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 theexcerpt from President Wilson's 1913 addressto Congress:
- What about President Wilson's election isimportant to the background and contentof this speech?
- What else about President Wilson and the requirement that such a message be createdshould be considered when reading this speech?
Read the excerpt below fromPresident 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 greatbusiness 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:
- Design inquiry questions to guide research on one or more of the policy topics President Wilson prioritizes in the speech.
- What connections can you make between the background information you discussed prior to analyzing the speech excerpt and the information included within the excerpt?
- 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) chosenfulfill the goals they identified in their respective State of the Union addresses?
Select a president from before or after President Wilson anda public policyissue (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 apoint 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:
- What are your preferred means for accessing news and information?
- 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 itare important as well. For example, if you were advising a president on where to deliver a speech on the environment, wherewould 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.
