<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> <P> Prior to 1934, the annual message was delivered at the end of the calendar year, in December . The ratification of the 20th Amendment on January 23, 1933, changed the opening of Congress from early March to early January, affecting the delivery of the annual message . Since 1934, the message or address has been delivered to Congress in January or February . </P> <P> The Twentieth Amendment also established January 20 as the beginning of the presidential term . In years when a new president is inaugurated, the outgoing president may deliver a final State of the Union message, but none has done so since Jimmy Carter sent a written message in 1981 . In 1953 and 1961, Congress received both a written State of the Union message from the outgoing president and a separate State of the Union speech by the incoming president . Since 1989, in recognition that the responsibility of reporting the State of the Union formally belongs to the president who held office during the past year, newly inaugurated Presidents have not officially called their first speech before Congress a "State of the Union" message . </P> <P> In 1936, President Roosevelt set a precedent when he delivered the address at night . Only once before--when Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to order the U.S. into World War I--had a sitting president addressed Congress at night . </P>

Who sets behind the president during state of union