“From Time to Time”: Presidents and Communicating with the Public

Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution states 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.” Until 1946, this Constitutionally-required informing of Congress was known as the "annual message." It was not until 1942 that the phrase "state of the union" was informally used amongst members of Congress and the press. In 1947, the annual presidential address delivered to a joint session of Congress and other members of the federal government became known as the State of the Union Address. 

In the video below, Senate Historian Emeritus Don Ritchie discusses the Constitutional requirements surrounding the annual address and provides analysis of video excerpts to address how presidents have used the speech to communicate with Congress and the public.

Presidents use the State of the Union Address (SOTU) to highlight their successes since the last speech, while also laying out the legislative and policy agenda they would like Congress to take up during the upcoming year. The speech typically addresses domestic and international policy issues they want to focus on and it is common for the phrase "the state of our union is strong" to be invoked. In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge became the first president whose SOTU Address was broadcast over the radio. Since President Harry Truman delivered the first televised SOTU Address in 1947—President Johnson delivered the first evening SOTU address in 1965—a public viewing audience has been able to see how members of the government and Congress respond to the speech. The optics of the speech quickly became important and offer many points for analysis and discussion: who sits where and why?; who introduces the president upon entering the chamber?; who are the guests in the balcony and why are they there?; why are only some people applauding at certain times during the speech?

C-SPAN offers a collection of full-length SOTU speeches and the responses that are delivered by members of the opposing political party after the speech concludes. A comprehensive collection of resources for teaching about the State of the Union Address is available at the Office of the Historian of the House of Representatives.

NCSS.D1.1.6-8. Explain how a question represents key ideas in the field.

NCSS.D2.Civ.3.6-8. Examine the origins, purposes, and impact of constitutions, laws, treaties, and international agreements.

NCSS.D2.Civ.4.6-8. Explain the powers and limits of the three branches of government, public officials, and bureaucracies at different levels in the United States and in other countries.

NCSS.D2.Civ.5.6-8. Explain the origins, functions, and structure of government with reference to the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, and selected other systems of government.

NCSS.D4.1.6-8. Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging the strengths and limitations of the arguments.

The activity begins with analysis of President Woodrow Wilson's 1913 "annual message" to Congress (a.k.a. State of the Union Address) as an example for analyzing presidential addresses. EDSITEment provides a series of lessons on President Wilson to help with context and background information for teachers and students. 

EDSITEment also provides lesson materials on the presidency that can provide background information for teaching about the State of the Union Address and the responsibilities of the Chief Executive of the United States. 

Activity 1. Analyzing a SOTU Address

President Woodrow Wilson's 1913 "annual message" is historically significant because it was the first time a president delivered the speech in person before a joint session of Congress. This, however, was not the only historically significant communications first for President Wilson: On March 15, 1913, he became the first president to hold a press conference in the White House. 

Discuss the following questions before you analyze the excerpt from President Wilson's 1913 address to Congress:

1. What about President Wilson's election is important to the background and content of this speech?
2. What else about President Wilson and the requirement that such a message be created should be considered when reading this speech?

Read the excerpt below from President Woodrow Wilson's 1913 State of the Union Address:

“We have come now to the sober second thought. The scales of heedlessness have fallen from our eyes. We have made up our minds to square every process of our national life again with the standards we so proudly set up at the beginning and have always carried at our hearts. Our work is a work of restoration. 

We have itemized with some degree of particularity the things that ought to be altered and here are some of the chief items: A tariff which cuts us off from our proper part in the commerce of the world, violates the just principles of taxation, and makes the Government a facile instrument in the hand of private interests; a banking and currency system based upon the necessity of the Government to sell its bonds fifty years ago and perfectly adapted to concentrating cash and restricting credits; an industrial system which, take it on all its sides, financial as well as administrative, holds capital in leading strings, restricts the liberties and limits the opportunities of labor, and exploits without renewing or conserving the natural resources of the country; a body of agricultural activities never yet given the efficiency of great business undertakings or served as it should be through the instrumentality of
science taken directly to the farm, or afforded the facilities of credit best suited to its practical needs; watercourses undeveloped, waste places unreclaimed, forests untended, fast disappearing without plan or prospect of renewal, unregarded waste heaps at every mine. We have studied as perhaps no other nation has the most effective means of production, but we have not studied cost or economy as we should either as organizers of industry, as statesmen, or as individuals. ”

Based on the above excerpt, complete the following:

1. Design inquiry questions to guide research on one or more of the policy topics President Wilson prioritizes in the speech.
2. What connections can you make between the background information you discussed prior to analyzing the speech excerpt and the information included within the excerpt?
3. How do the priorities identified by President Wilson compare to a previous president and/or era you have studied?

Activity 2. Researching after a SOTU Address

Whether you continue to work with President Wilson's 1913 SOTU Address or that of another president, evaluating the short and long-term successes and failures of a presidency requires historical investigation that considers multiple perspectives on a variety of issues. The next activity is framed by the following guiding question: To what extent did the president(s) chosen fulfill the goals they identified in their respective State of the Union addresses?

Select a president from before or after President Wilson and a public policy issue (i.e. manufacturing, national defense, immigration, civil rights, health care, education, etc.) to research and compare before establishing an evaluation of how the respective presidents you have chosen addressed the given issue. You will need to create a set of inquiry questions to start your research around the guiding question for this task: To what extent did the president(s) chosen fulfill the goals they identified in their respective State of the Union addresses?

Your research and evaluation should draw upon a variety of sources and perspectives. When you have reached a point where you can provide an informed evaluation in response to the guiding question, create a message that draws upon your research, considers the medium you will use to deliver your message (i.e. newspaper, radio, television, social media, etc.), the setting from which the message will be recorded or delivered, and the audience you are trying to reach. 

Activity 3. Media and the Presidency

From telegrams to Twitter, communication technology has changed how presidents communicate with the public and how the public communicates with presidents. Discuss the following questions with a partner or larger group of classmates:

1. What are your preferred means for accessing news and information?
2. To what extent have changes in technology affected how elected officials communicate and interact with the public and how the public communicates back?

Beyond the Constitutionally required address to Congress, presidents deliver speeches to the public, interest groups, foreign dignitaries, government employees, and many more audiences on a range of issues. What they say is important, but because of audio and visual media, how and where they deliver it are important as well. For example, if you were advising a president on where to deliver a speech on the environment, where would you suggest they make the speech? What about civil rights or education? 

Analyze photographs of U.S. presidents meeting with citizens, delivering speeches, and visiting landmarks and sites around the U.S. to determine the extent to which the setting and the visual component of the address are significant to the content of the message. A few examples you can consider analyzing:

The University of Virginia's Miller Center (a comprehensive collection of presidential speeches)

Speeches of President Calvin Coolidge

Speeches of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Speeches of President Harry S Truman

Speeches of President Dwight D. Eisenhower 

Speeches of President John F. Kennedy

Speeches of President Richard Nixon

After you have collected your notes, meet with a classmate or more to discuss specific images and other elements of how presidents communicate with the public. 

Based on your analysis of how setting and the medium influence how presidents communicate with the public, create a speech to be delivered on a public policy issue of your choosing that includes the following:

• Clearly state your position on a public policy issue using information from your research;
• Select a specific place from which to deliver your speech;
• Identify your audience or who you hope to reach with your speech;
• Design a social media plan for distributing your message;
• Record your message using a video and/or audio platform of your choosing.

The Living Room Candidate: This multimedia resource contains more than 300 commercials, from every presidential election since 1952.

C-Span—History of the State of the Union: In this C-SPAN video, Senate Historian Emeritus Don Ritchie discusses the traditions and history of the State of the Union address.