State of the Union address

For unpopular presidents, the State of the Union is a minefield.

An interactive chart reveals how the words presidents use reflect the twists and turns of American history.

Forty years ago he announced a new American doctrine of aggressive Middle East interventionism that never went away.

Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address kicked off a war that continued well into the 21st century.

Carter’s speech heralded a dramatic shift in foreign policy toward a policy of containment of Soviet influence.

Infrastructure has a long history of cloaking racism and preventing justice.

The war in Afghanistan was nasty and brutish, marked by the same imperial arrogance that doomed U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Newer measures of poverty may do a better job of counting America's poor, which is necessary to helping them.

Though significant, the end of the Cold War was not nearly as significant a turning point as President George H.W. Bush suggested it would be in 1990.

Trump's plans for the federal workforce sound reasonable, but they would actually undo a century of reforms.