--- title: Pelosi's State of the Union Suggestion Has a Long History description: Pelosi's suggestion for a written State of the Union might seem strange, but the U.S. went without a State of the Union address for 112 years. canonical: https://time.com/5505166/state-of-the-union-history-pelosi-trump/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-17T00:15:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:31:25.193Z article:section: History og:title: Pelosi's Suggestion That Trump Deliver the State of the Union in a Letter Has 112 Years of Precedent og:description: The address was delivered as a letter to Congress for 112 years og:url: https://time.com/5505166/state-of-the-union-history-pelosi-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa50bf68278937ca/69894376929fad664abf286a/donald-trump-state-of-the-union-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump State of the Union og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pelosi's Suggestion That Trump Deliver the State of the Union in a Letter Has 112 Years of Precedent twitter:description: The address was delivered as a letter to Congress for 112 years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa50bf68278937ca/69894376929fad664abf286a/donald-trump-state-of-the-union-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nancy Pelosi's Suggestion That President Trump Deliver the State of the Union in a Letter Has 112 Years of Precedent ## Video: Why Trump Is Dragging Out the Shutdown — Even Though It's Unpopular [Watch (HLS stream): Why Trump Is Dragging Out the Shutdown — Even Though It's Unpopular](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ftjJTqAc.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2019-01-07. The first rule of government shutdowns: blame the other side._  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Jan 17, 2019 12:15 AM UTC  President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 30, 2018. President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 30, 2018.Susan Walsh—AP  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Jan 17, 2019 12:15 AM UTC When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked President Trump on Wednesday [to postpone the State of the Union address](http://time.com/5504267/pelosi-trump-state-of-the-union-delay/), she gave him two options – reschedule the speech, or send it to Congress in a letter. Pelosi’s letter argued that the speech raised safety concerns because many members of the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, which handle security for the event, are furloughed due to the partial government shutdown. She noted that a State of the Union address has never before been held during a government shutdown. Pelosi’s suggestion for a written State of the Union might seem strange to many Americans, but in fact, the U.S. went without a presidential address to a joint session of Congress for 112 years. The first reference to a “State of the Union” address is in the Constitution. The document states that the president can “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.” > [](https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1085549944969285634) The constitution does not say whether or not this information would need to be given aloud, nor how often. It was President George Washington who first interpreted this to be a speech to a joint session of Congress, which was known as the “President’s Address” and President John Adams followed his lead. President [Thomas Jefferson](http://time.com/4166680/thomas-jefferson-state-of-the-union/), however, had a very different vision of presidential power – as well as the President’s Address. Jefferson was against strong federal power (and strong presidential power), and thought that the speech seemed to be too regal. He wrote a letter to Congress explaining that he had decided to do without the speech because it was inconvenient, took too long to read, and made it difficult for legislators to respond. Presidents delivered their addresses to Congress as a letter for 112 years – until President Woodrow Wilson decided to once again deliver it as a speech in December 1913. At the time, many lawmakers were shocked by Wilson’s decision. “All official Washington was agape last night over the decision of the President to go back to the long-abandoned custom,” the [Washington _Post_ wrote at the time](http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/29525-proquest-250307262.html). The address was also the first of its kind to be overtly political. Wilson discussed several bills that he was trying to pass, including a measure for mining industry reform. Some lawmakers didn’t believe the the President was serious about the address until the President’s secretary, Joseph Patrick Tumulty, told them that it was true. “The President regarded the practice as a dignified way of bringing out a closer intimacy between Congress and the executive,” the Post said. When some lawmakers said that they were concerned that they’d have to sit through a speech every year, Tumulty consoled them by saying that “the President did not intend the practice to become a habit.” Throughout the 20th Century, Presidents continued to sometimes skip the in-person speech, which became known as the “State of the Union” in 1947\. Wilson himself skipped the address in 1919 and 1920, and Calvin Coolidge only gave one State of the Union speech. As time went on, presidents began to skip the address less and less. The last president to skip the in-person speech was [Jimmy Carter in 1981](https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/assets/documents/speeches/farewell.phtml). Fortunately for Congress, that speech was also the longest in history, going on for [33,667 words](https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2012/01/24/state-of-the-union-trivia-and-history). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5505166/state-of-the-union-history-pelosi-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5505166/state-of-the-union-history-pelosi-trump/"},"headline":"Nancy Pelosi's Suggestion That President Trump Deliver the State of the Union in a Letter Has 112 Years of Precedent","datePublished":"2019-01-17T00:15:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:31:25.193Z","description":"The address was delivered as a letter to Congress for 112 years","url":"https://time.com/5505166/state-of-the-union-history-pelosi-trump/","keywords":["politics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa50bf68278937ca/69894376929fad664abf286a/donald-trump-state-of-the-union-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa50bf68278937ca/69894376929fad664abf286a/donald-trump-state-of-the-union-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump State of the Union","caption":"President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address in 2018","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5505166/state-of-the-union-history-pelosi-trump/","name":"Nancy Pelosi's Suggestion That President Trump Deliver the State of the Union in a Letter Has 112 Years of Precedent"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Trump Is Dragging Out the Shutdown — Even Though It's Unpopular","description":"The first rule of government shutdowns: blame the other side.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ftjJTqAc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-01-07T22:06:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ftjJTqAc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5505166/state-of-the-union-history-pelosi-trump/","duration":"PT1M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5505166/state-of-the-union-history-pelosi-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```