President Barack Obama will deliver his third State of the Union address tonight. ABC News reports among guests of the president will be Mark Kelly, the husband Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who will resign her post shortly after the address. Giffords will be seated in the crowd of senators and representatives in a normal place for lawmakers. Obama's speech will likely run around 45 minutes.
Here are some quotes from famous State of the Union addresses.
* "The welfare of our country is the great object to which our cares and efforts ought to be directed. ... And I shall derive great satisfaction from a cooperation with you, in the pleasing though arduous task of ensuring to our fellow citizens the blessings which they have a right to expect, from a free and equal government." -- The last lines of George Washington's first State of the Union address on Jan. 8, 1790. Washington laid out the plan for the first Congress as to what the priorities of the new nation should be. Defense, common currency and the creation of infrastructure were foremost on Washington's agenda.
* "Looking forward with anxiety to future destinies, I trust that in their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in their love of liberty, obedience to law, and support of the public authorities, I see a sure guaranty of the permanence of our Republic; and, retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the consolation of a firm persuasion that Heaven has in store for our beloved country long ages to come of prosperity and happiness." -- Thomas Jefferson's last lines of his final State of the Union address. He used this forum to formally say farewell to the public officials he had served with for eight years as president. The speech was delivered Nov. 8, 1808, months before James Madison became president.
* "The struggle of today is not altogether for today; it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us." -- The conclusion of Abraham Lincoln's first State of the Union address on Dec. 3, 1861. A majority of Lincoln's speech was about the Civil War and how the rebellion was progressing. Lincoln was lamenting the coming violence and trying to prepare Congress for what lay ahead.
* "The nation takes great satisfaction and much strength from the things which have been done to make its people conscious of their individual stake in the preservation of democratic life in America. Those things have toughened the fiber of our people, have renewed their faith and strengthened their devotion to the institutions we make ready to protect." -- Part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's message to Congress and the people delivered Jan. 6, 1941. Roosevelt used most of his speech to prepare the U.S. for possible involvement in World War II. His speech was themed around "four freedoms" of the American people.
* "For only with complete dedication by us all to the national interest can we bring our country through the troubled years that lie ahead. Our problems are critical. The tide is unfavorable. The news will be worse before it is better. And while hoping and working for the best, we should prepare ourselves now for the worst." -- A portion of John F. Kennedy's first State of the Union address, made Jan. 30, 1961. Kennedy realized the threat of expanding influence from the Soviet Union.
William Browning is a research librarian.
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