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LBJ’s 1968 State of the Union Was a Disaster. Can President Trump Avoid His Fate?

For unpopular presidents, the State of the Union is a minefield.
A number of the most common words from historical state of the union addresses.

The Language of the State of the Union

An interactive chart reveals how the words presidents use reflect the twists and turns of American history.
President George W. Bush delivering the first State of the Union speech after the 9/11 attacks.

The Legacy of the ‘Axis of Evil’

One speech permanently influenced American diplomacy—and not for the better.
Roll of raffle tickets labeled "National Security Priority"

How Everything Became National Security

And national security became everything.

How Carter's '80 SOTU Unleashed America's 'World Police'

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

George W. Bush Declares a War on Terror

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

The Carter Doctrine

Carter’s speech heralded a dramatic shift in foreign policy toward a policy of containment of Soviet influence.
George HW Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon at the Reagan Library opening.
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Jimmy Carter Was a Successful (Conservative) President

Common conceptions of Carter are all wrong because they don’t acknowledge a crucial reality: he was a conservative.
Albert Turner and Bob Mants are walking directly behind Williams and Lewis across Edmund Pettus Bridge
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Biden’s Push for an Infrastructure Presidency Risks Sacrificing Black Communities

Infrastructure has a long history of cloaking racism and preventing justice.
Barbed wire with an American flag hanging on it

For Two Decades, Americans Told One Lie After Another About What They Were Doing in Afghanistan

The war in Afghanistan was nasty and brutish, marked by the same imperial arrogance that doomed U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Picture of a parent holding a child in a run-down room

The US Hasn't Changed How it Measures Who's Poor Since LBJ Began His War

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

The ‘Revolution of ’89’ Did Not Initiate a New Era of History

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 at the podium to give a State of the Union address.
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The Corrupt, Racist Proposal from the State of the Union Address That Everyone Missed

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

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