How SOTUs have evolved into primetime, must-watch events

WASHINGTON - He came, and he spoke to the live audience of mostly American lawmakers who gave him several standing ovations. Millions of people in the U.S. and more across the world watched on TV. It was his fourth State of the Union address.
President Barack Obama’s speech focused on a lot of issues, but those concerning the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, immigration, voting and gun control attracted the some of the loudest applause and standing ovations.
It is constitutionally mandated for the president to report to Congress every year. Article II Section 3 states, “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.”
These reports were given in writing from the time of Thomas Jefferson until 1913 when Woodrow Wilson gave his report in a speech.
 Calvin Coolidge’s 1923 speech was the first to be broadcast on radio, and Harry Truman’s 1947 address was the first to be broadcast on television.
SOTU addresses have evolved over the years from mere appearances before Congress to appearances on prime-time TV, when citizens have the opportunity to watch and hear the president’s assessment of the nation and his plans for the next 12 months. Most popular prime-time television and radio programs are suspended for the president’s address.
John Woolley, a professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara said in an email interview that SOTU addresses are usually successful. He said they help to put the president's priorities before the public and on congressional agendas. Woolley said, however, that SOTU addresses do not necessarily lead to changes in public opinion.
“There's not much evidence that any kind of big presidential address leads to a lasting change in public opinion. One important reason for that lack of lasting impact is that politics is about competition and confrontation,” he said.
John McConnell, a speechwriter for George W. Bush from 2001 to 2008, said SOTUs are important because they tend to be the largest audience the president has and the most extensive media coverage the president can get to put across his programs.
“It’s a good start to the president’s year because he can define the agenda, going forward on his term and proceed from there,” McConnell said.
Don Baer, a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 1998, said it is very difficult for the president to include a lot of ideas and put them together. “It is very hard. It has to have a lot of thematic coherence,” he said.

There have been many historic moments.
President James Monroe introduced the “Monroe Doctrine,” a policy of defending the Western Hemisphere from European interference, on Dec., 2, 1823, during his seventh SOTU report. Franklin Roosevelt spoke about four freedoms in his SOTU address on Jan., 6, 1941, and spoke of the second Bill of Rights, calling for economic security for all Americans, on Jan., 11, 1944. Bush’s declaration of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the axis of evil, on Jan., 29, 2002, was a momentous occasion that has become part of SOTU address history. McConnell said it is difficult for people to remember an entire speech.
“People remember moments. If you have some good moments, then you’ve accomplished an important purpose,” he said.
Woolley said Obama’s statements on gun control were the defining moments of his speech.

 “The gun control part of the speech was one of the most emotionally effective parts. And the president's repeated statement that ‘they deserve a vote’ was a line that supporters can echo in coming weeks,” Woolley said. When Obama criticized the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, which gave corporations and unions greater rights to make campaign contributions, cameras caught Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. shaking his head and saying not true, Woolley said.
Woolley said it is not uncommon to see members of the opposition party in in Congress withholding their applause, or pointedly applauding lines that might not have seemed positive to the president and his supporters.

“Alito's head-shaking occurred in a moment when the president himself was unleashing a direct critique of the Supreme Court. That kind of critique has been fairly unusual in the context of SOTUs,” he said.