President George Washington was preoccupied with the Indian wars as well as building the new country's defenses and in his first State of the Union message, on Jan. 8, 1790, told Congress "to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
The president is required to deliver an annual message to Congress on the State of the Union - as President Bush did last night. Washington spoke to Congress in person, but during the 19th century presidents sent written messages. On Dec. 2, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson brought back the live speech, though subsequent presidents sometimes returned to the written word.
President Jimmy Carter gave the longest one, at more than 30,000 words. Washington's were among the shortest. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson worried about the contagious sickness and disease sweeping the cities. Jefferson and many of his successors were pleased to be staying out of European wars.
Abraham Lincoln
Despite the burden of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln was always mindful of the harvest. "In the midst of unprecedented political troubles," he wrote in his first message, Dec. 3, 1861, "we have cause of great gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant harvests."
Here is how he ended his second message, Dec. 1, 1862:
"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.
"In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way, which if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."
Theodore Roosevelt
President Theodore Roosevelt sent his first message to Congress on Dec. 3, 1901, after the assassination that September of President William McKinley.
"Of the last seven elected presidents, he is the third who has been murdered," he said, "and the bare recital of this fact is sufficient to justify grave alarm among all loyal American citizens."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
On Jan. 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said: "No realistic American can expect from a dictator's peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religion - or even good business. ... Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Harry S. Truman
President Harry S. Truman, presiding over the Korean War, said on Jan. 8, 1951: "Our men are fighting, alongside their United Nations allies, because they know, as we do, that the aggression in Korea is part of the attempt of the Russian Communist dictatorship to take over the world, step by step. ...
"If Western Europe were to fall to Soviet Russia, it would double the Soviet supply of coal and triple the Soviet supply of steel. If the free countries of Asia and Africa should fall to Soviet Russia, we would lose the sources of many of our most vital raw materials, including uranium, which is the basis of our atomic power. And Soviet command of the manpower of the free nations of Europe and Asia would confront us with military forces which we could never hope to equal."
In his Jan. 9, 1952, message, Truman reported on a session of the United Nations in Paris, where the United States, Britain and France proposed a disarmament plan enforced by inspections.
"But what happened? [Soviet Delegate Andrei] Vishinsky laughed at it. Listen to what he said: 'I could hardly sleep at all last night. ... I could not sleep because I kept laughing.' The world will be a long time forgetting the spectacle of that fellow laughing at disarmament.
"Disarmament is not a joke. Vishinsky's laughter met with shock and anger from the people all over the world. ...
"In all we do, we should remember who we are and what we stand for. We are Americans. ... We must have that same faith and vision [as our forefathers]. ... Let us prove, again, that we are not merely sunshine patriots and summer soldiers. Let us go forward, trusting in the God of Peace, to win the goals we seek."
John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy, said on Jan. 11, 1962: "Finally, a strong America cannot neglect the aspirations of its citizens - the welfare of the needy, the health care of the elderly, the education of the young. For we are not developing the nation's wealth for its own sake. Wealth is the means - and people are the ends. All our material riches will avail us little if we do not use them to expand the opportunities of our people. ...
"All of these efforts at home give meaning to our efforts abroad. Since the close of the Second World War, a global civil war has divided and tormented mankind. But it is not our military might, or our higher standard of living, that has most distinguished us from our adversaries. It is our belief that the state is the servant of the citizen and not his master. ...
"But arms alone are not enough to keep the peace - it must be kept by men. Our instrument and our hope is the United Nations - and I see little merit in the impatience of those who would abandon this imperfect world instrument because they dislike our imperfect world. For the troubles of a world organization merely reflect the troubles of the world itself. And if the organization is weakened, these troubles can only increase.
"We may not always agree with every detailed action taken by every officer of the United Nations, or with every voting majority. But as an institution, it should have in the future, as it has had in the past since its inception, no stronger or more faithful member than the United States of America. ... A year ago, in assuming the tasks of the presidency, I said that few generations, in all history, had been granted the role of being the great defender of freedom in its hour of maximum danger. This is our good fortune; and I welcome it now as I did a year ago. For it is the fate of this generation - of you in the Congress and of me as president - to live with a struggle we did not start, in a world we did not make."
George W. Bush
On Jan. 29, 2002, President Bush said: "Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September the 11th. But we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction while starving its citizens.
"Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom. Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens - leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections - then kicked out the inspectors. ...
"States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. ...
"We will work closely with our coalition to deny terrorists and their state sponsors the materials, technology, and expertise to make and deliver weapons of mass destruction. We will develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect America and our allies from sudden attack. And all nations should know: America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation's security."