Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of the United States Congress on Tuesday. It could prove to be a pivotal moment as the White House works to shore up support among Republican voters ahead of the November election.
Trump broke the previous record held by Bill Clinton in 2000, whose speech lasted an hour and 20 minutes. He also broke his own previous record of one hour and 40 minutes for a speech to Congress, which was set last March during the annual State of the Union address, which was not formally classified.
How long was the State of the Union in 2026?
Trump’s speech lasted one hour and 48 minutes, making it the longest speech delivered before a joint session of the United States Congress in at least six decades, according to The American Presidency Project, which has tracked the length of such speeches since 1964.
Trump barely touched on foreign policy in the first 75 minutes of his speech, offering only a passing mention of Venezuela and barely mentioning Russia or Ukraine. His long-discussed push to acquire Greenland, which has caused friction with European allies, has been completely omitted, according to a Reuters report.
How the length of speech has changed in the US
Here’s a look at the duration of all speeches, including State of the Union addresses and other speeches by Trump and other former presidents in Congress.
According to data compiled by The American Presidency Project, the longest speeches have been delivered before a joint session of the United States Congress in recent years. Trump’s February 24, 2026 speech lasted about 107.7 minutes, the longest in history since 1964.
His March 4, 2025 speech lasted 99.5 minutes, while previous long speeches included Bill Clinton’s speeches in 2000 and 1995, which lasted 88.8 and 85 minutes, respectively. Trump’s earlier speeches in 2019, 2018 and 2020 also rank among the longest, each exceeding 78 minutes.
Several other presidents also gave remarkably long speeches. Joe Biden’s speech in 2023 lasted 73 minutes, while Lyndon B. Johnson gave a 71.3-minute speech in 1967. Barack Obama often gave speeches lasting over an hour, including a 69.3-minute speech in 2010, while many of Clinton’s speeches during the 1990s also exceeded 60 minutes. Most modern addresses generally ranged between 50 and 70 minutes.
Earlier speeches were generally shorter. Speeches by George W. Bush, George HW Bush, and Jimmy Carter usually lasted less than an hour. Speeches by Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon were often even shorter. The shortest speech in the data set was Nixon’s 1972 speech at 28.9 minutes, illustrating how the length of presidential speeches has increased significantly over time.
