Biden just restarted the weekly presidential speech



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“Working is part of who you are,” Biden told Michele. “I’ve been saying for a long time that the idea that we think we can keep businesses open, moving and thriving without dealing with this pandemic is just a no-starter.”

The informal on-camera conversation between the two is a break with the previous past, where previous presidents used the weekly speech to recite pre-written speeches.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that the reboot of the weekly address, which has been renamed “A Weekly Conversation,” is part of Biden’s efforts to “regularly communicate directly with the people. American ”, especially those affected by the pandemic.

“We expect this to take various forms,” Psaki said.

The video is a new take on an old tradition that has been on hiatus since former President Donald Trump stopped recording them in 2018. Here’s how former presidents used – and modernized – the medium during their tenure to communicate with Americans:

Franklin D. Roosevelt

President Franklin D. Roosevelt began giving his famous “fireside chats” over the radio to explain what the government was doing to deal with the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression, and later, World War II.

FDR’s addresses, according to the White House Historical Association, allowed FDR to bypass the press to connect directly with Americans.

Ronald reagan

Radio addresses were abandoned by FDR’s successors until President Ronald Reagan, a former actor and radio host, resurrected them during his presidency. (President Jimmy Carter did an on-call radio show in 1977, receiving calls from across the country, earning him the mockery of Saturday Night Live.)

Reagan began giving weekly radio shows in 1982, a practice that continued under most future presidents. (President George HW Bush recorded just 18 during his tenure.)

George W. Bush

President George W. Bush was the first to deliver his weekly speeches in English and Spanish.

As the internet and listening to music on the go became ubiquitous in American culture during the 2000s, the Bush administration adapted to changing viewing habits and began publishing weekly addresses as downloadable podcasts, marking the first time the shows were broadcast online.

Barack obama

President Barack Obama built on Bush’s technological advancements and became the first president to post videos of his weekly speeches during his transition to power.

The videos, posted almost every Friday and featuring the president speaking directly to a camera, were made available on the White House’s YouTube page.

Donald trump

President Donald Trump continued the weekly video speeches on YouTube when he took office, but the tradition was quietly scrapped less than two years after taking office.

Trump, who preferred to convey his thoughts directly to Americans on Twitter, continued to post short, rare video addresses on major topics on White House social media accounts for the remainder of his tenure.

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