7 Historic Moments From State of the Union Addresses

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7 Historic Moments From State of the Union Addresses

President Ronald Reagan delivers the 1986 State of the Union speech.(Dirck Halstead/Getty Images)

Fred Lucas / @FredLucasWH

Fred Lucas is chief news correspondent and manager of the Investigative Reporting Project for The Daily Signal. He is the author of “The Myth of Voter Suppression: The Left’s Assault on Clean Elections.” Send an email to Fred.

Presidents have historically used the State of the Union address to set the stage for major public policies and campaign shifts, and reflect on the mood of the country. 

As President Donald Trump prepares to give his first State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday, here is a look back at seven significant moments from past addresses. 

President James Monroe’s 1823 State of the Union address delivered to Congress in writing–as was customary for more than 100 years–established a core element of American foreign policy in modern times. 

The Monroe Doctrine today asserts a national interest over the Western Hemisphere. The Trump administration recently touted an updated Monroe Doctrine to work with countries in North and South America to combat international criminal organizations. The doctrine was cited with regard to the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. 

In Monroe’s day, it asserted the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization. For its part, the United States pledged not to interfere in European affairs. 

Monroe wrote to Congress, “as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”

In the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln’s written State of the Union on Dec. 1, 1862, made the case that saving the union meant abolishing slavery. 

“Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; without slavery it could not continue,” Lincoln asserted about two months after signing the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Lincoln called for a gradual and compensated emancipation. 

“In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free, honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve,” Lincoln said. “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”

No matter who is in the White House, the most common description the president gives of the country is “strong.” 

In 1975, President Gerald Ford, having assumed the office the previous August after the resignation of Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal, was more frank with the country. 

On top of disenchantment with government over both the scandal and the Vietnam War, the public was also facing economic hardship.

“I must say to you that the state of the Union is not good,” Ford said on Jan. 15 before the joint session of Congress. “Millions of Americans are out of work. Recession and inflation are eroding the money of millions more.” 

But he concluded the speech on a positive note, saying America was taking a new direction to “put the unemployed back to work; increase real income and production; restrain the growth of federal government spending; achieve energy independence; and advance the cause of world understanding.”

4. ‘Seven Challenger Heroes’

President Ronald Reagan was scheduled to deliver his 1986 State of the Union address on Jan. 28, but earlier that day, the space shuttle Challenger exploded after takeoff, killing seven. Reagan instead delivered an Oval Office address that evening.

The State of the Union was moved to Feb. 4, 1986, where Reagan opened saying, “Thank you for allowing me to delay my address until this evening.” 

“We paused together to mourn and honor the valor of our seven Challenger heroes, and I hope that we are now ready to do what they would want us to do,” Reagan said. “Go forward, America, and reach for the stars.”

5. ‘Era of Big Government Is Over’

Democrats had celebrated big government since the days of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. So, it was a little surprising when Bill Clinton–running for re-election–declared an end to big government. 

“We have worked to give the American people a smaller, less bureaucratic government in Washington, and we have to give the American people one that lives within its means,” said Clinton before Congress and the American public on Jan. 23, 1996. “The era of big government is over. But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves.”

On Jan. 29, 2002, President George W. Bush delivered his first State of the Union address, months after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack and in the lead up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Bush discussed Iraq, North Korea, and Iran. 

“North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens,” Bush said. “Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror. … Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror.”

Bush added, “States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.”

7. Alito Fact-Checks Obama 

On Jan. 27, 2010, President Barack Obama scolded the Supreme Court for its ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission campaign finance case. Justices ruled that corporations, unions, and advocacy groups could make independent political expenditures in support of or in opposition to candidates under the First Amendment. 

“With all due deference to separation of powers, last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said. 

Justice Samuel Alito, who sided with the majority, was seen mouthing the words, “Not true.”

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