WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will deliver his third State of the Union address on Thursday night, and it will be carefully scrutinized as he runs for reelection.
While Biden's first two State of the Unions each lasted more than an hour, neither came close to taking the record for shortest or longest on record.
In 2023, Biden's speech was around 73 minutes long. His first State of the Union in 2022 lasted just under 62 minutes.
Here are some comparisons from 1964 onwards by The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Who gave the longest State of the Union address?
Bill Clinton holds the title for the longest spoken State of the Union speech on record — his 2000 address took one hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds.
While George W. Bush and Barack Obama kept their State of the Union addresses to about 50 minutes and one hour, respectively, Donald Trump came close to the record. His 2019 address lasted one hour, 22 minutes and 25 seconds, and his average was only about two minutes shorter.
In fact, Clinton and Trump hold the longest seven modern State of the Union addresses on record. Clinton holds spots 1-2, 5, and 7, while Trump holds 3-4 and 6.
Biden's first speech of roughly one hour, one minute and 50 seconds was more in line with Obama's averages than Trump's or Clinton's. His 2023 address was closer to the higher end, though — the eighth longest on record with the American Presidency Project.
A different former president holds the record for longest written SOTU address: Jimmy Carter with 33,667 words in 1981. Carter, whose spoken SOTU addresses averaged about 37 minutes and 3,750 words, opted for a written-only version that year instead of the televised primetime address that had become standard.
- Bill Clinton (2000) 1:28:49
- Bill Clinton (1995) 1:24:58
- Donald Trump (2019) 1:22:25
- Donald Trump (2018) 1:20:32
- Bill Clinton (1999) 1:18:40
- Donald Trump (2020) 1:18:04
- Bill Clinton (1998) 1:16:43
- Joe Biden (2023) 1:13:00
- Lyndon B. Johnson (1967) 1:11:16
- Barack Obama (2010) 1:09:20
Who gave the shortest State of the Union address?
In minutes, Richard Nixon's 1972 speech is the shortest spoken State of the Union address on record with The American Presidency Project — 28 minutes, 55 seconds.
As for written versions, George Washington had the shortest annual message to Congress at just 1,089 words. The rest of his SOTU speeches (though they weren't called that until the 1940s) were lengthier, but not by much; his longest was still less than 3,000 words.