The State of the Union address’s history, explained

The State of the Union address feels like a very old American ritual, and it is. But many of the features we have today were added by innovative presidents who decided to shake things up – sometimes for very strange reasons.

There was Thomas Jefferson, who delivered speeches only in writing – probably because he was a terrible public speaker. There was Woodrow Wilson, who applied the theories of political science to the rhetoric of the president by reviving his speech in person. And there was Ronald Reagan, who took advantage of television to show off a special guest sitting in the crowd.

So, as President Joe Biden prepares for his familiar routine — standing in front of the vice president and the speaker of the House to deliver a state of the nation address — here’s a rundown of the speeches that have changed over time.

1) Thomas Jefferson started a 112-year tradition of delivering messages only in writing — and stage fright may have been a factor.

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For the first 12 years in the United States, Presidents George Washington and John Adams delivered their presidential messages just like today’s presidents do – they traveled to Congress and gave oral speeches to them. (Through most of US history, what we now know as the State of the Union address was called the president’s annual message.)

But when Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, he decided to change – and send only written messages instead of giving speeches. In general, he said, such a change would reduce the time of the lawmakers, and prevent them from rushing to provide their own responses. The spectacle of the president addressing Congress also seemed to some Republicans “like a king’s speech from the throne at the opening of Parliament,” wrote historian Daniel Walker Howe.

However, a 1995 article by Gerhard Casper, president of Stanford University, argued that Jefferson may have had a more personal reason for making the change – shame. Casper wrote:

“By rejecting the drama of his presidential speeches, Jefferson deliberately avoided the personal embarrassment of suffering on stage. unable to hear the world speak.'”

Casper concludes that Jefferson’s decision may have been based on a genuine desire for reform “which was aligned with a desire for self-interest to avoid public speaking.”

2) When Woodrow Wilson revived his speech to Congress in 1913, Washington, DC, was shocked.

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For over a century, every president would follow the example of Jefferson, and send only a written annual message to Congress. But a young political scientist named Woodrow Wilson wasn’t convinced. Wilson had long been interested in how presidential rhetoric could be used more effectively, and in 1889, Wilson wrote that Jefferson never moved, because the president’s oral message could allow “a more general and responsible exchange of opinion between the Executive. and Congress.”

When Wilson became president in 1913, he had an opportunity to implement these ideas. As the special session of Congress was about to begin in April, Wilson decided that he would speak in person to promote his agenda. “The announcement stunned Washington officials,” wrote Robert Kraig in a book about Wilson. Kraig writes that contemporary press accounts described Congress as “surprised,” and that even members of Wilson’s Cabinet were skeptical of the wisdom of the move.

But the speech — which wasn’t technically an “annual message” — went well, and the press coverage was positive. So when the traditional time for Wilson’s first message came in December, he also gave a speech in person. He would send five more annual messages, before returning to written messages for the last two due to poor health. Presidents Coolidge and Hoover would return to their usual written messages, but FDR would make private speeches – and national broadcasts – the norm.

3) “State of the State Address” is a fairly recent renaming of presidential messages

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Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution says that the president will “from time to time give to Congress Information of the State of the Union, and give advice for the Consideration of measures as he will judge necessary and expedient.” But for nearly half a century, the catchy term “State of the Union” was not used as a title, with the more anodyne “annual message” being preferred instead.

It was FDR who began coining the term “united state” in popularity, especially from January 1942, shortly after the US entered World War II. According to the House clerk’s office, FDR’s speech was then “unofficially called the State of the Union message/address”. A few years later, President Truman officially named it the “State of the Union Address,” and that name has stuck ever since.

4) Ronald Reagan started the practice of inviting special guests

In January 1982, a plane crashed into the Washington, DC 14th Street Bridge and plunged into the Potomac River, killing 78 people. In the chaos, Congressional Budget Office employee Lenny Skutnik jumped into the river and helped save the passengers. So the Reagan Administration invited Skutnik to his State of the Union address two weeks later — where the president personally praised him for his heroism. Members of Congress gave a standing ovation, while TV cameras panned to Skutnik (one caption read: “Airplane Crash Hero”).

Reagan and future presidents would expand this practice not only to heroes, but to ordinary Americans whose stories (and faces) could help illustrate one of the points of the speech. DC wags will call these guests “Skutniks.” In the words of reporter Jeff Greenfield, “A skutnik is a human prop, used by a speaker to make a political point.”

5) The State of the Union Address can be important – especially if foreign policy is the focus

Political pundits often exaggerate the impact of presidential speeches. The president does not have the power to change the mind of congress and gain support for controversial bills with rhetoric. Even the public won’t move much – according to Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones, State of the Union speeches “rarely affect the president’s public position in a meaningful way, despite the amount of attention it receives.”

But some have actually stood the test of time — especially those that signal a major shift in foreign policy, where presidents have more room to act on their own.

Back in December 1823, President James Monroe used his seventh annual message to announce that the American continent “will not be considered the subject of future colonization by any European power.” This, of course, became known as the Monroe Doctrine, and it was the cornerstone of American foreign policy for centuries. (Secretary of State John Kerry recently denied it in November 2013.)

In January 1941, FDR made a similar statement by listing the “Four Freedoms” that the US would defend around the world – freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. America’s commitment to these principles has, of course, been inconsistent. But the Allies adopted them as a war goal, and after the war, Eleanor Roosevelt worked to ensure the new United Nations would support their cause for freedom.

And the famous State of the Union of the day was George W. Bush’s January 2002 address — the first he delivered after 9/11. In it, he named the “axis of evil” made up of North Korea, Iran, and Iraq – the one he had been waiting for the longest. He said the countries were pursuing weapons of mass destruction and allied with terrorists, and vowed: “America will do what is necessary to ensure the security of our Nation.” Biographer Bush Peter Baker called it “probably the most memorable line of his presidency,” and it is clear that the seeds of the Iraq War were planted in the speech.

Update, February 6, 2023: This article was originally published in 2015. It has been updated for a more recent State of the Union address.