Which President’s inaugural address was the first to be webcast?

The second inauguration address a President gives is rarely noteworthy. In U.S. history the one exception is Lincoln’s 1865 “with malice toward none” speech, setting forth President Lincoln’s vision for life after the Civil War. President Bill Clinton's second inauguration in January 1997 was not so remarkable for its content, but for how the content was presented.

Clinton’s second inaugural address was the first to be webcast.

A webcast is a broadcast over the Internet instead of over the airwaves, as with traditional broadcasting of radio and television. It is accomplished with live streaming, which refers to content delivered live over the Internet, requires a camera for the media, an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content.

In his speech, President Clinton did say that the challenge for the 21st century was “to shape the forces of the information age.” He also said that “10 years ago the Internet was the mystical province of physicists, but today is a commonplace encyclopedia for schoolchildren.” And, as you can see from my hyperlinks, I too have taken advantage of the Internet as an encyclopedia. 

Here, from You Tube, is President Clinton’s second inaugural address: