# Why didn't Carter give a State of the Union in 1980?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-carter-give-a-state-of-the-union-in-1980/387661>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 12, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-carter-give-a-state-of-the-union-in-1980/387661 "2007-01-12T03:37:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-carter-give-a-state-of-the-union-in-1980/387661/1 "2007-01-12T03:37:58Z")

</div>

Why did President Carter send a written message to Congress in 1980 instead of giving a State of the Union speech in person?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-carter-give-a-state-of-the-union-in-1980/387661/2 "2007-01-12T05:04:11Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=alphaboi867]  
Why did President Carter send a written message to Congress in 1980 instead of giving a State of the Union speech in person?  
[/QUOTE]

Uhm . . near as I can tell, he did deliver it to Congress in person. [Cite.](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=33079&admin=39)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-carter-give-a-state-of-the-union-in-1980/387661/3 "2007-01-12T06:07:16Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=flurb]  
Uhm . . near as I can tell, he did deliver it to Congress in person. [Cite.](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=33079&admin=39)  
[/QUOTE]

Damn Wikipedia :smack: . So who was the last president to send a written address?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-carter-give-a-state-of-the-union-in-1980/387661/4 "2007-01-12T06:55:05Z")

</div>

Wilson was the first President to address Congress in person since John Adams. Jefferson thought it was too imperial and the custom of sending written messages prevailed for a long time.