Retropod is sponsored by Tiro Price.

Are you looking to learn a thing or two about getting your finances in order, saving, and investing?

Check out the Confident Wallet, a personal finance podcast series by Tero Price and the Washington Post Brand Studio.

Find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, history lovers.

I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

Madam Speaker, the President of the United States.

Last night, President Trump delivered the annual State of the Union address to Congress.

Following along, of course, were the millions upon millions of TV viewers,

tweeters, Snapchatters, and YouTubers. The State of the Union is obviously a big deal.

For political junkies and the politicians who camp out all day hoping to snag a handshake

with the president as he walks in,

it is a spectacle on par with the Super Bowl.

There's cheering, an occasional boo,

and even post-game, I mean post-speech analysis.

But like much of life before the advent of TV,

which helped usher in a political landscape defined and controlled by images,

the state of the Union wasn't always this way.

It was, actually, a rather simple process.

The president gave a short speech to Congress, or many times, just sent a letter.

The tradition itself dates back to the earliest days of the presidency,

beginning, as it should, with George Washington. It was January 8th, 1790.

...