Today is Presidents’ Day and we want to honor the US Presidents that used media during their inaugurations and their presidency! There were plenty of firsts among this list and politics would not be what it is today thanks to the courage of these American leaders.

Newspaper
• Jefferson First newspaper extra of an inaugural address, printed by the National Intelligencer

Radio
• Warren Harding- 1st to broadcast a speech over the radio
• Calvin Coolidge- had his inaugural on national radio
• FDR- Fireside chats

Social Media/ Internet
• Clinton- 1st inaugural ceremony broadcast live on the Internet

Telegraph

• Polk- 1st First Inauguration covered by telegraph; first known Inauguration featured in a newspaper illustration (Illustrated London News).

Press
• James Buchanan- 1st inauguration to be photographed

Video
• William McKinley- 1st president to have inaugural ceremony recorded by a motion picture camera

• Herbert Hoover- ceremony recorded by talking newsreel

Television
• First lady gives a tour of the White House in 1962

It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come in technology. Many of the first presidents were not quick to jump into the press, but that has changed. Barack Obama is the “First Social Media President” in history and is heavily active on Twitter, Facebook, Google +.

U.S. presidents have raised the bar each term to establish communication with the entire nation and the world through all mediums that were available during their terms.

What are some presidential media moments you remember? If previous U.S. presidents were on social media today, what would they say? Tell us in the comments!