Obama's farewell speech to take foreign-policy focus

BARACK Obama gives his farewell address as US president on Tuesday at McCormick Place in Chicago, the venue for his election night celebration in 2008. This will be the first time in US history that a president has returned to his hometown to deliver his goodbye speech to the nation, and he leaves office on a seven-year high approval rating of 56 per cent, according to Gallup.

In the past, farewell addresses have represented a legacy-defining opportunity for presidents to set out their accomplishments and articulate a vision for the future. In many cases, the outgoing head of state has focused in large part on foreign affairs, especially in the post-war period of US international leadership; this will be a key focal point of Mr Obama's speech.

Harry Truman, for instance, used his address in 1953 to talk about the emergence of the Cold War under his watch and noted the fact that he had had "hardly a day in office that was not dominated by this all-embracing struggle, this conflict between those who love freedom and those who would lead the world back toward slavery and darkness". He also outlined his rationale for using atomic weaponry in Japan.