State of the Union firsts On Tuesday, President Barack Obama
will present his fourth State of the Union address, the 224th in
the nation's history. However, this will be only the 80th time a
president has delivered the speech before Congress -- earlier
presidents routinely delivered a written message to be read to
Congress. Here are some firsts from past State of the Union
addresses: First African-American: Obama is the only African-
American to have addressed a joint session or joint meeting of
Congress. Over the years, several black speakers from other
countries have addressed a joint meeting of Congress. Notable
examples are Nelson Mandela in 1990 and 1994 and Liberian
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2006. Records: Although
Woodrow Wilson holds the record for most speeches delivered
before Congress with 26, Franklin Roosevelt holds the record for
the most State of the Union/annual message addresses with 12.
Ten were in person, and two were in writing. Speechless: Two
presidents never prepared any type of