When did a "response" to the State of the Union address become institutionalized?

[jberryhill]

It's a random Constitutional duty of the president that was fixed into the form of an annual speech.

I realized that a "response" has been going on for a while, but I don't understand the point.

Was there a "response" to the inaugural address?

Obviously, since the "response" is written ahead of time, it is not an actual response at all. The speech is not directed TO the GOP, but to Congress as a whole, so what necessitates a "response" by one faction of Congress?

I just don't get it.

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. 1966. n/t

[jberryhill]

2. Thank you...

I wonder what the driving impetus was.

While I can find references to the fact that a response was given, and a complete list here:

http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/art_artifacts/stateunion.html

...I would be interested to know who it was that sat down and thought, "Hey, this would be a good idea" and why.

[pschoeb]

4. Republicans made coordinated weekly press statements of

Senate-House Republican leadership starting in 1961, when Kennedy became President. The press called these events jokingly the "Ev and Charlie show" and later the "Ev and Jerry show", named after republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and House Minority Leaders Charles Halleck and later Gerald Ford, who hosted the events. In 1966, the television networks gave air time to this weekly statement right after the Presidents state of the Union, and then the television networks basically institutionalized the idea of a rebuttal.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Nixon was the driving impetus. It should be particularly noted that...

there is no Constitutional requirement to make a speech of it. Washington made a short speech to Congress, but from Jefferson on they just mailed it in until Wilson decided to make the speech. And a lot of people weren't happy when he did.

Personally, I think they should go back to mailing it in. All it is now is grandstanding by both sides and more divisive bullshit.

[pokerfan]

6. There's an entry on wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_address#Opposition_response

[jberryhill]

8. Thank you - that's the "what" and not the "why"

It just seems to me that if the president says, "Here's the way things look to me and what the president thinks should be priorities" on one particular day, then Congress already has the rest of the year to hash it out.

[unblock]

3. i always thought it was a holdover from the fairness doctrine.

:shrug:

[jberryhill]

7. But it is not a "political" speech - it is an official one

When the president welcomes a foreign dignitary, is there an "opposition response"?

"We welcome Prime Minister X to the United States."

"No, we welcome her even more!"

[unblock]

9. your logic is impeccable

but political agreements are often quite peccable.