JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1818
LBJ DELIVERS FIRST NIGHTTIME TELEVISED STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSWashington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-one years ago this evening, January 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered the first nighttime televised State of the Union address to a joint session of the United States Congress.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt had given the first nighttime (non-televised) state of the union address in 1936.
LBJ began by saying..
"200 years ago, in 1765, Nine assembled colonies joined together to demand freedom from arbitrary power. Tonight...in 1965, we begin a new quest for union.
We seek the unity of man with the world that he has built--with the knowledge that can save or destroy him--with the cities which can stimulate or stifle him--with the wealth & the machines which can enrich or menace his spirit."
The President continued...
"The unity we seek cannot realize its full promise in isolation. Our concern and interest....extend to every corner of a dwindling planet. We were never meant to be an oasis of liberty and abundance in a worldwide desert of disappointing dreams.
Our nation was created to help strike away the chains of ignorance & misery and tyranny wherever they keep man less than God means him to be."
LBJ's message included proposals for a set of domestic programs designed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice known as "The Great Society".
The term "Great Society" was coined by JFK/LBJ speechwriter Richard N. Goodwin.
LBJ Gives State of the Union Address
January 4, 1965
House of Representatives Photo
