Video: 'The 1995 State of the Union (Address to a Joint Session of the Congress)'

(Tuesday, January 24, 1995, approximately 9:00 p.m. EST) — U.S. President Bill Clinton tonight sought to build a rationale for the second half of his first term, at once defending his record and embracing many ideas backed by the new Republican Congressional majority, but amending them to suit the brand of centrist Democrats who elected him.

In a State of the Union Message that was by turns conciliatory and studded with pointed delineations of difference, Clinton pledged his cooperation in shrinking the Government, cutting taxes, overhauling welfare and cracking down on illegal immigration.

But he repeatedly veered away from endorsing specific Republican proposals for dealing with those issues, instead presenting his own ideas as sensible, humane alternatives to more extreme courses of action.