Presidential Communication

  • Washington

    Washington was known for being very conservative with his opinions, especially on congressional behavior, through his speeches (SOTU, Inaugural) that were published in newspapers nationwide.
  • Lincoln

    Lincoln was known for expressing his opinions in his debates with Stephen Douglas, which were reported on in many journalistic publications that travelled the country. He was also known for being the first president to install a telegraph in the White House so that information and decisions could quickly be communicated from the president.
  • McKinley

    McKinley took the country by surprise with his emphasis on the importance of the moving picture, as his inauguration was the first ever to be filmed. The importance of video allowed his decisions to be communicated and cemented into the future.
  • Teddy Roosevelt

    Teddy Roosevelt took office during the golden age of journalism and he knew how to work the press, which got him a lot of attention during president. With his strategic dropping off stories on his successes in office and ability to work with the press on slogans that would catch the eye of readers, his actions became well-known with the people.
  • FDR

    FDR's natural charisma was what made him popular with the people on his evening fireside chats, which were broadcast across the entire nation over the radio. This easy way to learn about what was going on in the country became well-liked and radios came to exist in every home, which encouraged the passage of information around the country.
  • JFK

    JFK was the first president to effectively put the medium of TV to use. By participating in televised debates and delivering all of his addresses over live TV broadcast nationally.
  • Clinton

    Clinton was in with the times during his presidency, even having his own AOL account, which he used to send the first presidential email in all of history.
  • Obama

    Obama was the president to debut the first presidential social media account over the platform Twitter. While he personally did not use it and it was mostly monitored by marketing teams, this did close boundaries between the president and the people.
  • Trump

    Trump, though not the first president to have a twitter account while in office, was the first to truly market to the platform and use it as means of communication with his constituents. The president, who tweeted over 3500 times in office, was able to quickly voice his opinion on matters and inform the people of actions he planned to take.