"Jefferson had no pleasure or facility in public speaking. When he came into the office of President, therefore, he preferred to send to Congress written messages, and his practice was so formidable a precedent that this has been the custom of the Presidents down to the present administration, when President Wilson has introduced again the old practice of a personal address to both Houses. I think the change is a good one. Oral addresses fix the attention of the country on Congress more than written communications, and by fixing the attention of the country on Congress, they fix the attention of Congress on the recommendations of the President. I cannot refrain from a smile, however, when I think of the Democratic oratory which was lost because Mr. Roosevelt or I did not inaugurate such a change. The eloquent sentences that would have resounded from the lips of Senator Ollie James or Senator John Sharp Williams, those faithful followers of Jefferson, in denunciation of the introduction of 'such a royal ceremony in a speech from the Throne,' I could supply with little effort of the imagination. Surely a member of the Jeffersonian Party has some advantages in the Presidential chair." William H. Taft, *Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers,* pp. 39-40 [1] https://archive.org/stream/ourchiefmagistra00taftuoft#page/38/mode/2up
Challenge: The "the old practice of a personal address to both Houses" is *never* revived. Perhaps if Champ Clark rather than Woodrow Wilson gets the Democratic nomination in 1912 (and of course wins in November, with his opposition split between TR and Taft)? Clark liked to think of himself as a Jeffersonian (that Wilson had once expressed admiration of Hamilton was a point constantly made by the Hearst press in praising Clark and denigrating Wilson), so he might want to continue Jefferson's precedent. Moreover, unlike Wilson, whose background was academic and executive, his political background was with Congress, so that might make him more sensitive to potential charges of executive incursions on Congress.
Alternatively, let's say that TR or Taft *did* re-introduce in-person presidential addresses to Congress--and Democrats object to the practice so strongly (as inconsistent with small-r republicanism, as being "a speech from the throne" etc.) that they insert condemnation of it into their national platforms. So even if Wilson is nominated and elected, he reluctantly decides not to address Congress in person (not even when asking for a declaration of war--after all, Lincoln went through a war where the nation's survival was at stake without addressing Congress personally) and Harding, who wants to show that he is *less* dictatorial toward Congress than Wilson was accused (by Republicans) of being, also shuns personal addresses. So perhaps Jefferson's practice becomes a bi-partisan tradition, which even FDR does not dare to break?...
(OK, very unlikely, I'll admit, especially after radio and television. And anyway, the 1912 Democratic platform called for a single term for the president, which didn't prevent Wilson from opposing the idea. But at least in 1913 Wilson may not consider the question of personally addressing Congress to be sufficiently important to warrant disregarding the platform the way the question of a president's eligibility for re-election was.)
[1] Actually, Taft himself may have played a role in the revival of in-person presidential addresses to Congress: "Another noteworthy event during the session was President Taft's attendance and short speech at the memorial services in the Senate for Vice President Sherman, who had died during the campaign. It was the first time the President had addressed the Senate in person since Jefferson's time and may have had some influence in Wilson's later decision to address the Senate himself on substantive business." https://archive.org/stream/presidentialtran030967mbp#page/n65/mode/2up
Challenge: The "the old practice of a personal address to both Houses" is *never* revived. Perhaps if Champ Clark rather than Woodrow Wilson gets the Democratic nomination in 1912 (and of course wins in November, with his opposition split between TR and Taft)? Clark liked to think of himself as a Jeffersonian (that Wilson had once expressed admiration of Hamilton was a point constantly made by the Hearst press in praising Clark and denigrating Wilson), so he might want to continue Jefferson's precedent. Moreover, unlike Wilson, whose background was academic and executive, his political background was with Congress, so that might make him more sensitive to potential charges of executive incursions on Congress.
Alternatively, let's say that TR or Taft *did* re-introduce in-person presidential addresses to Congress--and Democrats object to the practice so strongly (as inconsistent with small-r republicanism, as being "a speech from the throne" etc.) that they insert condemnation of it into their national platforms. So even if Wilson is nominated and elected, he reluctantly decides not to address Congress in person (not even when asking for a declaration of war--after all, Lincoln went through a war where the nation's survival was at stake without addressing Congress personally) and Harding, who wants to show that he is *less* dictatorial toward Congress than Wilson was accused (by Republicans) of being, also shuns personal addresses. So perhaps Jefferson's practice becomes a bi-partisan tradition, which even FDR does not dare to break?...
(OK, very unlikely, I'll admit, especially after radio and television. And anyway, the 1912 Democratic platform called for a single term for the president, which didn't prevent Wilson from opposing the idea. But at least in 1913 Wilson may not consider the question of personally addressing Congress to be sufficiently important to warrant disregarding the platform the way the question of a president's eligibility for re-election was.)
[1] Actually, Taft himself may have played a role in the revival of in-person presidential addresses to Congress: "Another noteworthy event during the session was President Taft's attendance and short speech at the memorial services in the Senate for Vice President Sherman, who had died during the campaign. It was the first time the President had addressed the Senate in person since Jefferson's time and may have had some influence in Wilson's later decision to address the Senate himself on substantive business." https://archive.org/stream/presidentialtran030967mbp#page/n65/mode/2up