Tonight the President will deliver the State of the Union address. A State of the Union address is required by the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 3, Clause 1.
The President shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend for their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
The presidential message mandated by the Constitution has gone through a few name changes over the years. It was formally known as the Annual Message from 1790 to 1946. It began to be informally called the “state of the union” message/address from 1942 to 1946. Since 1947 it has officially been known as the State of the Union Address.
In the 19th century, the annual message was both a lengthy administrative report on the various departments of the executive branch and a budget and economic message. Beginning around 1913, it became a platform for the President to rally support for his agenda.
As technology advanced, and radio, television, Internet, etc. became readily available to everyone, the State of the Union became a forum for the President to speak directly to the American people.
Among the longest State of the Union addresses were those given by President Jimmy Carter, 33,667 words in 1981 and President Bill Clinton, 9,190 words in 1995. The shortest was given by President George Washington, 1,089 words in 1790. The average length of the message in the 19th century was about 10,000 words… in the 20th century, about 5,000 words.
So tonight President Donald J. Trump will deliver the State of the Union address for 2020. Accepting the fact that it will be the “greatest ever given,” it’ll be nice if the “state of the union” we hear about tonight is somewhat close to the real “state of the union.”
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