“Working is part of who you are,” said Biden to Michele. “I have said for a long time that the idea that we think we can keep companies open, moving and prospering without dealing with this pandemic is just an obstacle.”
The informal conversation on camera between the two is a break from the previous precedent, where previous presidents used the weekly address to recite pre-written speeches.
On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the resumption of the weekly speech, which was renamed “A weekly conversation”, is part of Biden’s effort to “communicate regularly and directly with the American people. “, particularly those affected by the pandemic.
“We expect it to take a variety of forms,” said Psaki.
The video is a new approach to an old tradition that has been on a hiatus since ex-President Donald Trump stopped recording them in 2018. See how previous presidents used – and modernized – the medium during their mandates to communicate with Americans:
Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Franklin D. Roosevelt began giving his famous “hearth conversations” over the radio to explain what the government was doing to tackle the economic catastrophe caused by the Great Depression and, later, World War II.
FDR addresses, according to the White House Historical Association, allowed FDR to bypass the press to connect directly with Americans.
Ronald Reagan
Radio speeches were abandoned by FDR’s successors until President Ronald Reagan, a former radio actor and broadcaster, revived them during his presidency. (President Jimmy Carter did a radio program on the phone in 1977, receiving calls from all over the country, which made him laugh at Saturday Night Live.)
Reagan began giving weekly radio programs in 1982, a practice that continued under most future presidents. (President George HW Bush registered only 18 during his term.)
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 move became ubiquitous in American culture during the 2000s, the Bush administration adapted to changes in viewing habits and began posting weekly addresses as downloadable podcasts, marking the first time that broadcasts were broadcast online.
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama took advantage of Bush’s technological advances and became the first president to post videos of his weekly speeches during his transition to office.
The videos, posted almost every Friday and with the president speaking directly to a camera, were made available for viewing on the White House page on YouTube.
Donald Trump
President Donald Trump continued with weekly YouTube video speeches when he took office, but the tradition was quietly interrupted less than two years after his presidency.
Trump, who preferred to broadcast his thoughts directly to Americans on Twitter, continued to post short, infrequent videos on important topics on White House social media accounts until the end of his term.