It is also your inheritance and it belongs equally to all the people who we all serve. It must be interpreted by each generation for the own needs as i have tried in part to do tonight. It shall lead us as we enter the third century of the search for a more perfect union, this then is the state of the union. Free and restless growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be while god is willing and we are Strong Enough to keep the faith. [ applause ] members of the congress, i have the great pleasure the high privilege and the great honor of presenting to you, the president of the United States. [ applause ] im done ritchie a senate historian. The state of the Union Message is mandated edd by the constitution in the words from time to time, the president of the United States should give a message to congress on the state of the union and recommendations of programs that he thinks should be followed. George washington began that practice of giving a state of the Union Message to congress when First Congress met but washington went in person to congress, went to the Senate Chamber and delivered a speech that had a series of recommendations. A relatively short speech but in those days before there were Standing Committees of congress they actually used to cut the message up into paragraphs and create ad hawk committees to address each one of the committees that the president suggested. John adams, his Vice President who became president followed that practice. They created that idea that from time to time was an annual message. For years it was known as the annual message. It didnt become known as the state of the union really until the 1940s. In fact in 1948 there was a hollywood movie called the state of the union. That sort of cemented the idea that the message was the state of the Union Message. President washington went in person to congress. Thomas jefferson didnt enjoy public speaking. He gave only two public speeches while he was president. His first inaugural address and his second. Other than that, jefferson liked to be known as a writer not as a speaker. Jefferson also thought the idea of the president going to Congress Personally to deliver a list of things that he wanted to see done was too much like the british king of the monarch going to parliament. He thought this was not appropriate for a republic. So jefferson sent his message to congress. Each year after that, president s would send their messages which would then be read by the clerks of the senate and the house rather than by the president. Because the most members of congress could read it in the congressional record or in the newspapers. They didnt necessarily have to go and listen to a clerk reading the message. That became the tradition. Again, the constitution is not that specific about what it is. Just time to time, this message needs to be given on the state of the union. In 1913, we had a new president who had been trained as a political scientist. In fact he had a ph. D. In history and political science. That woosdrow wilson. One of the things he felt was the american president needed to be more like the british prime minister. Couldnt be separate from the legislative branch had to be the chief legislature as well as the chief executive. Wilson decided he would go in person. The first one he did was in april of 1913 about the tariff. It was not a state of the union per say. Just absolutely shocked congress. The idea that the president was going to come speak to them. They finally decided well, they would do it in the House Chamber and invite the senators over. There was a lot of grumbling. If congress had been left on its own it probably would not have wanted the president to come up but the president said he wanted to and ahis party said okay. So Woodrow Wilson began the modern tradition of president s each year going to give their state of the Union Message. He gave his first message in december of 1913. He continued to do it in person until he was in paris negotiating the end of the First World War and he actually telegraphed his state of the Union Message back to congress in 1919. Since then, president s have followed both patterns. The only president of the United States who has not given a state of the Union Message in person since then was herberity hoover who also was not a great public speaker and just sent his message out. Almost every other president almost every year has felt that this is too good an opportunity to miss not to be able to go in person and the drama of the session to give a state of the Union Message. The president of the United States. [ applause ] this is the point where everybody in congress is listening. The cabinet is there. The Supreme Court is there. Diplomats are there. The galleries are packed with people. It is sort of a major moment of coming together. The only other occasion like that is the inauguration. I propose that we began a massive attack on crippling and killing diseases. [ applause ] i should propose to this congress a 10 billion nation wide Clean Waters Program to put modern municipal waste treatment b plants in every place in america where they are needed to make our waters clean again and do it now. It does influence our latest agenda for the year. Whether or not congress chooses to follow the president s suggestions or ignores them or rewrites them, at least the president has given them an outline of what he wants to see. Sometimes a president has never got a chance to give their inaugural address. William Henry Harrison and garfield died before their first opportunity. So in the 19th century, state of the Union Messages were almost all given in december. When the constitution was changed, it moved the beginning of the congress up to january and now they are usually in january and february. There have been some miscues in some of the state of the Union Messages. President cleveland sent a very controversial proposal dealing with a tariff. The days before we had an income tax, the chief saw revenue in the country was the tariff. It was one of the things that divided parties and created great passions and unfortunately for cleveland, his party was not united on this issue. In fact, they lost the next election probably because of that division. A lot of people blamed his state of the Union Message. In most cases most state of the Union Messages are really long laundry lists of the things that the president wants to see done. They are not particularly controversial speeches nor are they particularly inspiring speeches. They are really wish lists that president s put forward. When anything is done in congress, of course, the galleries are open. As long as there are galleries, and there have been galleries in the senate since 1795 and in the house since 1789. The public can come in but of course there arent that many seats in the galleries and theres great demand. Each member of Congress Gets a single ticket for a spouse or a member of their staff or favorite constituent or somebody to sit in that gallery. The press gallery is absolutely packed. The diplomatic gallery is packed. Usually the first lady is there with guests of the president. Theres not a lot of space for the public on those occasions. But overtime the public has gotten to see this or hear this or read this through the media because newspapers covered it in general and in the 19th century you would have read the entire speech in most newspapers. In the 20th century beginning in 1923, coolidges state of the Union Message was broadcast on the radio. Then in 1936 Franklin Rose avelta rose a roseavelt, in the 1940s it was whack back during the day but television came along. In 1947 trumans message was covered by television. In 1965 Lyndon Johnson said lets move the tv show back into the evening so that more people get to see the state of the union. Now its an evening performance and now its live on tv. The Major Networks are all covering it so it it gets considerable audience that way. Rose and since the late 90s it has been streaming on the internet around the world. In recent years the two parties have sort of become cheer leading squads for their president s but there are moments when clearly something that the president says inspires something more than just a partisan reaction. Theres a bipartisan reaction. You can tell the mood of the congress is to some degree what the responses are. And all the world knows that no successful system builds a wall to keep its people in and freedom out. [ applause ] of course, immediately after the speech members of congress will rush out into the hall where there will be dozens of cameras set up for television stations around the country that they will be getting a personal reactions of the members. The immediate reactions. Nowadays in the House Chamber you can also twitter and tweet. Some of those people will be responding instantly. Mr. Speaker, mr. President , distinguished members of the house and senate. When we first met here seven years ago, many of us for the first time, it was with the hope of beginning something new for america. We meet her tonight in this Historic Chamber to continue that work. If anyone expects just a proud recitation of the proud accomplishments of my administration, i say lets leave that to history. Were not finished yet. [ applause ] one thing that you cannot do that is very different than say most parliaments where heckling is considered fair sport, in the u. S. Congress youre to be respectful of the president when he speaks. A few years ago one member of the house did interrupt the president and shouted out and he was sentured by the house representatives for doing that. Thats considered to be unbecoming conduct. The reforms the reforms im proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. You lie its not true. The office of the constitution believed in transparency. They did require even though they wrote the constitution in secret they did require certain things to be open. Not everything. For instance they dont actually require congress to meet in open session. Just from time to time to publish a journal of their proceedings. The same thing is they dont ask the president to give an annual message but they ask him from time to time to deliver a message on the state of the union. I think they would be pleased to see that the president comes pretty much every year to do this. I think they would be astonished to realize that the congressional record is published everyday after the proceedings and not only the state of the Union Message be in there but the words of every member of the house and senate on the floor on that particular day. That was something that they had certainly intended that this was a republic. It was a democrat republic rentive of therent ive representative of the people. The people had a right to know what was going on. In that sense, even though they were not all that specific they certainly set some goals that the government has met. I can report to you that the state of this old but youthful union is good. [ applause ] with live coverage of the u. S. House on cspan and the senate on csapan 2. We show you the most relevant congressional hearings and Public Affair events and on the weekends, home to cspantv including six unique series. The civil wars 150th anniversary. American