Weekly address of the president of the United States

{{Short description|Regular radio speech of the American president}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}} [[File:Biden first weekly address.jpg|upright=1.3|thumb|Joe Biden speaking with a citizen during his first “Weekly Conversation” as President.]] [[File:Franklin-roosevelt.JPG|upright|thumb|Franklin D. Roosevelt after giving one of his fireside chats, the predecessor to the Weekly Address.]] The '''weekly address of the president of the United States''' (also known as the '''Weekly (Radio) Address''' or '''Your Weekly Address''') was the weekly speech by the president of the United States to the nation. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to deliver such radio addresses. Ronald Reagan revived the practice of delivering a weekly Saturday radio broadcast in 1982,<ref>{{cite news |title=Reagan signs off with 331st weekly radio address |newspaper=Deseret News |agency=Associated Press |date=January 15, 1989 |page=A3 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=T_UoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3oMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2540,4995456&dq=reagan+weekly+radio&hl=en| access-date=March 12, 2010}}</ref> and his successors all continued the practice until Donald Trump ceased doing so seventeen months into his first term.

As the Internet became mainstream during the 1990s, the weekly address was made available on other media. George W. Bush introduced an audio podcast feed and Barack Obama introduced a weekly video address during his presidential transition period. Donald Trump continued the weekly video address for the first nine months of his first administration, after which he ended the practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/president-trump-goes-radio-silent/4127869.html|access-date=December 25, 2018|publisher=VOA News|title=President Trump Goes Radio Silent}}</ref> He later released occasional "weekly" addresses before ceasing the tradition in June 2018. Trump has not continued the tradition in his second term.

Joe Biden revived the practice of making a weekly address in February 2021 in the form of “Weekly Conversations”, answering prepared questions or concerns from citizens. In July 2021, he stopped doing ''Weekly Conversations''. As vice president, Biden made weekly addresses on behalf of Barack Obama during the Obama administration.<ref>{{cite news |title=Biden to Revive Weekly Address That Faded Under Trump |newspaper=New York Times |date=February 5, 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/business/media/biden-weekly-radio-address.html | access-date=February 19, 2021}}</ref>

==History== Franklin D. Roosevelt first used what would become known as fireside chats in 1929 as Governor of New York.<ref name=Burns>{{cite book|last=Burns|first=James MacGregor|title=Roosevelt : the lion and the fox|year=1996|publisher=Smithmark|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0831756116|pages=118}}</ref> His third gubernatorial address—April 3, 1929, on WGY radio—is cited by Roosevelt biographer Frank Freidel as being the first fireside chat.<ref name=Storm>{{cite journal |last=Storm |first=Geoffrey |title=Roosevelt and WGY: The Origins of the Fireside Chats|journal=New York History: Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association|date=Spring 2007|volume=88|issue=2|pages=183–85 (177–197)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKo9AQAAIAAJ&q=Roosevelt+Fireside+Chat+as+governor+1929&dq=Roosevelt+Fireside+Chat+as+governor+1929&hl=en|access-date=January 2, 2013|publisher=New York State Historical Association|issn=0146-437X}}</ref> As president he continued the tradition, which he called his fireside chats. The success of these presidential addresses encouraged their continuation by future presidents.

The practice of regularly scheduled addresses began in 1982 when President Ronald Reagan started delivering a radio broadcast every Saturday.<ref>{{cite news |title=Reagan signs off with 331st weekly radio address |newspaper=Deseret News |agency=Associated Press |date=January 15, 1989 |page=A3 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=T_UoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3oMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2540,4995456&dq=reagan+weekly+radio&hl=en |access-date=January 2, 2013}}</ref> Conservative journalist William A. Rusher, who publicly urged Reagan to begin the series of broadcasts, explicitly referred to the "fireside chats" and compared Reagan's communications skills to those of Roosevelt.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} During a sound check in preparation for his radio address of August 11, 1984, Reagan made the following comments in jest, which were later leaked to the general public: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://radio.about.com/od/funradiothingstodo/a/aa060503a.htm|title=Remembering President Reagan For His Humor{{snd}}A Classic Radio Gaffe|access-date=February 7, 2009|publisher=About, Inc.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403121932/http://radio.about.com/od/funradiothingstodo/a/aa060503a.htm| archive-date=April 3, 2013|url-status=unfit}}</ref>

George H. W. Bush did not regularly record a weekly radio address; he recorded only a total of 18 addresses during his term in office, most toward the latter part.<ref>{{cite web |title=George Herbert Walker Bush/Presidential radio addresses |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:George_Herbert_Walker_Bush/Presidential_radio_addresses |website=Wikisource |access-date=July 22, 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Herman |first1=Steve |title=President Trump Goes Radio Silent |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/president-trump-goes-radio-silent/4127869.html |website=VOA News |publisher=Voice of America |access-date=July 22, 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaid |first1=Lynda Lee |last2=Holtz-Bacha |first2=Christina |title=Encyclopedia of Political Communication, Volume 1 |date=2008 |publisher=Sage Publications |location=Los Angeles |isbn=9781412917995 |page=698}}</ref> Bill Clinton regularly recorded a weekly radio address, often going over ten minutes with some speeches early in his term. George W. Bush was the first president to deliver the weekly radio address in English and Spanish, which he continued to throughout his presidency.<ref>{{Citation |last=Fernandez |first=Maria Elena |title=Bush Tries His Hand at Spanish in Radio Talk |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=May 6, 2001 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-06-mn-60019-story.html |quote=George W. Bush made history on Cinco de Mayo by becoming the first president to deliver a version of his weekly radio address from the Oval Office entirely in Spanish.}}</ref> Later, George W. Bush began to have his addresses posted as an audio podcast once that technology became popular.<ref name="bostonglobe">{{cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2014/07/06/president-obama-weekly-radio-address-anachronism-that-endures/2xtr0v07pKPHcuqk6QvckN/story.html?rss_id=Top-GNP|title=Obama holds to weekly radio tradition|last=Viser|first=Matt|date=July 7, 2014|work=Boston Globe|access-date=January 31, 2015}}</ref>

Barack Obama used YouTube for regular video addresses as President-elect and after his inauguration the weekly addresses continued on the White House website,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090122233027/http://www.whitehouse.gov/weekly_address/ President Obama's Weekly Video Address] from the White House website</ref> the official White House YouTube channel, and networks such as C-SPAN, with the 24-hour cable news channels and network morning shows usually airing the full address only if the topic involves a breaking news event; short summaries of the address and the talking points within were otherwise edited and presented within regular news reports throughout each Saturday.

Until his final broadcast, Donald Trump continued to use the video address as his predecessor did. His weekly address also webcast on Facebook as a live stream, releasing the address on Fridays instead of Saturdays.

It has long become customary for the president's Weekly Radio Address to be followed by a response from the opposition party. When the president is a Democrat, the opposition's response is given by a Republican and vice versa. This response is not limited to only responding by the subject of the president's address, but may address other topics of political or social interest, a tribute to a figure who has died in the last week, a general patriotic message on holiday weekends (the latter two of which can also be part of the presidential address), or other concerns working through the Senate or House which have not yet been addressed by the executive branch. Despite the discontinuation of the president's weekly addresses, the Democrats still continued their weekly address through the remainder of the Trump administration.

A common complaint about the president's Weekly Radio Address pre-digital age (but remaining in the mainstream) is that only a few radio stations (mainly public radio and all-news radio outlets, a format very rare outside of major metropolitan areas) cover the very short broadcasts, they are not advertised publicly, and very few Americans are able to find address coverage on their local radio dial; Saturday mornings usually have brokered or paid programming carried on most commercial radio stations.<ref name="bostonglobe" />

==See also== {{Portal|United States|Politics}} *Oval Office address *State of the Union *Weekly Democratic Address, the opposition response during a Republican presidency *Weekly Republican Address, the opposition response during a Democratic presidency

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Wikisource cat|United States presidential radio addresses|Transcripts of U.S. Presidential weekly addresses}} *{{commonscatinline}} *[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address President Obama's Weekly Addresses] *[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/radio/ Transcripts of President G.W. Bush's Radio Addresses by date and topic] *[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/rss/radioaddress.xml President G.W. Bush's Radio Address podcasts] *[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Ronald_Wilson_Reagan/Presidential_radio_addresses Ronald Reagan's Presidential Radio Addresses from 1982 to 1989] *[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:George_Herbert_Walker_Bush/Presidential_radio_addresses George H.W. Bush's Presidential Radio Addresses from 1990 to 1992] *[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:William_Jefferson_Clinton/Presidential_radio_addresses Bill Clinton's Presidential Radio Addresses from 1993 to 2001] *[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:George_W._Bush/Presidential_radio_addresses George W. Bush's Presidential Radio Addresses from 2001 to 2009] *[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Barack_Obama/Weekly_addresses Barack Obama's Presidential Weekly Addresses from 2008 to 2017] *[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Donald_John_Trump/Weekly_addresses Donald Trump's Presidential Weekly Addresses from 2017 to 2021] *[https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/corpus/ Corpus of Political Speeches] Free access to political speeches by American and other politicians, developed by Hong Kong Baptist University Library Category:1920s American radio programs Category:1929 radio programme debuts Category:United States presidential speeches Category:1930s American radio programs Category:1940s American radio programs Category:1950s American radio programs Category:1960s American radio programs Category:1970s American radio programs Category:1980s American radio programs Category:1990s American radio programs Category:2000s American radio programs Category:2010s American radio programs Category:2020s American radio programs