Jimmy Carter 1972, but had a cool reception in the legislature. But after two weeks of negotiations, it was passed at midnight on the last day of the session. Ultimately he merged about 300 state agencies into 22—a fact he would emphasize in his presidential run—although it is disputed that there were any overall cost savings from doing so. In an April 3, 1971 televised appearance, when asked if he was in favor of a requirement that candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Georgia would have to run on the same ticket, Carter said, "I've never really thought we needed a
State of the Union be read by a clerk until 1913 when Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice despite some initial controversy. However, there have been exceptions to this rule. Presidents during the latter half of the 20th century have sent written State of the Union addresses. The last President to do this was Jimmy Carter in 1981, after his defeat by Ronald Reagan and days before his term ended. For many years, the speech was referred to as "the President's Annual Message to Congress". The actual term "State of the Union" first emerged in 1934 when Franklin D. Roosevelt used the phrase, becoming its