1986 State of the Union Address

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The 1986 State of the Union address was given by President Ronald Reagan to a joint session of the 99th United States Congress on February 4, 1986. The speech was the second State of the Union address of President Reagan's second term.

Reagan was the only president to have postponed his State of the Union Address. On January 28, 1986, he planned to give his address, but after learning of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, he postponed it for a week and addressed the nation on the day's events.[1] This was the only time that the State of the Union address had to be postponed because of an event.[2]

The speech lasted for about 31 minutes[3] and had 3,514 words.[4] The address was broadcast live on radio and television.

The Democratic Party response was delivered by Senator George Mitchell (ME), Lt. Gov. Harriett Woods (MO), Gov. Charles Robb (VA), Rep. Thomas Daschle (SD) and Rep. William Gray (PA)[5]

References[change | change source]

  1. "Address to the nation on the Challenger disaster". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2006.
  2. Weinraub, Bernard (January 29, 1986). "The Shuttle Explosion: Reagan Postpones State of the Union Speech". New York Times. p. A9.
  3. "Length of State of the Union Addresses in Minutes". Presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
  4. "Length of State of the Union Addresses". Presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
  5. "List of Opposition Responses to State of the Union Addresses". Presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-22.

Other websites[change | change source]