The Doorkeeper announcing the arrival of “The Ambassadors, Ministers and Charges d’Affairs of Foreign Governments” took way too long during Joint Sessions and would be time consuming as they would all follow in procession down the center aisle. As a result, sometime between 1995 and 1996, then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich decided to have the Diplomatic Corp take their seats prior to the Joint Session’s and appoint a ‘Dean of the Diplomatic Corps’ to represent them and process down the center aisle along with the President’s Cabinet and other officials. However, the first time this appears to have been implemented was President Clinton’s State of the Union Address on 23 January 1996.