CNN 2011-02-01

Political protests in Egypt, the aftermath of an attack, and a music megastar who's using his fame to raise awareness 1 about a disease. All of it is coming up in this Wednesday edition of CNN Student News. Hello, everyone. I'm Carl Azuz.

The place: Washington, D.C. The event: An annual address to the nation steeped in history, and the response to it. U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, both took to the airwaves last night. CNN Student News brings highlights tomorrow. If you wanna watch the complete speeches, CNNStudentNews.com! You'll find 'em in the "In Depth" box. Click on "State of the Union."

Now, while we're on the subject of State of the Union, we are breaking down the history of the speech for you right now. First stop: U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 3. "The president shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient 2."

Now, that's what the Constitution requires; there are a lot of things that are traditions that are not required by the Constitution. For one, this address does not need to be annual, though a yearly speech dates back to George Washington. It doesn't need to be in person. In fact, our third president, Thomas Jefferson, had the speech delivered in writing to Congress. And the State of the Union doesn't need to be made at a congressional session of both Houses, though that's what we see every year, and what we saw last night. Here's why the State of the Union address is delivered in late January or early February: the 20th Amendment 3. It was ratified 4 in 1933, and it specifies 5 that congressional terms start on January third and presidential terms start on January 20th. So, it's when everyone is seated in office that the speech is given in late January or early February.

A little history for you: President Coolidge was the first president to broadcast the speech over the radio; that was back in 1923. His nickname was "Silent Cal," but he wasn't silent then! President Truman was the first on TV with the speech in 1947. And this is around the time it started being called "State of the Union" instead of the president's annual message to Congress, as it was known before that. And in 2002, President George W. Bush became the first president to deliver the speech on the web.

The members of Arizona's congressional delegation 6 were all planning to sit together for last night's State of the Union address. But they were going to leave one chair empty in honor of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She was one of the victims of a shooting we told you about earlier this month. She's recovering from her injuries, and she's getting a lot of support.