WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden had a lot to address in his first State of the Union speech.
Along with domestic topics, Biden spoke on Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- with Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. on the guest list. That's on top of remarks about health care, the Child Tax Credit, infrastructure and the American Rescue Plan.
With so much to talk about, it's no surprise that Biden's first SOTU address lasted more than an hour -- one hour, one minute and 50 seconds, to be exact. But how does it measure up with those by other presidents? Here's some comparisons from 1964 onwards by The American Presidency Project.
Who gave the longest State of the Union address?
Bill Clinton holds the title for the longest spoken SOTU speech -- his 2000 address took one hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds.
While George W. Bush and Barack Obama kept their SOTU addresses to about 50 minutes and one hour, respectively, Donald Trump came close to the record. His 2019 SOTU address lasted one hour, 22 minutes and 25 seconds.
In fact, Clinton and Trump hold the longest seven modern SOTU addresses on record. Clinton holds spots 1-2, 5, and 7, while Trump holds 3-4 and 6.
Biden's first SOTU speech of one hour, one minute and 50 seconds was more in line with Obama's averages than Clinton's.
A different former president holds the record for longest written SOTU address: Jimmy Carter with 33,667 words in 1981.
Who gave the shortest State of the Union address?
In minutes, Richard Nixon's 1972 speech is the shortest SOTU 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. That's a little more than four times the length of this article.