 What I like best about this photograph is that it recaptures some of the magic of Woodrow Wilson This image shows President Wilson addressing a joint session of Congress He did this most famously with his first annual message what we now call the State of the Union Address on December 2nd 1913 but this was actually the fourth time that year that Wilson had addressed a joint session of Congress He was a greater advocate and exponent practitioner of the bully pulpit that even theater Roosevelt We tend to forget how innovative he was as a president Seated behind him is his vice president Thomas Marshall with his arms folded and the speaker the house champ Clark Wilson talked about the creation of the Federal Reserve that day the Mexican Revolution a host of progressive reforms He was a an innovative and aggressive president But the tradition that he established here of live reading was not continued entirely after him It was Franklin Roosevelt who restored it in the 1930s and the tradition that we now have today So it's just another reminder that these traditions that we celebrate and revere our choices that innovative presidents make