 8, 1790 in New York City, then the provisional
U.S. capital.
* Starting with Thomas Jefferson's first State of the Union
in 1801 until William Howard Taft's last message in 1912, the
State of the Union was a written report sent to Congress.
Woodrow Wilson resumed the tradition of giving the State of the
Union message in a speech to Congress.
* The phrase "State of the Union" did not become widely
used until after 1935, when Franklin Roosevelt started using
the term.
* SOME QUOTES:
- "We look forward to a world founded upon four essential
human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression
-- everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every
person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the
world. The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into
world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to
every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants --
everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear." --
Franklin Roosevelt, Jan. 6, 1941.
- "As you know, I have provided to the special prosecutor
voluntarily a great deal of material. I believe that I have
provided all the material that he needs to conclude his
investigations ... I believe the time has come to bring that
investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an
end. One year of Watergate is enough." -- Richard Nixon, Jan.
30, 1974.
- "Yes, we will have our differences. But let us always
remember -- what unites us far outweighs whatever divides us.
Those who sent us here to serve them -- the millions of
Americans watching and listening tonight -- expect this of us.
Let's prove to them and to ourselves that democracy works even
in an election year." -- Ronald Reagan, Jan. 25, 1988.
- "Some time in the next 10 to 20 years, the major security
threat this country will face will come from the enemies of the
nation state: the narco-traffickers and the terrorists and the
organized criminals, who will be organized together, working
together, with increasing access to ever-more sophisticated
chemical and biological weapons." -- Bill Clinton, Jan. 27,
2000.
- "States like these, (Iran, Iraq and North Korea) and their
terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten
the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction,
these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide
these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their
hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the
United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference
would be catastrophic." -- George W. Bush, Jan 29, 2002
Sources: Reuters/The American Presidency Project/The White
House
(Writing by David Cutler & Paul Grant, London & Washington
Editorial Reference Units; Editing by Chris Wilson)
