Trump delivers longest State of the Union address in modern history
Speaking for more than an hour, President Trump broke the record for a State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Speaking for nearly 100 minutes, the country’s leader touched on a wide range of domestic and international topics, boasted of his accomplishments and bestowed the nation’s highest honor on the pilot who participated in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a 100-year-old Korean War veteran and goaltender for the 32-year-old Olympic men’s hockey team.
The previous record holder was President Clinton, who was famous for his southern rants. In his last State of the Union address in 2000, he spoke for nearly 90 minutes.
The address is prescribed by the Constitution and calls for the president to brief Congress on the state of the union. Over time, the address became a means for presidents to address the nation’s residents, claim legislative victories, and foreshadow upcoming policy goals.
A little over a century ago, speeches by President Harding and President Coolidge were broadcast on radio. In 1947, President Truman’s speech became the first televised speech. As viewership grew, so did the weight of the annual speech, leading to remarkable and controversial moments in American politics.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) famously shouted “You’re lying!” he shouted. President Obama talking about health policy in his 2009 speech to Congress. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) created a viral moment by shredding a copy of Trump’s text after he delivered his 2020 State of the Union address.
On Tuesday night, Rep. Al Green, a Democrat from Louisiana, was escorted out of the chamber after carrying a small sign that read “BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT MONKEYS.”
