50 Fun Facts About State of the Union

What title goes to the Cabinet member kept at a secret location during the State of the Union in case of catastrophe?

Designated survivor is a Cold War custom from the 1950s, when planners feared a single nuclear strike could kill everyone in the line of succession at once.

Which president broke with his two predecessors in 1801 by sending Congress his yearly report in writing?

Thomas Jefferson is often said to have found the speech too much like a king addressing Parliament, and his written habit lasted 112 years.

What did Speaker Nancy Pelosi do with her copy of Donald Trump's speech as the 2020 State of the Union ended?

Pelosi tore it up on camera as he finished, having watched him appear to snub her offered handshake when he arrived.

Which phrase did George W. Bush use for Iran, Iraq and North Korea in his 2002 State of the Union address?

Axis of evil began in speechwriter David Frum's draft as axis of hatred, and North Korea was added to the list only later.

Which 1986 disaster, on the morning of the planned speech, forced the first postponement of a State of the Union?

The Challenger explosion turned that evening into a short Oval Office tribute to the lost crew, and the full speech waited a week.

According to the Constitution, how often must the president give Congress information on the state of the Union?

From time to time is all the text says, so the yearly rhythm is custom rather than law, a precedent set by the first president in 1790.

Which 24 star plays a housing secretary thrust into the presidency by a State of the Union bombing in an ABC drama?

Kiefer Sutherland played Secretary Kirkman, who sits out the speech as a precaution and suddenly finds everyone ahead of him in the line of succession gone.

Which president told Congress in 1975, amid recession and high unemployment, that the state of the Union was not good?

Gerald Ford opened with that verdict five months after taking office, and warned Congress that he did not expect much, if any, applause.

In which city, then the temporary capital, did the first president deliver the first State of the Union in 1790?

New York's Federal Hall housed Congress at the time, and the speech was given in its Senate chamber.

Which president's 1947 State of the Union was the first to be broadcast on television?

Harry S. Truman followed it later the same year with another first: a televised address from the Oval Office.

Which president revived the in-person address to Congress in 1913, ending more than a century of written reports?

Woodrow Wilson argued that a president should be a visible leader rather than an impersonal office, though the move stirred some controversy at first.

Which president began honoring guests in the gallery, saluting a plane-crash rescuer in his 1982 State of the Union?

Ronald Reagan singled out Lenny Skutnik, a bystander who had dived into the icy Potomac to pull a passenger to shore, and such guests are still nicknamed Skutniks.

In which building do senators and representatives gather each year to hear the president deliver the State of the Union?

The US Capitol hosts the speech in the House of Representatives chamber, and the president speaks there at the formal invitation of the Speaker.

Which official sits beside the Speaker of the House on the rostrum throughout a State of the Union address?

The vice president is there as president of the Senate, so the presiding officers of both chambers sit together behind the lectern.

On which social problem did a Texan president declare unconditional war in his 1964 State of the Union address?

Poverty then touched nearly one American in five, and Congress answered the speech by passing the Economic Opportunity Act.

Which president's 1923 address to Congress was the first to reach a large national audience by radio?

Calvin Coolidge made it his only one in person: every later report of his presidency went to Congress in writing.

Which president set out the Four Freedoms in his 1941 State of the Union, as war raged in Europe and Asia?

Franklin Roosevelt listed freedom of speech, of worship, from want and from fear; he was also the first president whose yearly report was called a State of the Union.

Which official delivers a State of the State address, the version of the State of the Union held in most US states?

The governor gives it to the state legislature, and Iowa goes its own way by calling its version the Condition of the State Address.

What delayed Donald Trump's 2019 State of the Union by a week after Speaker Nancy Pelosi withdrew her invitation?

A federal shutdown had left security staff unpaid, she argued, and the speech went ahead on February 5 once the government reopened.

What did Bill Clinton declare to be over in his 1996 State of the Union, months before his re-election?

The era of big government was the phrase, though he added in the same breath that citizens could not be left to fend for themselves.

Which president moved the State of the Union to prime-time evening television in 1965, starting the modern tradition?

Lyndon B. Johnson wanted the largest possible audience, and the switch also brought instant television commentary the moment the speech ended.

Which outgoing president sent Congress a written State of the Union in January 1981, days before leaving office?

Jimmy Carter's farewell report ran to 33,667 words, the longest State of the Union ever put on paper.

Which president's 1862 report to Congress called the Union the last best hope of earth?

Abraham Lincoln never spoke those words to Congress: like every president from 1801 to 1913, he sent his report in writing to be read out by a clerk.

Which president, shot four months into his term, is one of only two who never gave a State of the Union?

James A. Garfield shares the gap with William Henry Harrison, who died 31 days after taking office, before either could report to Congress.

In which month was the State of the Union usually sent to Congress before 1934, when sessions began opening in January?

December was when Congress used to convene each year, until the 20th Amendment moved the start of its sessions to January 3.

By what plainer name was the State of the Union formally known from 1790 until the 1940s?

The Annual Message officially became the State of the Union Address only in 1947, taking its new name from a phrase in the Constitution.

Which American illustrator turned the Four Freedoms of the 1941 State of the Union into a famous series of paintings?

Norman Rockwell's four canvases ran in The Saturday Evening Post in 1943, and a touring exhibition of them helped sell millions of dollars in war bonds.

To what did George W. Bush say America was addicted in his 2006 State of the Union, urging technology as the cure?

Oil, he said, often came from unstable parts of the world, and he set 2025 as the target for replacing most of what America imported from the Middle East.

Beside whom do the president's invited guests traditionally sit in the gallery during the State of the Union address?

The first lady hosts them in her box, and the speech often pauses to praise one of them by name.

Which movement gave its own televised reply to the 2011 State of the Union, delivered by Michele Bachmann?

The Tea Party speech was a first for a political movement, and it aired the same night as the official Republican response from Paul Ryan.

Which House officer announces the president's arrival in the chamber at the start of each State of the Union address?

The Sergeant at Arms inherited the cry in 1995, when the House abolished the older office that had made the announcement before.

Which uniformed guests, like the Supreme Court justices, by custom rarely applaud during a State of the Union address?

The Joint Chiefs of Staff hold their applause to appear politically impartial, even through lines that bring half the chamber to its feet.

Which justice mouthed a denial when Barack Obama criticized the Citizens United ruling in the 2010 State of the Union?

Samuel Alito frowned and appeared to mouth the words not true, a rare reaction from a bench that by custom does not even clap.

Which Soviet satellite did Barack Obama invoke in his 2011 State of the Union, urging a new wave of American innovation?

Sputnik's 1957 launch had jolted America into the space race, and he called the present day his generation's own such moment.

Which discovery did James K. Polk confirm in his 1848 report to Congress, sending fortune seekers west by the thousands?

Gold in California had been found that January at Sutter's Mill, but it was the president's word late in the year that set off the stampede of 1849.

Which principle, warning Europe against new colonies in the Americas, was first set out in an 1823 State of the Union?

The Monroe Doctrine was largely the work of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who went on to succeed his boss as president.

Which disease did Richard Nixon pledge an extra $100 million to cure in his 1971 State of the Union address?

Cancer research got its money, and before the year was out he signed the National Cancer Act, the opening move in a long federal campaign against the disease.

Which football star's civil trial verdict arrived the same evening as Bill Clinton's 1997 State of the Union?

O. J. Simpson's verdict, in the lawsuit over the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend, pulled national attention away from the speech.

What was under way in the Senate when Bill Clinton gave his 1999 State of the Union without once mentioning it?

An impeachment trial was at the defense stage that very day, when his own lawyers made their opening statement to the senators.

Which cause's signature color, white, did many Democratic lawmakers wear to the 2019 State of the Union?

Women's suffrage campaigners had made white their emblem a century earlier; the women of the caucus wore it, and Steny Hoyer handed white ribbons to the men.

Which economic guarantees, from a job to a decent home, were proposed in the 1944 State of the Union?

A Second Bill of Rights was never delivered in person: ill with flu, the president sent the text to Congress and read it to the nation by radio the same day.

Which region did the 1980 State of the Union declare a vital US interest, weeks after Soviet troops entered Afghanistan?

The Persian Gulf pledge said any outside attempt to seize the region would be repelled by military force if necessary, a warning aimed at Moscow.

The president of which Brussels institution delivers the EU's own State of the Union speech each autumn?

The European Commission chief gives the speech to the European Parliament, a custom begun in 2010 by José Manuel Barroso.

Kentucky, Massachusetts and Virginia each hold a yearly 'State of the' what, their version of the State of the Union?

Commonwealth replaces the usual word in all three, while Guam holds a State of the Island Address and American Samoa a State of the Territory.

Which Arizona congresswoman's shooting led Republicans and Democrats to sit side by side at the 2011 State of the Union?

Gabby Giffords survived the Tucson shooting, and dozens of lawmakers broke the custom of sitting by party, a gesture proposed by Senator Mark Udall.

Which radio host was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the gallery during the 2020 State of the Union?

Rush Limbaugh had announced a grave illness only the day before, and Melania Trump presented the medal to him in the middle of the speech.

Which adjective, in a line used almost every year since 1983, do presidents customarily give the state of the Union?

Strong entered the ritual in 1983 and has been repeated by nearly every president since, George H. W. Bush being the notable holdout.

Whose televised reply has followed the State of the Union since 1966, usually from a studio with no audience?

The opposition party's first reply was a shared effort by the Republican leaders of the Senate and House, answering a Democratic president.

After which event did Congress begin sending a few of its members into hiding during each State of the Union?

The 9/11 attacks raised the fear of losing the whole legislature at once, so a handful of members now wait elsewhere, ready to form a rump Congress.

Which House officer announced the president at each State of the Union until the post was abolished in 1995?

The Doorkeeper's post dated from the first Congress in 1789, and its most visible duty was introducing presidents and foreign dignitaries.