State of the Union Address

As was his custom, President Roosevelt selected short excerpts of the longer radio address that were filmed as newsreels to be shown in movie theatres. In these days before television news, the film companies, such as Universal, Paramount, and Fox Movietone, were invited into the White House to film parts of Roosevelt's speeches, which then appeared in movie theaters for several days afterwards to reinforce the President's most important points. The newsreel cameras filmed the excerpts either immediately before or immediately following the live radio broadcast. Typically, still photographers also took photographs before or after the live broadcast.