Full video of the speech as published by theWhite House | |
 | |
| Date | February 4, 1997 (1997-02-04) |
|---|---|
| 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″N77°00′32″W / 38.88972°N 77.00889°W /38.88972; -77.00889 |
| Type | State of the Union Address |
| Participants | |
| Previous | 1996 State of the Union Address |
| Next | 1998 State of the Union Address |
The1997 State of the Union Address was given by the 42ndpresident of the United States,Bill Clinton, on February 4, 1997, at 9:00 p.m.EST, in the chamber of theUnited States House of Representatives to the105th United States Congress. It was Clinton's fourthState of the Union Address and hisfifth speech to ajoint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was theHouse speaker,Newt Gingrich, accompanied byAl Gore, thevice president, in his capacity as thepresident of the Senate.
President Clinton discussed numerous topics in the address, including the environment, theInternational Space Station, welfare, crime and relations withNATO and China. The president also focused on a "detailed plan to balance the budget by 2002".
TheRepublican Party response was delivered byOklahoma congressmanJ. C. Watts in front of high school students sponsored by theClose 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 theO. J. Simpson civil trial in his ex-wife and her friend's 1994 murders. The White House however refused to postpone theState of the Union Address.[2]
This was the first State of the Union Address carried live on theInternet.[3]
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.
| Preceded by | State of the Union addresses 1997 | Succeeded by |
 | This article related to thepolitics of the United States is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
