1997 State of the Union Address

1997 State of the Union Address
	Full video of the speech as published by the White House
Date	February 4, 1997
Time	9:00 p.m. EST
Duration	1 hour, 4 minutes
Venue	House Chamber, United States Capitol
Location	Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′23″N 77°00′32″W
Type	State of the Union Address
Participants	Bill Clinton; Al Gore; Newt Gingrich;

The 1997 State of the Union Address was given by the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, on February 4, 1997, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 105th United States Congress. It was Clinton's fourth State of the Union Address and his fifth speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was the House speaker, Newt Gingrich, accompanied by Al Gore, the vice president, in his capacity as the president of the Senate.

President Clinton discussed numerous topics in the address, including the environment, the International Space Station, welfare, crime and relations with NATO and China. The president also focused on a "detailed plan to balance the budget by 2002".

The Republican Party response was delivered by Oklahoma congressman J. C. Watts in front of high school students sponsored by the Close Up Foundation.[1]

The speech did not get the national attention it usually does because the same evening of the speech a verdict was given in the O.J. Simpson civil trial in his ex-wife and her friend's 1994 murders. The White House however refused to postpone the State of the Union Address. [2]

This was the first State of the Union Address carried live on the Internet.[3]

References

Richard E. Sincere Jr. (February 1997). "O.J., J.C., and Bill: Reflections on the State of the Union". Metro Herald. Archived from the original on July 31, 2002. Retrieved January 23, 2007. Watts told his audience -- about 100 high school students from the CloseUp Foundation watched in person, while a smaller number watched on television at home -- that he is "old enough to remember the Jim Crow" laws that affected him and his family while he grew up in a black neighborhood in small-town Oklahoma.
"O.J., J.C., and Bill: Reflections on the State of the Union". Archived from the original on July 31, 2002.
Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. "Office of the Clerk". Archived from the original on May 13, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2009.

External links

Transcript of the 1997 State of the Union address
Full video and audio, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.
1997 State of the Union Address (video) at C-SPAN
1997 State of the Union Response (video) at C-SPAN

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[jcwatts-1] Richard E. Sincere Jr. (February 1997). "O.J., J.C., and Bill: Reflections on the State of the Union". Metro Herald. Archived from the original on July 31, 2002. Retrieved January 23, 2007. Watts told his audience -- about 100 high school students from the CloseUp Foundation watched in person, while a smaller number watched on television at home -- that he is "old enough to remember the Jim Crow" laws that affected him and his family while he grew up in a black neighborhood in small-town Oklahoma.

[2] "O.J., J.C., and Bill: Reflections on the State of the Union". Archived from the original on July 31, 2002.

[3] Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. "Office of the Clerk". Archived from the original on May 13, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2009.