// BEGIN editorial data
 var i = 0;
var SOTU_Fact_File = new Array();
SOTU_Fact_File.ID = "SOTU_Fact_File";
SOTU_Fact_File.ID_WB = 11103158;
SOTU_Fact_File.sPubDate = "1/30/2006 9:53:06 PM GMT";
SOTU_Fact_File.navsectionID = "3032091"
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SOTU_Fact_File.appWidth = 460;
SOTU_Fact_File.appHeader = "FactFile|MAKING THE STATE OF THE UNION";
SOTU_Fact_File.appDeck = "Some facts and history about the State of the Union address";
SOTU_Fact_File.appFooter = "Source: Associated Press";
SOTU_Fact_File.appNavStyle = 3;
SOTU_Fact_File.appLayout = 1;
SOTU_Fact_File.copyHeight = 200;
SOTU_Fact_File.copyMargin = 9;
SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","Discretion in timing","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "The Constitution requires the president to “from time to time give the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","Washington sets tone","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "President Washington delivered the first such address, his “annual message,” on Jan. 8, 1790.";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","Breaking away","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "The third president, Thomas Jefferson, dropped the pomp that surrounded the early messages to Congress, denouncing them as speeches “from the throne.” He dispatched his to lawmakers in writing, a custom that stuck for more than a century.";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","The modern standard","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "Woodrow Wilson revived the practice of delivering the annual message in person. “A president is likely to read his own message rather better than a clerk would,” he said.";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","Broadcast tradition","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "Calvin Coolidge’s 1923 State of the Union was the first to be broadcast on radio, while Harry Truman’s address in 1947 was the first to be televised.";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","\"The State of the Union\"","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "In 1935 the annual message formally became known as the State of the Union address.";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","A wider audience","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "President Lyndon Johnson shifted the State of the Union speech from the afternoon to the evening to attract a larger TV audience.";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","A somber delay","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "The address was postponed for the first time in 1986 following the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","Confronting impeachment","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "President Clinton delivered his State of the Union address in 1998 just days after the scandal broke over his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The following year, his speech marked the first time a president addressed a Congress considering the possibility of removing him from office.";

SOTU_Fact_File[i++] = new Array("","Skipping the address","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
SOTU_Fact_File[i-1].body = "President Bush did not give a State of the Union address in 2001, soon after being sworn in. Neither did Clinton in 1993, but he delivered a 60-minute speech to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 17, 1993 that was considered a stand-in.";

	// END editorial data