Part of the issue is that in-person State of the Union addresses are a much more recent phenomenon. In 1913, Wilson gave the first in-person address since the John Adams administration and Coolidge gave the first widely broadcast speech. Turning the SotU into a marquee event occurred in the 60s.

I would imagine that SotU speeches, if given in person, during the 1830s-1860 would have been… rambunctious. As it is, I would imagine TV actually kept the proceedings more dignified until the very modern era. Neither party in opposition has exactly showered themselves with glory during the speech for the last 10 years or so. We're seeing a race to the bottom in order to get the most media attention from the base.

Just takes a good ol' beating sometimes...


"After the sack of Lawrence, on May 21, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner, (R) Mass. gave a bitter speech in the Senate called "THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS." He blasted the "murderous robbers from Missouri," calling them "hirelings, picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilization." Part of this oratory was a bitter, personal tirade against South Carolina's SENATOR ANDREW BUTLER. Sumner declared Butler an imbecile and said, "Senator Butler has chosen a mistress. I mean the harlot, slavery." During the speech, Stephen Douglas leaned over to a colleague and said, "that damn fool will get himself killed by some other damn fool." The speech went on for two days."

Canefight! Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner

Brooks was a coward. Later he was challenged to a duel by one of Sumner's allies. When he found out the man was a crack shot, Brooks chickened out.

And Sumner was an ass who nobody liked including his own party, a nineteenth century Kamala.

Sapper Redux said:

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Brooks was a coward. Later he was challenged to a duel by one of Sumner's allies. When he found out the man was a crack shot, Brooks chickened out.

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Nothing wrong with a good duel either. A reminder that once your words and actions had consequences.

[derail = on] as an aside, I always enjoy a good BQ78 vs. Sapper square off.... [derail = off]

My buddy Stephen Puleo is coming out with one of the first biographies of Sumner in ages:



Steve will be kinder to him that I would be, based on his book on the Brooks caning. But I expect it to be good nonetheless (Steve also wrote the excellent Molasses Flood book, Dark Tide). Steve says he will highlight how Lincoln and Sumner taught each other lessons. I tell him, yeah Sumner taught Lincoln not to be an *******.