Shinzo Abe is the first Japanese prime minister toreceive the rare honor of addressing a Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress. Mr. Abe expressed “deeprepentance” over Japan’s role in World War II and saidthat Japan will play a larger role in the security of theregion.
With his address, Mr. Abe joined a long list of worldleaders who came before him. They came all over theworld, Italy, Iraq, Australia, Romania and even WestGermany – back when there was a West Germany.
They addressed senators and congressmen in theHouse of Representatives chamber because it is largeenough to hold the whole Congress. The most recentleader before Mr. Abe was Afghan PresidentMohammad Ashraf Ghani last March.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks before a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) |
Also in March was a controversial appearance byBenjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel.Republican House Speaker John Boehner invitedNetanyahu without asking the White House. That was the third time thatNetanyahu has addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress. The appearance tiedhim with Winston Churchill for the most times addressing Congress.
Major world leaders like South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel ofCzechoslovakia and Lech Walesa of Poland have also stood at the podiumof the historic House chamber.
However, it was a king who actually spoke in the first Joint Meeting ofCongress on December 18, 1874. King Kalakaua of Hawaii made hisappearance when Hawaii was a kingdom, and not a U.S. state.
Few women have taken to that podium. German Chancellor Angela Merkelwas the last woman to address the joint meeting more than five years ago.Before her was Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 1991 and Prime Minister MargaretThatcher in 1985.
Before there were joint meetings of Congress, each chamber, the House or the Senate, would receive guests individually. The Marquis de Lafayette was the first to speak at a House reception in December 1824.
Israel’s Netanyahu was not the first to stir controversy about his invitation tospeak to Congress. In 1987, the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was inWashington for a summit with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It was reportedthat he would be invited to speak to Congress in a joint meeting. The invitationwas never sent because some senators reportedly objected.
For Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, there was personal as well ashistoric importance to his speech. His grandfather, Kishi Nobusuke,addressed the House as Japan’s prime minister, back in 1957.
I’m Anne Ball
Anne Ball wrote this story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.
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Words in This Story
podium-n. a raised platform for speaking
controversy-n. an argument that involves many people who stronglydisagree about something
