1790    George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address in New York City.

1864    In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.

1943    ''The Saturday Evening Post'' publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's ''Four Freedoms'' in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.

1965    United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address.

2002    In his State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an ''Axis of Evil'', in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.