1997 State of the Union Address of high school students sponsored by the Close Up Foundation. Dan Glickman, the Secretary of Agriculture, served as the designated survivor. The speech was broadcast live on television and radio and lasted 1:04:21 and consisted of 6,774 words. This was the first State of the Union Address carried live on the Internet. 1997 State of the Union Address The 1997 State of the Union address was given by President Bill Clinton to a joint session of the 105th United States Congress on Tuesday, February 4, 1997. The speech was the first State of the Union address of President Clinton's second
State of the Union none has done so since Jimmy Carter sent a written message in 1981. In 1953 and 1961, Congress received both a written State of the Union message from the outgoing president and a separate State of the Union speech by the incoming president. Since 1989, in recognition that the responsibility of reporting the State of the Union formally belongs to the president who held office during the past year, newly inaugurated Presidents have not officially called their first speech before Congress a "State of the Union" message. In 1936, President Roosevelt set a precedent when he delivered the address at