Lyndon Johnson's State of the Union Address, 1966
Johnson Administration Presidential Addresses  |
On Jan. 12, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson delivered his third State of the Union at 9:00 p.m. EST.
The State of the Union tradition stems from the U.S. Constitution's requirement that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”[1] The first State of the Union address was given by George Washington to both houses of Congress in 1790.
The 1966 address was the first State of the Union with a televised response from the opposition party. After the 1965 address was televised for the first time, Republican leadership pushed for air time to present their 30-minute reaction.[2] The "Republican Appraisal" of the 1966 State of the Union would air five days after Johnson's address.[3]
State of the Union address
Video
Transcript
The following text is a transcript of Johnson's address, as prepared for delivery:
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Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the House and the Senate, my fellow Americans: I come before you tonight to report on the State of the Union for the third time. I come here to thank you and to add my tribute, once more, to the Nation's gratitude for this, the 89th Congress. This Congress has already reserved for itself an honored chapter in the history of America. Our Nation tonight is engaged in a brutal and bitter conflict in Vietnam. Later on I want to discuss that struggle in some detail with you. It just must be the center of our concerns. But we will not permit those who fire upon us in Vietnam to win a victory over the desires and the intentions of all the American people. This Nation is mighty enough, its society is healthy enough, its people are strong enough, to pursue our goals in the rest of the world while still building a Great Society here at home. And that is what I have come here to ask of you tonight. I recommend that you provide the resources to carry forward, with full vigor, the great health and education programs that you enacted into law last year. I recommend that we prosecute with vigor and determination our war on poverty. I recommend that you give a new and daring direction to our foreign aid program, designed to make a maximum attack on hunger and disease and ignorance in those countries that are determined to help themselves, and to help those nations that are trying to control population growth. I recommend that you make it possible to expand trade between the United States and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. I recommend to you a program to rebuild completely, on a scale never before attempted, entire central and slum areas of several of our cities in America. I recommend that you attack the wasteful and degrading poisoning of our rivers, and, as the cornerstone of this effort, clean completely entire large river basins. I recommend that you meet the growing menace of crime in the streets by building up law enforcement and by revitalizing the entire Federal system from prevention to probation. I recommend that you take additional steps to insure equal justice to all of our people by effectively enforcing nondiscrimination in Federal and State jury selection, by making it a serious Federal crime to obstruct public and private efforts to secure civil rights, and by outlawing discrimination in the sale and rental of housing. I recommend that you help me modernize and streamline the Federal Government by creating a new Cabinet level Department of Transportation and reorganizing several existing agencies. In turn, I will restructure our civil service in the top grades so that men and women can easily be assigned to jobs where they are most needed, and ability will be both required as well as rewarded. I will ask you to make it possible for Members of the House of Representatives to work more effectively in the service of the Nation through a constitutional amendment extending the term of a Congressman to 4 years, concurrent with that of the President. II. Because of Vietnam we cannot do all that we should, or all that we would like to do. We will ruthlessly attack waste and inefficiency. We will make sure that every dollar is spent with the thrift and with the commonsense which recognizes how hard the taxpayer worked in order to earn it. We will continue to meet the needs of our people by continuing to develop the Great Society. Last year alone the wealth that we produced increased $47 billion, and it will soar again this year to a total over $720 billion. Because our economic policies have produced rising revenues, if you approve every program that I recommend tonight, our total budget deficit will be one of the lowest in many years. It will be only $1.8 billion next year. Total spending in the administrative budget will be $112.8 billion. Revenues next year will be $111 billion. On a cash basis--which is the way that you and I keep our family budget--the Federal budget next year will actually show a surplus. That is to say, if we include all the money that your Government will take in and all the money that your Government will spend, your Government next year will collect one-half billion dollars more than it will spend in the year 1967. I have not come here tonight to ask for pleasant luxuries or for idle pleasures. I have come here to recommend that you, the representatives of the richest Nation on earth, you, the elected servants of a people who live in abundance unmatched on this globe, you bring the most urgent decencies of life to all of your fellow Americans. There are men who cry out: We must sacrifice. Well, let us rather ask them: Who will they sacrifice? Are they going to sacrifice the children who seek the learning, or the sick who need medical care, or the families who dwell in squalor now brightened by the hope of home? Will they sacrifice opportunity for the distressed, the beauty of our land, the hope of our poor? Time may require further sacrifices. And if it does, then we will make them. But we will not heed those who wring it from the hopes of the unfortunate here in a land of plenty. I believe that we can continue the Great Society while we fight in Vietnam. But if there are some who do not believe this, then, in the name of justice, let them call for the contribution of those who live in the fullness of our blessing, rather than try to strip it from the hands of those that are most in need. And let no one think that the unfortunate and the oppressed of this land sit stifled and alone in their hope tonight. Hundreds of their servants and their protectors sit before me tonight here in this great Chamber. III. The Great Society leads us along three roads--growth and justice and liberation. [1.] First is growth--the national prosperity which supports the well-being of our people and which provides the tools of our progress. I can report to you tonight what you have seen for yourselves already--in every city and countryside. This Nation is flourishing. Workers are making more money than ever--with after-tax income in the past 5 years up 33 percent; in the last year alone, up 8 percent. More people are working than ever before in our history--an increase last year of 2 1/2 million jobs. Corporations have greater after-tax earnings than ever in history. For the past 5 years those earnings have been up over 65 percent, and last year alone they had a rise of 20 percent. Average farm income is higher than ever. Over the past 5 years it is up 40 percent, and over the past year it is up 22 percent alone. I was informed this afternoon by the distinguished Secretary of the Treasury that his preliminary estimates indicate that our balance of payments deficit has been reduced from $2.8 billion in 1964 to $1.3 billion, or less, in 1965. This achievement has been made possible by the patriotic voluntary cooperation of businessmen and bankers working with your Government. We must now work together with increased urgency to wipe out this balance of payments deficit altogether in the next year. And as our economy surges toward new heights we must increase our vigilance against the inflation which raises the cost of living and which lowers the savings of every family in this land. It is essential, to prevent inflation, that we ask both labor and business to exercise price and wage restraint, and I do so again tonight. I believe it desirable, because of increased military expenditures, that you temporarily restore the automobile and certain telephone excise tax reductions made effective only 12 days ago. Without raising taxes--or even increasing the total tax bill paid--we should move to improve our withholding system so that Americans can more realistically pay as they go, speed up the collection of corporate taxes, and make other necessary simplifications of the tax structure at an early date. I hope these measures will be adequate. But if the necessities of Vietnam require it, I will not hesitate to return to the Congress for additional appropriations, or additional revenues if they are needed. [2.] The second road is justice. Justice means a man's hope should not be limited by the color of his skin. I propose legislation to establish unavoidable requirements for nondiscriminatory jury selection in Federal and State courts--and to give the Attorney General the power necessary to enforce those requirements. I propose legislation to strengthen authority of Federal courts to try those who murder, attack, or intimidate either civil rights workers or others exercising their constitutional rights--and to increase penalties to a level equal to the nature of the crime. Legislation, resting on the fullest constitutional authority of the Federal Government, to 'prohibit racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. For that other nation within a Nation--the poor--whose distress has now captured the conscience of America, I will ask the Congress not only to continue, but to speed up the war on poverty. And in so doing, we will provide the added energy of achievement with the increased efficiency of experience. To improve the life of our rural Americans and our farm population, we will plan for the future through the establishment of several new Community Development Districts, improved education through the use of Teacher Corps teams, better health measures, physical examinations, and adequate and available medical resources. For those who labor, I propose to improve unemployment insurance, to expand minimum wage benefits, and by the repeal of section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act to make the labor laws in all our States equal to the laws of the 31 States which do not have tonight right-to-work measures. And I also intend to ask the Congress to consider measures which, without improperly invading State and local authority, will enable us effectively to deal with strikes which threaten irreparable damage to the national interest. [3.] The third path is the path of liberation. It is to use our success for the fulfillment of our lives. A great nation is one which breeds a great people. A great people flower not from wealth and power, but from a society which spurs them to the fullness of their genius. That alone is a Great Society. Yet, slowly, painfully, on the edge of victory, has come the knowledge that shared prosperity is not enough. In the midst of abundance modern man walks oppressed by forces which menace and confine the quality of his life, and which individual abundance alone will not overcome. We can subdue and we can master these forces--bring increased meaning to our lives--if all of us, Government and citizens, are bold enough to change old ways, daring enough to assault new dangers, and if the dream is dear enough to call forth the limitless capacities of this great people. This year we must continue to improve the quality of American life. Let us fulfill and improve the great health and education programs of last year, extending special opportunities to those who risk their lives in our Armed Forces. I urge the House of Representatives to complete action on three programs already passed by the Senate--the Teacher Corps, rent assistance, and home rule for the District of Columbia. In some of our urban areas we must help rebuild entire sections and neighborhoods containing, in some cases, as many as 100,000 people. Working together, private enterprise and government must press forward with the task of providing homes and shops, parks and hospitals, and all the other necessary parts of a flourishing community where our people can come to live the good life. I will offer other proposals to stimulate and to reward planning for the growth of entire metropolitan areas. Of all the reckless devastations of our national heritage, none is really more shameful than the continued poisoning of our rivers and our air. We must undertake a cooperative effort to end pollution in several river basins, making additional funds available to help draw the plans and construct the plants that are necessary to make the waters of our entire river systems clean, and make them a source of pleasure and beauty for all of our people. To attack and to overcome growing crime and lawlessness, I think we must have a stepped-up program to help modernize and strengthen our local police forces. Our people have a right to feel secure in their homes and on their streets--and that right just must be secured. Nor can we fail to arrest the destruction of life and property on our highways. I will propose a Highway Safety Act of 1966 to seek an end to this mounting tragedy. We must also act to prevent the deception of the American consumer--requiring all packages to state clearly and truthfully their contents--all interest and credit charges to be fully revealed--and keeping harmful drugs and cosmetics away from our stores. It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention. We must change to master change. I propose to take steps to modernize and streamline the executive branch, to modernize the relations between city and State and Nation. A new Department of Transportation is needed to bring together our transportation activities. The present structure--35 Government agencies, spending $5 billion yearly--makes it almost impossible to serve either the growing demands of this great Nation or the needs of the industry, or the right of the taxpayer to full efficiency and real frugality. I will propose in addition a program to construct and to flight-test a new supersonic transport airplane that will fly three times the speed of sound--in excess of 2,000 miles per hour. I propose to examine our Federal system-the relation between city, State, Nation, and the citizens themselves. We need a commission of the most distinguished scholars and men of public affairs to do this job. I will ask them to move on to develop a creative federalism to best use the wonderful diversity of our institutions and our people to solve the problems and to fulfill the dreams of the American people. As the process of election becomes more complex and more costly, we must make it possible for those without personal wealth to enter public life without being obligated to a few large contributors. Therefore, I will submit legislation to revise the present unrealistic restriction on contributions--to prohibit the endless proliferation of committees, bringing local and State committees under the act--to attach strong teeth and severe penalties to the requirement of full disclosure of contributions-and to broaden the participation of the people, through added tax incentives, to stimulate small contributions to the party and to the candidate of their choice. To strengthen the work of Congress I strongly urge an amendment to provide a 4-year term for Members of the House of Representatives-which should not begin before 1972. The present 2-year term requires most Members of Congress to divert enormous energies to an almost constant process of campaigning--depriving this Nation of the fullest measure of both their skill and their wisdom. Today, too, the work of government is far more complex than in our early years, requiring more time to learn and more time to master the technical tasks of legislating. And a longer term will serve to attract more men of the highest quality to political life. The Nation, the principle of democracy, and, I think, each congressional district, will all be better served by a 4-year term for Members of the House. And I urge your swift action. IV. Tonight the cup of peril is full in Vietnam. That conflict is not an isolated episode, but another great event in the policy that we have followed with strong consistency since World War II. The touchstone of that policy is the interest of the United States--the welfare and the freedom of the people of the United States. But nations sink when they see that interest only through a narrow glass. In a world that has grown small and dangerous, pursuit of narrow aims could bring decay and even disaster. An America that is mighty beyond description-yet living in a hostile or despairing world--would be neither safe nor free to build a civilization to liberate the spirit of man. In this pursuit we helped rebuild Western Europe. We gave our aid to Greece and Turkey, and we defended the freedom of Berlin. In this pursuit we have helped new nations toward independence. We have extended the helping hand of the Peace Corps and carried forward the largest program of economic assistance in the world. And in this pursuit we work to build a hemisphere of democracy and of social justice. In this pursuit we have defended against Communist aggression--in Korea under President Truman--in the Formosa Straits under President Eisenhower--in Cuba under President Kennedy--and again in Vietnam. Tonight Vietnam must hold the center of our attention, but across the world problems and opportunities crowd in on the American Nation. I will discuss them fully in the months to come, and I will follow the five continuing lines of policy that America has followed under its last four Presidents. [1.] The first principle is strength. Tonight I can tell you that we are strong enough to keep all of our commitments. We will need expenditures of $58.3 billion for the next fiscal year to maintain this necessary defense might. While special Vietnam expenditures for the next fiscal year are estimated to increase by $5.8 billion, I can tell you that all the other expenditures put together in the entire Federal budget will rise this coming year by only $.6 billion. This is true because of the stringent cost-conscious economy program inaugurated in the Defense Department, and followed by the other departments of Government. [2.] A second principle of policy is the effort to control, and to reduce, and to ultimately eliminate the modern engines of destruction. We will vigorously pursue existing proposals-and seek new ones--to control arms and to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. [3.] A third major principle of our foreign policy is to help build those associations of nations which reflect the opportunities and the necessities of the modern world. By strengthening the common defense, by stimulating world commerce, by meeting new hopes, these associations serve the cause of a flourishing world. We will take new steps this year to help strengthen the Alliance for Progress, the unity of Europe, the community of the Atlantic, the regional organizations of developing continents, and that supreme association--the United Nations. We will work to strengthen economic cooperation, to reduce barriers to trade, and to improve international finance. [4.] A fourth enduring strand of policy has been to help improve the life of man. From the Marshall plan to this very moment tonight, that policy has rested on the claims of compassion, and the certain knowledge that only a people advancing in expectation will build secure and peaceful lands. This year I propose major new directions in our program of foreign assistance to help those countries who will help themselves. We will conduct a worldwide attack on the problems of hunger and disease and ignorance. We will place the matchless skill and the resources of our own great America, in farming and in fertilizers, at the service of those countries committed to develop a modern agriculture. We will aid those who educate the young in other lands, and we will give children in other continents the same head start that we are trying to give our own children. To advance these ends I will propose the International Education Act of 1966. I will also propose the International Health Act of 1966 to strike at disease by a new effort to bring modern skills and knowledge to the uncared-for, those suffering in the world, and by trying to wipe out smallpox and malaria and control yellow fever over most of the world during this next decade; to help countries trying to control population growth, by increasing our research--and we will earmark funds to help their efforts. In the next year, from our foreign aid sources, we propose to dedicate $1 billion to these efforts, and we call on all who have the means to join us in this work in the world. [5.] The fifth and most important principle of our foreign policy is support of national independence--the right of each people to govern themselves--and to shape their own institutions. For a peaceful world order will be possible only when each country walks the way that it has chosen to walk for itself. We follow this principle by encouraging the end of colonial rule. We follow this principle, abroad as well as at home, by continued hostility to the rule of the many by the few--or the oppression of one race by another. We follow this principle by building bridges to Eastern Europe. And I will ask the Congress for authority to remove the special tariff restrictions which are a barrier to increasing trade between the East and the West. The insistent urge toward national independence is the strongest force of today's world in which we live. In Africa and Asia and Latin America it is shattering the designs of those who would subdue others to their ideas or their will. It is eroding the unity of what was once a Stalinist empire. In recent months a number of nations have east out those who would subject them to the ambitions of mainland China. History is on the side of freedom and is on the side of societies shaped from the genius of each people. History does not favor a single system or belief--unless force is used to make it so. That is why it has been necessary for us to defend this basic principle of our policy, to defend it in Berlin, in Korea, in Cuba-and tonight in Vietnam. For tonight, as so many nights before, young Americans struggle and young Americans die in a distant land. Tonight, as so many nights before, the American Nation is asked to sacrifice the blood of its children and the fruits of its labor for the love of its freedom. How many times--in my lifetime and in yours--have the American people gathered, as they do now, to hear their President tell them of conflict and tell them of danger? Each time they have answered. They have answered with all the effort that the security and the freedom of this Nation required. And they do again tonight in Vietnam. Not too many years ago Vietnam was a peaceful, if troubled, land. In the North was an independent Communist government. In the South a people struggled to build a nation, with the friendly help of the United States. There were some in South Vietnam who wished to force Communist rule on their own people. But their progress was slight. Their hope of success was dim. Then, little more than 6 years ago, North Vietnam decided on conquest. And from that day to this, soldiers and supplies have moved from North to South in a swelling stream that is swallowing the remnants of revolution in aggression. As the assault mounted, our choice gradually became clear. We could leave, abandoning South Vietnam to its attackers and to certain conquest, or we could stay and fight beside the people of South Vietnam. We stayed. And we will stay until aggression has stopped. We will stay because a just nation cannot leave to the cruelties of its enemies a people who have staked their lives and independence on America's solemn pledge--a pledge which has grown through the commitments of three American Presidents. We will stay because in Asia and around the world are countries whose independence rests, in large measure, on confidence in America's word and in America's protection. To yield to force in Vietnam would weaken that confidence, would undermine the independence of many lands, and would whet the appetite of aggression. We would have to fight in one land, and then we would have to fight in another--or abandon much of Asia to the domination of Communists. And we do not intend to abandon Asia to conquest. Last year the nature of the war in Vietnam changed again. Swiftly increasing numbers of armed men from the North crossed the borders to join forces that were already in the South. Attack and terror increased, spurred and encouraged by the belief that the United States lacked the will to continue and that their victory was near. Despite our desire to limit conflict, it was necessary to act: to hold back the mounting aggression, to give courage to the people of the South, and to make our firmness clear to the North. Thus. we began limited air action against military targets in North Vietnam. We increased our fighting force to its present strength tonight of 190,000 men. These moves have not ended the aggression but they have prevented its success. The aims of the enemy have been put out of reach by the skill and the bravery of Americans and their allies--and by the enduring courage of the South Vietnamese who, I can tell you, have lost eight men last year for every one of ours. The enemy is no longer close to victory. Time is no longer on his side. There is no cause to doubt the American commitment. Our decision to stand firm has been matched by our desire for peace. In 1965 alone we had 300 private talks for peace in Vietnam, with friends and adversaries throughout the world. Since Christmas your Government has labored again, with imagination and endurance, to remove any barrier to peaceful settlement. For 20 days now we and our Vietnamese allies have dropped no bombs in North Vietnam. Able and experienced spokesmen have visited, in behalf of America, more than 40 countries. We have talked to more than a hundred governments, all 113 that we have relations with, and some that we don't. We have talked to the United Nations and we have called upon all of its members to make any contribution that they can toward helping obtain peace. In public statements and in private communications, to adversaries and to friends, in Rome and Warsaw, in Paris and Tokyo, in Africa and throughout this hemisphere, America has made her position abundantly clear. We seek neither territory nor bases, economic domination or military alliance in Vietnam. We fight for the principle of self-determination--that the people of South Vietnam should be able to choose their own course, choose it in free elections without violence, without terror, and without fear. The people of all Vietnam should make a free decision on the great question of reunification. This is all we want for South Vietnam. It is all the people of South Vietnam want. And if there is a single nation on this earth that desires less than this for its own people, then let its voice be heard. We have also made it clear--from Hanoi to New York--that there are no arbitrary limits to our search for peace. We stand by the Geneva Agreements of 1954 and 1962. We will meet at any conference table, we will discuss any proposals--four points or fourteen or forty--and we will consider the views of any group. We will work for a cease-fire now or once discussions have begun. We will respond if others reduce their use of force, and we will withdraw our soldiers once South Vietnam is securely guaranteed the right to shape its own future. We have said all this, and we have asked-and hoped--and we have waited for a response. So far we have received no response to prove either success or failure. We have carried our quest for peace to many nations and peoples because we share this planet with others whose future, in large measure, is tied to our own action, and whose counsel is necessary to our own hopes. We have found understanding and support. And we know they wait with us tonight for some response that could lead to peace. I wish tonight that I could give you a blueprint for the course of this conflict over the coming months, but we just cannot know what the future may require. We may have to face long, hard combat or a long, hard conference, or even both at once. Until peace comes, or if it does not come, our course is clear. We will act as we must to help protect the independence of the valiant people of South Vietnam. We will strive to limit the conflict, for we wish neither increased destruction nor do we want to invite increased danger. But we will give our fighting men what they must have: every gun, and every dollar, and every decision--whatever the cost or whatever the challenge. And we will continue to help the people of South Vietnam care for those that are ravaged by battle, create progress in the villages, and carry forward the healing hopes of peace as best they can amidst the uncertain terrors of war. And let me be absolutely clear: The days may become months, and the months may become years, but we will stay as long as aggression commands us to battle. There may be some who do not want peace, whose ambitions stretch so far that war in Vietnam is but a welcome and convenient episode in an immense design to subdue history to their will. But for others it must now be clear--the choice is not between peace and victory, it lies between peace and the ravages of a conflict from which they can only lose. The people of Vietnam, North and South, seek the same things: the shared needs of man, the needs for food and shelter and education--the chance to build and work and till the soil, free from the arbitrary horrors of battle--the desire to walk in the dignity of those who master their own destiny. For many painful years, in war and revolution and infrequent peace, they have struggled to fulfill those needs. It is a crime against mankind that so much courage, and so much will, and so many dreams, must be flung on the fires of war and death. To all of those caught up in this conflict we therefore say again tonight: Let us choose peace, and with it the wondrous works of peace, and beyond that, the time when hope reaches toward consummation, and life is the servant of life. In this work, we plan to discharge our duty to the people whom we serve. V. This is the State of the Union. But over it all--wealth, and promise, and expectation--lies our troubling awareness of American men at war tonight. How many men who listen to me tonight have served their Nation in other wars? How very many are not here to listen? The war in Vietnam is not like these other wars. Yet, finally, war is always the same. It is young men dying in the fullness of their promise. It is trying to kill a man that you do not even know well enough to hate. Therefore, to know war is to know that there is still madness in this world. Many of you share the burden of this knowledge tonight with me. But there is a difference. For finally I must be the one to order our guns to fire, against all the most inward pulls of my desire. For we have children to teach, and we have sick to be cured, and we have men to be freed. There are poor to be lifted up, and there are cities to be built, and there is a world to be helped. Yet we do what we must. I am hopeful, and I will try as best I can, with everything I have got, to end this battle and to return our sons to their desires. Yet as long as others will challenge America's security and test the clearness of our beliefs with fire and steel, then we must stand or see the promise of two centuries tremble. I believe tonight that you do not want me to try that risk. And from that belief your President summons his strength for the trials that lie ahead in the days to come. The work must be our work now. Scarred by the weaknesses of man, with whatever guidance God may offer us, we must nevertheless and alone with our mortality, strive to ennoble the life of man on earth. Thank you, and goodnight.[4] |
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| —President Lyndon Johnson (D), Jan. 12, 1966 [5] | ||
Response to the State of the Union address: Everett Dirksen and Gerald Ford
Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R - Ill.) and House Minority Leader Gerald Ford (R - Mich.) delivered the response to the state of the union.[6]
Transcript
The following text is a transcript of Dirksen and Ford's response, as prepared for delivery:
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EVERETT DIRKSEN: Fellow Citizens: I am Senator Dirksen of Illinois, Republican Floor Leader in the United States senate. With me on this program will be Congressman Ford of Michigan, Republican Floor Leader in the United States House of Representatives. Each of us will have about 14 minutes to discuss the State of The Union. That is a short time for a gigantic task. The President has a mandate under the Constitution to give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, together with his recommendations. We have no such mandate. we do believe we have a duty as elected Representatives to present our views. Time will permit only a few basic highlights. We are the legatees of a great, strong land. We received it from those who were here before us. The state of our land is too often measured in material terms -- jobs, income, gross product, services and goods. Actually it embraces much more. It includes the national mood, our capacity to live together, and our prestige. It includes our leadership of the Free World, our relations with other lands, our respect for law, our devotion to peace, and our willingness to sacrifice even as others have done before us. It includes reason and realism in a world of tumult and confusion. We are not only in this world but of it, and we shall be for ages to come. Consider then our ties and relations with other lands. Twenty-one years ago, we pioneered the United Nations. Since then, we have developed regional groups throughout the world for specific purposes. We believed it would aid the cause of peace and tranquility and freedom. In pursuit of these high purposes, we spent more than $120 billion of your money on foreign aid. we hoped that if 're supplied the tools, other nations would supply the men on Freedom's frontier. We fulfilled our pledges. They did so only in part and too often with ill grace. Where needed, we supplied manpower also. The first feeble cries of "Yankee, go home" have become a chorus. Our prestige on the world thermometer of good will has dropped fast and far. Our billions have gained little respect, and even less appreciation. Every continent has its fevers and turmoil. Two things are needed. The first is a careful, precise audit to see where our fleeting dollars went and what they really accomplished. The second, is a sustained and expert scrutiny of every estimate for foreign aid to determine how the aid requested will be used and whether there will be dividends in the form of good will and real devotion to peace and freedom. To accept less would be an injustice to the charity and sacrificial spirit of the American people. Consider now the horsemen of despair who ride over the world -- the population explosion, hunger, and poverty. They constitute a crisis already on our doorstep. They pay farmers to produce lese. Industry forever seeks ways to produce more at less cost. Meanwhile, births continue to grow and hunger stalks many areas of the world. Each year, the world gains 65 million persons. The number will grow. So will hunger. Can peace and hunger co-exist? Ages ago, Isaiah wrote, "And it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their King and their God." American agriculture is geared to high production. Better to pay for abundance than for scarcity. In a few years, Red China will have 800 million people. Leaders can survive only when the urgent creature needs of the people are met. The ugly heads of aggression and conquest vanish when there is no need for new domains. Surely, within the genius of American enterprise, the way can be found for the produce of our fruited plains to reach the empty bellies of the world. The signs of trouble are already written in the firmament and there is no time to lose. This too with its vast potential impact on our future involves the State of the Union. Consider now the grim struggle in which vre are involved in Asia. Let us be crystal clear. Vietnam is not our war. But we pledged ourselves to help a small nation. Our word was given. He are there to keep our word. For more than 90 years, Cambodia, Laos and Indo-China were under French tutelage. The Viet Minh -- the north half,-rebelled. It was a long, bloody struggle. The French were defeated. The conflict ended with an accord signed at Geneva. Laos and Cambodia achieved their independence. Indo-China was divided in half with a non-military zone between. Our country did not sign that accord. But we bad an interest. Hundreds of millions of your money was spent to aid the French. But it also involved our defense perimeter and our security. we pledged ourselves to aid Vietnam in preserving her integrity and independence. Accordingly we were permitted to keep military advisers there. At first it was but a few hundred. Gradually the number grew into thousands. Today it approaches 200,000. It has become a grim, bloody, and costly business. It is a war but not of our making. Young men with gay hearts go forth to Vietnam and lifeless young men in wooden boxes return. They fought, bled, died in the heat and mud of the jungles. All this is 12,000 miles from home. For a long time it seemed remote. But no longer. We become grimly aware that we are fighting a war to help a small land, so many of whose people can neither read nor write. Eighteen months ago, Congress enacted a Joint Resolution, giving support and approval to the President as Commander In Chief to take all necessary steps including the use of force to repel attack on our forces and prevent further aggression. That resolution is still in effect. In both Houses of Congress the vote was 504 to 2. Every Republican present voted for it. But as complications develop and the choice becomes guns or butter or both, groups and individuals become increasingly vocal. Let's get out. we must stay in. We must bomb Hanoi. We must not bomb. We must step up. We must hold back. We must negotiate. We must not negotiate. To retreat and get out would be deemed a confession that we are a paper tiger. Tat a propaganda weapon that would be in Asia, Africa and elsewhere. To forsake our pledges would shatter confidence in us and further diminish our prestige. To negotiate from weakness would mean defeat before we ever reached the negotiation table. So what? Is there then a rational course to follow? I believe so. Let the peace efforts continue. Who can object to any honorable effort to secure peace where young blood is involved. Let the military effort continue. It demonstrates our determination to keep our word. Let it be intensified if necessary as sound military judgment dictates. There is, after all, no substitute for victory. Let the objective be kept crystal clear at all times, and that is guaranteed freedom and independence for the Vietnamese. How else could we keep faith with the young dead? How else do we redeem our word? How else do we regain our prestige? How else do we maintain our leadership in the Free World? All this is part of the State of the Union. GERALD FORD: We are assembled tonight in an historic chamber -- a chamber that has echoed the thunderous debate and vigorous dissent of some of our country's greatest leaders. Daniel Webster here proclaimed the immortal words, "Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable. " As a minority party, it is our task to carry the torch of dissent responsibly and constructively. Tonight we look forward, not backward. Our people are restless a:nd impatient with problems too long unsolved and too often compounded by bad laws and bureaucratic failings. The Congress turns in 1966, as in the past, to its part in the always unfinished task of making America united, strong, and free. These goals in their present setting point particularly to three types of problems in domestic policy: how to increase jobs and output without inflation; how to move ahead toward equality for all citizens; and how to improve government and its services. While there are courses of action that strike at each of these problems, there is a common remedy that affects all three: Education. -- The problem of unemployment is particularly the problem of the young, inexperienced, unskilled person of inadequate schooling. More and better schooling will reduce racial tensions and speed the Negro's economic and social progress. -- Improved education will help to solve the problems of goverment by enlightening both the electors and the elected. We believe every youth must be encouraged to pursue his education as far as his talents will take him. Drop-outs must be encouraged to go baGk to school for an education or training to fit their ability. Curricula must be enriched. People already working should be given the chance to retrain and upgrade their skills and earning power. Vocational Rehabilitation for the handicapped must be expanded. This cannot, and should not, be done by the Federal government alone. But, there is much that the national government can do to promote this effort without the heavy hand of federal control. For example, the Congress should ease the financial burden of going to college. The door of education must be opened wide. Therefore, we propose a federal income tax credit for college students and their parents. Compassion with Competence We must liberate the War on Poverty from waste, controversy, and the bad odor of political bossism. We must combine compassion with competence. This nation can afford what is necessary to help the less fortunate among us to help themselves. The children of the poor must have the highest priority. How many of the poor have actually received any of the twenty-three hundred million taxpayers' dollars from the present War on Poverty? Tragically, very few. The poor themselves must have an important role in policy decisions at the community level. The States should be partners in this War on Poverty. It is time that the poverty fighters stopped fighting each other. Republicans will offer specific proposals to redirect this program to achieve its goals without waste, scandal and bureaucratic infighting. Without such changes, the good will fall with the bad under the fiscal pressures created by Vietnam and the massive new domestic spending programs. America has long waged the most effective War on Poverty in history through the genius of private enterprise cooperating with government. We urge the enactment of the Republican proposed Human Investment Act to bring private enterprise more effectively to bear on the problem of creating productive jobs for the poor. Through a 7% tax credit, this measure will encourage business and labor to employ and train people with limited skills and education. Executive Reform The Executive Branch of the Federal government needs reform - not Presidential repatching or piecemeal creation of new departments. The proliferation of Federal programs, compounded by the mass production of laws in the last session of Congress, demands the attention of our people. There are now 42 separate Federal agencies involved in education programs alone. There are at least 252 welfare programs today, including 52 separate Federal economic aid program, 57 job training programs and 65 Federal programs to improve health. In the ten years since the second Hoover Commission made its report, during five Democratic-controlled Congresses, employees on the Federal payroll have increased 175,000 and Federal expenditures have increased by $57 billion. The Executive branch has become a bureaucratic jungle. The time has come to explore its wild growth and cut it back. We urge a new independent bipartisan Commission, patterned after the two distinguished Hoover Commissions, to recommend substantial reforms in the Executive branch of our government. Cost of Living To achieve a healthy and steady economic growth there must be price stability. Today this national goal is seriously endangered by the threat of inflation. The Eisenhower dollar is now worth 90 cents. The cost of living is 2 percent higher than it was a year ago. At the current level of consumer spending, this price rise is the equivalent of a secret sales tax that silently steals some $8 billion annually from the pockets of the American people. Inflationary policies of the President have a major impact on the cost of living. This Administration uses a double standard. With one hand it creates upward pressure on prices and with the other bludgeons workers and businessmen for responding to that pres sure. The real villain in this piece is the Administration which will increase the cost of the Federal government by $26 billion in a two-year period. The most direct and effective weapon the National Government has to halt inflation is to curb Federal spending. This requires the President and the Congress to set priorities. It is imperative that the President in his budget classify his spending proposals according to necessity and urgency. If he fails to do so, we call upon the Democrats in Congress to join us in eliminating, reducing or deferring low priority items. We learn now that expenditures in this fiscal year will be at least 8 billion dollars more than we were told a year ago. Congress and the people have not been given a straight-forward and realistic assessment of our Federal budget problems. Republicans intend to give the President's budget a searching examination. Whatever is needed-- really needed -- for national security must be provided. Urgent domestic programs that truly help the needy, that contribute to real economic growth, that significantly advance the cause of equal opportunity, need not be sacrificed. Applying these tests, Republicans believe the $55 billion which the President will propose for non-military spending can be and must be reduced. Taxes How many Americans know that the laws passed last year, supposedly reducing taxes, actually impose a net increase in Federal taxes for 1966 of $3-l/ 2 billion? The President now advocates additional tax burdens to finance added costs both at home and abroad. With prudent restraint on spending, we believe no new taxes are now needed. Agriculture The farm parity ratio in 1965 was below the level of five years ago. At home, we seek a free and prosperous agriculture by encouraging the operation of a healthy market economy. We will continue to resist Administration efforts to artificially depress the market prices of farm commodities and to control the American farmer World population increases are adding a new dimension to the problems of American agriculture and demand new thinking. For our overseas programs, we urge the extension of Public Law 480, the Eisenhower Food for Peace program, and we urge the enactment of legislation, already introduced by 65 Republicans in the House, to establish a bi-partisan "U.S. - World Food Study and Coordinating Commission," in order to begin immediately the vital task of closing the growing "food gap" on our planet. Political Reforms We were surprised and pleased that the President touched on the subject of reform of political campaigns and elections. His recommendations do not go far enough. Ways must be found to eliminate vote fraud, curb the cost of political campaigns, and expand the franchise. Republicans will propose: -- to guard against abuses in the raising and use of political funds; -- to raise the ceiling on political expenditures to realistic levels; -- to bar effectively political contributions from corporations and unions; -- to require meaningful reporting of political contributions and expenditures. States of the Union Our nation has thrived on the diversity and distribution of powers so wisely embedded in the Constitution. The Administration believes in centralized authority, ignoring and bypassing and undermining State responsibilities in almost every law that is passed. As a result, our constitutional structure is today in dangerous disrepair. The States of the Union form a vital cornerstone of our Federal system, and the headlong plunge toward centralization of power in Washington must be halted. All of us here tonight salute the gallant fight of Senator Dirksen against the repeal of Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act and for the Reapportionment Amendment. We urge Congress to enact a system of tax sharing, long advocated by Republicans, to return to the States a fixed percentage of the personal income tax without Federal controls. Funds from this source will lighten the load of local taxation, spur solution of vexing urban problems, and revitalize programs in education, health, and welfare at the local level. Unemployment Compensation Changes in the system of unemployment compensation are needed, particularly to provide standby protection against the contingency of a substantial rise in the number of workers without jobs. We support the constructive suggestions worked out by the State Unemployment Compensation administrators to meet this problem. We oppose the Administration's bill that would substitute Federal judgment for State determination in matters such as standards and benefits in this program. Civil Rights Making real for all Americans the equality to which this nation is committed remains an urgent national concern. Recent progress is encouraging, but not enough. No citizen should be satisfied merely with the expectation of a better tomorrow. It is only right to expect that the Constitution of the United States be put in force everywhere now. The Congress has enacted four civil rights acts since 1957. There now is need to review these laws, and especially tighten those designed to prevent violence and intimidation of citizens who exercise their constitutional rights. Hesitant administration of existing laws has made them less effective than they should be. The President has even failed to make the Community Relations Service the effective instrument which Congress intended it to be. Leaderless for half of last year, shunted off to an ambiguous position in the wrong Federal agency, this potentially valuable Service has suffered from neglect. Let us make it clear to all- -there cannot be two kinds of justice, one for whites, another for Negroes. --Nor can there be tolerance of riots, looting, violence, and disorder. These impede the progress sought by the overwhelming majority of Americans. The President's Challenge Last week the President chided Americans who believe, as I do, that we cannot fight a war ten thousand miles away without setting priorities at home. He asked: Whom will they sacrifice? ••..•••• the poor? Our answer is a resounding "NO!" We will not sacrifice poor people. We will sacrifice poor programs, poorly conceived and poorly carried out. We will sacrifice poor administrators. We will sacrifice poor arithmetic in public accounting. Any sacrifices we call for, cannot be compared with those being made by 190 thousand Americans in Vietnam. And what of the sacrifices of their families at home, who share inequally in the promises of the Great Society? We urge more adequate housing and benefits for our fighting men and their families. We urge a new GI bill of rights of veterans. We will not sacrifice their future. Nor will we sacrifice the future of millions of Americans whose lifetime savings and modest pensions are being nibbled away by inflation. We are outnumbered two to one in this Congress. But we will continue to speak out for the things in which we believe. We will not sacrifice the ideals that make us Republicans. We will never sacrifice the sacred right, and the sacred value to our country, of loyal dissent. This is our duty to all Americans[4] |
” |
| —Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R - Ill.) and House Minority Leader Gerald Ford (R - Mich.), Jan. 17, 1966[3] | ||
Designated survivor
Each year, a member of the president's Cabinet is chosen to stay in an undisclosed location outside of Washington, D.C. to assume the presidency in case of an attack on Congress, the president, and other high-ranking officials.
While designated survivors have been chosen since at least the 1960s, the federal government did not begin revealing the identity of the designated survivor to the public until 1984.[7]
Background
The following table provides a list of annual and other presidential addresses delivered to joint sessions of Congress between 1790 and 2026. It does not include inaugurations. Click the link in the Occasion or topic column to read more about each address. The information was compiled from the U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Historian.[8]
- President Woodrow Wilson (D), whose administration overlapped with World War I, delivered the most addresses: 23.
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) followed with 19 addresses, which included a joint speech with the ambassador of France in 1934 and an address read before Congress on his behalf in 1945. World War II took place during his administration.
- President Harry S. Truman had the third-most addresses at 16. His administration covered the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War.
- Among presidents who served between 1981 and 2026, Presidents Ronald Reagan (R) and Barack Obama (D) delivered the most addresses with 11 and 10, respectively.
| Date | Session of Congress | Occasion or topic | President and other speaking dignitaries |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 24, 2026 | 119th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Donald J. Trump |
| March 4, 2025 | 119th Congress | Address | President Donald J. Trump |
| March 7, 2024 | 118th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. |
| February 7, 2023 | 118th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. |
| March 1, 2022 | 117th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. |
| April 28, 2021 | 117th Congress | Address | President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. |
| Feb. 4, 2020 | 116th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Donald J. Trump |
| Feb. 5, 2019 | 116th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Donald J. Trump |
| Jan. 30, 2018 | 115th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Donald J. Trump |
| Feb. 28, 2017 | 115th Congress | Address | President Donald J. Trump |
| Jan. 12, 2016 | 114th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Barack H. Obama |
| Jan. 20, 2015 | 114th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Barack H. Obama |
| Jan. 28, 2014 | 113th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Barack H. Obama |
| Feb. 12, 2013 | 113th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Barack H. Obama |
| Jan. 24, 2012 | 112th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Barack H. Obama |
| Sept. 8, 2011 | 112th Congress | Address on American Jobs Act | President Barack H. Obama |
| Jan. 25, 2011 | 112th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Barack H. Obama |
| Jan. 27, 2010 | 111th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Barack H. Obama |
| Sept. 8, 2009 | 111th Congress | Address on Health Care Reform | President Barack H. Obama |
| Feb. 24, 2009 | 111th Congress | Address | President Barack H. Obama |
| Jan. 28, 2008 | 110th Congress | State of the Union Address | President George W. Bush |
| Jan. 23, 2007 | 110th Congress | State of the Union Address | President George W. Bush |
| Jan. 31, 2006 | 109th Congress | State of the Union Address | President George W. Bush |
| Feb. 2, 2005 | 109th Congress | State of the Union Address | President George W. Bush |
| Jan. 20, 2004 | 108th Congress | State of the Union Address | President George W. Bush. |
| Jan. 28, 2003 | 108th Congress | State of the Union Address | President George W. Bush. |
| Jan. 29, 2002 | 107th Congress | State of the Union Address | President George W. Bush. |
| Sept. 20, 2001 | 107th Congress | Address on the War on Terrorism | President George W. Bush. |
| Feb. 27, 2001 | 107th Congress | Budget Message | President George W. Bush. |
| Jan. 27, 2000 | 106th Congress | State of the Union Address | President William J. Clinton. |
| Jan. 19, 1999 | 106th Congress | State of the Union Address | President William J. Clinton. |
| Jan. 27, 1998 | 105th Congress | State of the Union Address | President William J. Clinton. |
| Feb. 4, 1997 | 105th Congress | State of the Union Address | President William J. Clinton. |
| Jan. 23, 1996 | 104th Congress | State of the Union Address | President William J. Clinton. |
| Jan. 24, 1995 | 104th Congress | State of the Union Address | President William J. Clinton. |
| Jan. 25, 1994 | 103rd Congress | State of the Union Address | President William J. Clinton. |
| Sept. 22, 1993 | 103rd Congress | Address on Health Care Reform | President William J. Clinton. |
| Feb. 17, 1993 | 103rd Congress | Economic Address | President William J. Clinton. |
| Jan. 28, 1992 | 102nd Congress | State of the Union Address | President George Bush. |
| Mar. 6, 1991 | 102nd Congress | Conclusion of Persian Gulf War | President George Bush. |
| Jan. 29, 1991 | 102nd Congress | State of the Union Address | President George Bush. |
| Sept. 11, 1990 | 101st Congress | Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq | President George Bush. |
| Jan. 31, 1990 | 101st Congress | State of the Union Address | President George Bush. |
| Feb. 9, 1989 | 101st Congress | Address on Building a Better America | President George Bush. |
| Jan. 25, 1988 | 100th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Jan. 27, 1987 | 100th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Feb. 4, 1986 | 99th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Nov. 21, 1985 | 99th Congress | Address on Geneva Summit | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Feb. 6, 1985 | 99th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Jan. 25, 1984 | 98th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Apr. 27, 1983 | 98th Congress | Address on Central America | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Jan. 25, 1983 | 98th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Jan. 26, 1982 | 97th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Apr. 28, 1981 | 97th Congress | Address on Economic Recovery--inflation | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Feb. 18, 1981 | 97th Congress | Address on Economic Recovery | President Ronald Reagan. |
| Jan. 23, 1980 | 96th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Jimmy Carter. |
| June 18, 1979 | 96th Congress | Address on Salt II agreements | President Jimmy Carter. |
| Jan. 23, 1979 | 96th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Jimmy Carter. |
| Sept. 18, 1978 | 95th Congress | Address on Middle East Peace agreements | President Jimmy Carter; Joint session attended by Anwar El Sadat, President of Egypt, and by Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel. |
| Jan. 19, 1978 | 95th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Jimmy Carter. |
| Apr. 20, 1977 | 95th Congress | Address on Energy | President Jimmy Carter. |
| Jan. 12, 1977 | 95th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Gerald R. Ford. |
| Jan. 19, 1976 | 94th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Gerald R. Ford. |
| Apr. 10, 1975 | 94th Congress | Address on State of the World | President Gerald R. Ford. |
| Jan. 15, 1975 | 94th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Gerald R. Ford. |
| Oct. 8, 1974 | 93rd Congress | Address on the Economy | President Gerald R. Ford. |
| Aug. 12, 1974 | 93rd Congress | Assumption of office | President Gerald R. Ford. |
| Jan. 30 1974 | 93rd Congress | State of the Union Address | President Richard M. Nixon. |
| June 1, 1972 | 92nd Congress | Address on Europe trip | President Richard M. Nixon. |
| Jan. 20, 1972 | 92nd Congress | State of the Union Address | President Richard M. Nixon. |
| Sept. 9, 1971 | 92nd Congress | Address on Economic policy | President Richard M. Nixon. |
| Jan. 22, 1971 | 92nd Congress | State of the Union Address | President Richard M. Nixon. |
| Jan. 22, 1970 | 91st Congress | State of the Union Address | President Richard M. Nixon. |
| Jan. 14, 1969 | 91st Congress | State of the Union Address | President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| Jan. 17, 1968 | 90th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| Jan. 10, 1967 | 90th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| Jan. 12, 1966 | 89th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| Mar. 15, 1965 | 89th Congress | Voting rights | President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| Jan. 4, 1965 | 89th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| Jan. 8, 1964 | 88th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| Nov. 27, 1963 | 88th Congress | Assumption of office | President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| Jan. 14, 1963 | 88th Congress | State of the Union Address | President John F. Kennedy. |
| Jan. 11, 1962 | 87th Congress | State of the Union Address | President John F. Kennedy. |
| May 25, 1961 | 87th Congress | Urgent national needs: foreign aid, defense, civil defense, and outer space | President John F. Kennedy. |
| Jan. 30, 1961 | 87th Congress | State of the Union Address | President John F. Kennedy. |
| Jan. 7, 1960 | 86th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| Jan. 9, 1959 | 86th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| Jan. 9, 1958 | 85th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| Jan. 10, 1957 | 85th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| Jan. 5, 1957 | 85th Congress | Address on the Middle East | President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| Jan. 6, 1955 | 84th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| Jan. 7, 1954 | 83rd Congress | State of the Union Address | President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| Feb. 2, 1953 | 83rd Congress | State of the Union Address | President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| June 10, 1952 | 82nd Congress | Address on Steel Strike | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Jan. 9, 1952 | 82nd Congress | State of the Union Address | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Jan. 8, 1951 | 82nd Congress | State of the Union Address | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Jan. 4, 1950 | 81st Congress | State of the Union Address | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Jan. 5, 1949 | 81st Congress | State of the Union Address | President Harry S. Truman. |
| July 27, 1948 | 80th Congress | Address on inflation, housing, and civil rights | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Apr. 19, 1948 | 80th Congress | Address on 50th anniversary, liberation of Cuba | President Harry S. Truman; Guillermo Belt, Ambassador of Cuba. |
| Mar. 17, 1948 | 80th Congress | National security and conditions in Europe | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Jan. 7, 1948 | 80th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Nov. 17, 1947 | 80th Congress | Address on Aid to Europe | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Mar. 12, 1947 | 80th Congress | Address on Greek-Turkish aid policy | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Jan. 6, 1947 | 80th Congress | State of the Union Address | President Harry S. Truman. |
| May 25, 1946 | 79th Congress | Address on Railroad Strike | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Oct. 23, 1945 | 79th Congress | Address on Universal Military Training | President Harry S. Truman. |
| May 21, 1945 | 79th Congress | Address on Bestowal of Congressional Medal of Honor to Tech. Sgt. Jake William Lindsey | General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army; President Harry S. Truman. |
| Apr. 16, 1945 | 79th Congress | Address on Assumption of Office and War | President Harry S. Truman. |
| Mar. 1, 1945 | 79th Congress | Address on Yalta Conference | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 6, 1945 | 79th Congress | Annual Message | President Roosevelt was not present. His message was read before the Joint Session of Congress. |
| Jan. 11, 1944 | 78th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 7, 1943 | 78th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 6, 1942 | 77th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Dec. 8, 1941 | 77th Congress | Address on the "Day of Infamy" | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 6, 1941 | 77th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| May 16, 1940 | 76th Congress | Address on National Defense | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 3, 1940 | 76th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Sept. 21, 1939 | 76th Congress | Address on Neutrality | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Mar. 4, 1939 | 76th Congress | Address on Sesquicentennial of the 1st Congress | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 4, 1939 | 76th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 3, 1938 | 75th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 6, 1937 | 75th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 3, 1936 | 74th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| May 22, 1935 | 74th Congress | Address on Budget Bill Veto | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Jan. 4, 1935 | 74th Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| May 20, 1934 | 73rd Congress | Address on 100th anniversary of the death of the Marquis de Lafayette | Andre de Laboulaye, Ambassador of France; President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; ceremony attended by Count de Chambrun, great-grandson of Lafayette. |
| Jan. 3, 1934 | 73rd Congress | Annual Message | President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| Feb. 22, 1932 | 72nd Congress | Address on bicentennial of George Washington's birth | President Herbert Hoover. |
| Dec. 6, 1932 | 72nd Congress | Annual Message | President Herbert Hoover. |
| Dec. 8, 1931 | 72nd Congress | Annual Message | President Herbert Hoover. |
| Dec. 2, 1930 | 71st Congress | Annual Message | President Herbert Hoover. |
| Dec. 3, 1929 | 71st Congress | Annual Message | President Herbert Hoover. |
| Dec. 4, 1928 | 70th Congress | Annual Message | President Calvin Coolidge. |
| Feb. 22, 1927 | 70th Congress | Address on upcoming George Washington birthday bicentennial | President Calvin Coolidge. |
| Dec. 6, 1927 | 70th Congress | Annual Message | President Calvin Coolidge. |
| Dec. 6, 1926 | 69th Congress | Annual Message | President Calvin Coolidge. |
| Dec. 8, 1925 | 69th Congress | Annual Message | President Calvin Coolidge. |
| Dec. 6, 1924 | 68th Congress | Annual Message | President Calvin Coolidge. |
| Dec. 3, 1923 | 68th Congress | Annual Message | President Calvin Coolidge. |
| Feb. 7, 1923 | 67th Congress | Address on British debt due to the United States | President Warren G. Harding. |
| Dec. 8, 1922 | 67th Congress | Annual Message | President Warren G. Harding. |
| Nov. 21, 1922 | 67th Congress | Address on promotion of the American Merchant Marine | President Warren G. Harding. |
| Aug. 18, 1922 | 67th Congress | Address on coal and railroad strikes | President Warren G. Harding. |
| Feb. 28, 1922 | 67th Congress | Address on maintenance of the Merchant Marine | President Warren G. Harding. |
| Dec. 6, 1921 | 67th Congress | Annual Message | President Warren G. Harding. |
| Apr. 12, 1921 | 67th Congress | Federal problem message | President Warren G. Harding. |
| Aug. 8, 1919 | 66th Congress | Cost of living message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Dec. 2, 1918 | 65th Congress | Annual Message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Nov. 11, 1918 | 65th Congress | Terms of armistice signed by Germany | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| May 27, 1918 | 65th Congress | War finance message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Feb. 11, 1918 | 65th Congress | Peace message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Jan. 8, 1918 | 65th Congress | Program for world's peace | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Jan. 4, 1918 | 65th Congress | Federal operation of transportation systems | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Dec. 4, 1917 | 65th Congress | Annual Message/War with Austria-Hungary | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Apr. 2, 1917 | 65th Congress | War with Germany | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Feb. 26, 1917 | 64th Congress | Arming of merchant ships | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Feb. 3, 1917 | 64th Congress | Severing diplomatic relations with Germany | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Dec. 5, 1916 | 64th Congress | Annual Message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Aug. 29, 1916 | 64th Congress | Railroad message (labor-management dispute) | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Dec. 7, 1915 | 64th Congress | Annual Message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Dec. 8, 1914 | 63rd Congress | Annual Message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Sept. 4, 1914 | 63rd Congress | War tax message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Apr. 20, 1914 | 63rd Congress | Mexico message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Mar. 5, 1914 | 63rd Congress | Panama Canal tolls | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Jan. 20, 1914 | 63rd Congress | Trusts message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Dec. 2, 1913 | 63rd Congress | Annual Message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Aug. 27, 1913 | 63rd Congress | Mexican affairs message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| June 23, 1913 | 63rd Congress | Currency and bank reform message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Apr. 8, 1913 | 63rd Congress | Tariff message | President Woodrow Wilson. |
| Nov. 22, 1800 | 6th Congress | Annual Message | President John Adams. |
| Dec. 3, 1799 | 6th Congress | Annual Message | President John Adams. |
| Dec. 8, 1798 | 5th Congress | Annual Message | President John Adams. |
| Nov. 23, 1797 | 5th Congress | Annual Message | President John Adams. |
| May 16, 1797 | 5th Congress | Relations with France | President John Adams. |
| Dec. 7, 1796 | 4th Congress | Annual Message | President George Washington. |
| Dec. 8, 1795 | 4th Congress | Annual Message | President George Washington. |
| Nov. 19, 1794 | 3rd Congress | Annual Message | President George Washington. |
| Dec. 3, 1793 | 3rd Congress | Annual Message | President George Washington. |
| Nov. 6, 1792 | 2nd Congress | Annual Message | President George Washington. |
| Oct. 25, 1791 | 2nd Congress | Annual Message | President George Washington. |
| Dec. 8, 1790 | 1st Congress | Annual Message | President George Washington. |
| Jan. 8, 1790 | 1st Congress | Annual Message | President George Washington. |
Footnotes
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The President’s State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications," accessed February 3, 2020
- ↑ United States Senate, "Opposition Response to the State of the Union Address," accessed Feb. 25, 2022
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ford Congressional Papers, "The State of the Union - A Republican Appraisal," Jan. 17, 1966
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/annual-message-the-congress-the-state-the-union-27 The American Presidency Project, “Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union,” Jan. 12, 1966]
- ↑ United States Senate, "Opposition Responses to the State of the Union Address," accessed Feb. 23, 2022
- ↑ United States Senate, "Cabinet Members Who Did Not Attend the State of the Union Address," accessed Feb. 23, 2022.
- ↑ United States House of Representatives, "Joint Meetings, Joint Sessions, & Inaugurations," accessed June 14, 2021
