President Woodrow Wilson addresses Congress. The president who broke the mold — and introduced the kind of speech that modern Americans expect to hear each year — was Woodrow Wilson. He employed his State of the Union address to set in motion an agenda of his own. On Jan. 6, 1947, President Truman delivered the State of the Union address to Congress, which was the first one broadcast on television. (National Archives)Wilson closed his first State of the Union address by expressing his hopes that the executive and legislative branches of government would continue to work closely together.

Source: Washington Post January 29, 2018 12:02 UTC