Joint Sessions of Congress Broadcasts

Like so many things provided for in the United States Constitution, the bicameral Legislative Branch was developed as the result of compromise. The Founding Fathers were aware that giving equal representation to each state in the Union would favor the interests of the smaller states while apportioning legislative representation by population numbers would unfairly restrict those small states from being heard. The compromise was reached with a bicameral Congress composed of the Senate whose seats are held by two persons elected from each State for six-year terms and the House of Representatives whose membership is capped at 435 seats and apportioned to each state according to the results of the latest national census.

Although the Senate is regarded as the Upper House and the House of Representatives the Lower, both Houses are essentially equivalent in power according to the Constitution. A legislative bill must pass through both Houses before being presented to the President. Revenue matters must originate in the House of Representatives while the Senate is empowered to ratify treaties and approve Presidential Appointments. If the President is accused of "high crimes and misdemeanors", the House is empowered to initiate an Impeachment investigation which the Senate will then decide. Although both bodies meet in the US Capitol Building, the Senate meets in the building's North Wing and the House in the South.

There are occasions when the entire Congress will meet in a single session. Some of these Joint Sessions are mandated by the Constitution; after a Presidential election the entire Congress meets in Joint Session to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College; a Joint Session will be convened for a Presidential Inauguration, and the Congress will meet in Joint Session to hear the President's State of the Union Address. The State of the Union Address was modeled after the Speech from the Throne tradition at the beginning of British Parliamentary sessions. 

The most important difference between the State of the Union and the Speech from the Throne is that the American President (with his staff) writes his own speech while the Prime Minister traditionally writes the speech for the sitting Monarch. In both cases, the Address is an assessment of the state of the country and an opportunity for the Chief Executive to lay out his legislative agenda. Although Presidents Washington and Adams delivered their SOTU addresses as a speech before Congress, the Constitution makes no requirement that the report must be made in person. Jefferson submitted his State of the Union as a written report, which became the tradition until Wilson reestablished the speech in 1913. Since then, several Presidents have sent written reports, usually when medical conditions prevented them from personally reporting before Congress.

In addition to the Joint Sessions mandated by the Constitution, the President may also address the entire Congress on specific subjects. President Adams made an address on Relations with France during the "Quasi-War" in 1798. In addition to restoring the State of the Union speech, Woodrow Wilson also made extensive use of the Joint Session address, making 17 of them during his term.

Congress has also met in Joint Session on several occasions to hear the address of a Foreign Leader. The leaders of France have addressed Joint Sessions on eight different occasions, British and Israeli leaders have made seven addresses each. During the Space Race, six different Astronauts appeared before Joint Sessions after their flights, and Generals and Admirals have also been called to Address the entire Congress.

• December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The fires were still burning at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station from the surprise attack by the Empire of Japan when Roosevelt addressed the Joint Session of Congress, naming the previous day "a date which will live in infamy". Secretary of State Cordell Hull had encouraged the President to fully explain the diplomatic breakdown between the US and Japan, but Roosevelt felt that a short speech would have a greater dramatic effect. The Address was just seven minutes long, and within an hour Congress had formally declared a State of War with Japan.
• June 1, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon. Although he was an avowed anti-Communist, in February 1972 President Richard Nixon became the first American President to visit the People's Republic of China, which put pressure on the USSR to also improve relations with the US. In the late spring, Air Force One took Nixon to Moscow. During the Address to a Joint Session of Congress after the trip, Nixon described a world where "new hopes are rising for a world no longer shadowed by fear and want and war". A little more than two weeks later, a team of burglars would be apprehended while attempting to break into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Complex. 
• April 28, 1981, President Ronald Reagan. Just a few weeks after taking the office he had won in a landslide victory Ronald Reagan was shot just inches below the heart by a deranged gunman. Thanks to the heroic efforts of his Security Detail and the surgical team at George Washington University Hospital, Reagan survived the attack and when he made an Address to a Joint Session of Congress on April 28, 1981, Reagan's nonchalant heroism was greeted by thunderous applause. The former Cowboy movie hero met the greeting with a good deal of humility, but he went on to milk the adoration to reinforce the Economic Reforms he was pushing in the speech. Some 40 Democrats would "cross the aisle" to make Reagan's economic package a reality.
• September 24, 2015, Pope Francis. After meeting with President Obama, His Holiness addressed a Joint Session of Congress during his visit to North America. The Pope was invited to make his Address as a Head of State (Vatican City) rather than in His spiritual capacity. Still, the Papal Address was seen as a measure of increased tolerance; just a few decades in the past, Candidate John Kennedy had to promise that he would not be under Papal orders if elected to the Presidency. 

See also: State of the Union Addresses.