Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Why is the State of the Union always ‘strong’?
Why is the State of the Union always ‘strong’?
Nov 29, 2025 5:42 AM

I have a can’t miss prediction: tonight, when President Trump gives his first State of the Union address, he will describe the state of the union as “strong.” (I’ve made this prediction on this blog the past several years, so I’m hoping for a quadfecta of prescience tonight.)

Admittedly, predicting that the state of our union will be described as “strong” is about as safe a bet as you can make when es to politics. Over the last hundred years presidents have described the State of the Union (SOTU) in various ways — Good (Truman), Sound (Carter), Not Good (Ford). But it was Ronald Reagan who started the “strong” trend in 1983 by referring to the SOTU as “Strong, but the economy is troubled.” Since 1983, “strong” has been used to refer to the SOTU in 29 addresses.

Here is howthe state of the Union has been described over the past hundred years:

2016: Strong (Obama)

2015: Strong (Obama)

2014: Strong (Obama)

2013: Stronger (Obama)

2012: Strong (Obama)

2011: Strong (Obama)

2010: Strong (Obama)

2009: Stronger than before (Obama)

2008: Strong (Bush)

2007: Strong (Bush)

2006: Strong (Bush)

2005: Confident and Strong (Bush)

2004: Confident and Strong (Bush)

2003: Strong (Bush)

2002: Never been stronger (Bush)

2001: Strong (Bush)

2000: Strongest it has ever been (Clinton)

1999: Strong (Clinton)

1998: Strong (Clinton)

1997: Strong (Clinton)

1996: Strong (Clinton)

1995: Stronger than it was two years ago (Clinton)

1994: Growing stronger but it must be stronger still (Clinton)

1991-92: [Status of the SOTU not specified] (Bush I)

1990: Sound and strong (Bush I)

1988: Strong, prosperous, at peace, and free (Reagan)

1987: [No status of the SOTU specified] (Reagan)

1986: Stronger than a year ago and growing stronger each day (Reagan)

1985: Stronger, freer, and more secure than before (Reagan)

1984: Much improved (Reagan)

1983: Strong, but the economy is troubled (Reagan)

1982: [No status of the SOTU specified] (Reagan)

1981: Sound (Carter)

1980: Depends on the state of the world(Carter)

1979: Sound (Carter)

1978: Sound (Carter)

1977: Good (Ford)

1976: Better–in many ways a lot better–but still not good enough (Ford)

1975: Not Good (Ford)

1974: At peace with every nation of the world (Nixon)

1973: Sound, and full of promise (Nixon)

1969-1972: [No status of the SOTU specified] (Johnson, Nixon)

1968: Challenged (Johnson)

1966-67: [No status of the SOTU specified] (Johnson)

1965: Depends, in large measure, upon the state of the world (Johnson)

1950-1964: [No status of the SOTU specified] (Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson)

1949: Good (Truman)

1948: Reflects the changing nature of the modern world (Truman)

1928-47: [No status of the SOTU specified] (Coolidge, Hoover, FDR, Truman)

1927: In general is good (Coolidge)

1926: One of general peace and prosperity (Coolidge)

1925: One of progress and prosperity (Coolidge)

1913-24: [No status of the SOTU specified] (Wilson, Harding, Coolidge)

Note: Speeches given in 1989, 1993, 2001, 2009, and 2017 were not technically “State of the Union” addresses, which start a year after presidents have been in office.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Readings on Church and Poverty
This summer I’m working on developing the syllabus for a class that I’ll be helping to lead in the Fall. The course will focus on readings in social ethics, with a general theme on church and culture, and a particular theme on church and poverty. I’ll be reading through the selections on this particular theme over the next few weeks. I’d like to post the readings for the week that I’ll be going through, so that you can read along...
BET’s “Read A Book” Is Satirical Not Racist
One of the sad legacies of the civil-rights movement is that anyone who makes a ment about bad dimensions of black life in America is automatically branded a racist. This is silly. The New York Times reports today on the uproar regarding a recent BET satirical cartoon called “Read A Book” which is circulation in . Some are claiming that the video is racist. In a gloss on the hip-hop videos frequently shown on BET, an animated rapper named es...
Usury and Market Failure
When the sign for one of those payday lending stores went up on the corner a block away from my house, I have to say I was less than enthusiastic. The standard response in a market economy to “market failure” is for a nonprofit to fill the gap in services or meet the need. Today’s NYT reports on efforts in the short-term loan industry to meet that need. As it stands in the market system, “Payday loan stores, which barely...
Pensions, Population, and Prosperity
Earlier this month, Washington Post columnist Robert plained about the lack of creative thinking concerning the issue of social security. “Washington’s vaunted think tanks — citadels for public intellectuals both liberal and conservative — have tiptoed around the problem,” he wrote. “Ideally, think tanks expand the public conversation by saying things too controversial for politicians to say on their own. Here, they’ve abdicated that role.” As though on cue, in the publications pipeline at the time was the latest in...
And I Still Haven’t Seen Dime One From Exxon…
It’s been at least a few months since I admitted abandoning all of my principles and ethics in favor of rolling around in great piles of filthy Exxon lucre, and I’ll be honest with you here – I haven’t even gotten so much as a thank you note from Rex Tillerson. Meanwhile, Al Gore appears to have offset his carbon emissions by planting a forest of magical money trees, and it’s HARVEST TIME, BABY! Not too long ago, a premier...
COE at Gilder/Forbes Tech Conferece
Acton Media’s documentary, “The Call of the Entrepreneur,” is slated as the first item on the 2007 Agenda for the Annual Gilder/Forbes Telecosm Conference, to be held in Lake George, NY this October. The theme for the 2007 Conference is “Pursuing opportunities, celebrating entrepreneurship, and seeking the upside surprises surrounding ing end of the local area network.” Visit the Conference website for more information and to register. ...
The Call of the Entrepreneur at First Things
Ryan T. Anderson over at the First Things blog, takes a look at the Acton documentary The Call of the Entrepreneur and wonders: Countless movies and s portray businessmen as greedy, conniving, self-serving agents of exploitation who sully the air, melt the ice caps, and abuse the poor. The news media is even worse: Enron, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom—watching the nightly news and reading the morning paper, one gets the impression that businesses are run solely by the corrupt, the vile,...
Myths Christians Believe about Wealth and Poverty
Dr. Jay W. Richards gave an impassioned address at the heavily attended Acton Lecture series yesterday titled, “Myths Christians Believe about Wealth and Poverty.” This topic was especially relevant for me because I graduated from a Wesleyan Evangelical seminary, which constantly preached and proclaimed so many myths Richards addressed, especially “the piety myth.” This was a big problem in seminary, as the gospels were often linked to promoting the modern welfare state, and its goals of wealth redistribution. Richards said...
Job Licensing and ‘The Children’
Do you ever walk into a business and see a license on the wall and wonder if that specific industry really needs to be licensed by the state? I know I have thought that, if just a few times. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal looks at how licensing laws hinders low prices petition in the marketplace. In a piece titled, License to Kill Jobs, Fund also explains how over regulation has stymied job growth and the ability of...
Coffee, Capitalism, and Corporate Encroachment
Railing against corporate dictatorship, delocator.net helps consumers find locally-owned cafes, bookstores, and movie theatres in their area — alternatives to the “invasion” of Starbucks, Borders, and their ilk. The site itself is actually quite an interesting capitalist idea in its freshness and creativity, and people certainly should eat or drink or shop where they are fortable. That’s the beauty petition! And the kind munity-building that often takes place at familiar, time-tested, local shops is to be encouraged. But to say...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved