Washington ( CNN ) -- When President Barack Obama took the podium on Tuesday night , he followed in the footsteps of generations of presidents before him : speaking to the American people about a critical issue facing the United States . But he did n't follow literally in those footsteps : Unlike many presidents before him , he spoke from the East Room -- not the traditional setting of the Oval Office . From President Ronald Reagan announcing the invasion of Grenada to President H.W . Bush announcing the beginning of the Gulf War to President George W. Bush announcing the invasion of Iraq , presidents have chosen to use the visual power of the `` Oval . '' Obama , though , has used that iconic setting for prime-time speeches only twice during his presidency , both within months of each other . In June 2010 , the president sat behind the Resolute desk and updated the nation on `` the battle we 're waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens , '' after the Deepwater Horizon exploded off the coast of Louisiana . In August of that year , Obama made a point to reference the setting of his speech announcing the end of the combat mission in Iraq . `` From this desk , seven-and-a-half years ago , President Bush announced the beginning of military operations in Iraq . Much has changed since that night , '' Obama said . When it was time for Obama to make his major military announcement -- the May 2011 death of Osama bin Laden -- he chose to walk down the long White House hallway to his East Room podium , the same setting he used for his Syria speech . Obama is not the first president , though , to break with tradition of either the location or timing in making major pronouncements . President Bill Clinton 's first comments on his missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998 came from an ad-hoc press room set up in a Martha 's Vineyard school where he was on vacation . He would make a second , more formal announcement later that day from the Oval Office . President H.W . Bush regularly used the Oval Office , and he made perhaps the earliest-ever speech in December 1989 : A 7:20 a.m. nationwide address to announce military action in Panama .
Obama 's speech Tuesday night was in the tradition of other U.S. presidents . However , unlike most presidents , Obama again chose the East Room instead of the Oval Office . He also told the nation about the death of bin Laden from the East Room .