Last night's State of the Union address was overshadowed by a bitter feud between President Trump and Nancy Pelosi. The event will certainly linger long in the memory due to the level of division it highlighted but it is also notable as being one of the longest State of the Union speeches in U.S. history. The president spoke for an hour and 18 minutes, according to tracking carried out by The American Presidency Project, which makes it the sixth-longest State of the Union address in history.
Trump gave an even longer speech last year which had a duration of one one hour, 22 minutes and 25 seconds. That still wasn't the longest on record, an honour that goes to Bill Clinton. His State of the Union address in 2000 was one hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds long. He also made the second-longest address at just under an hour and 25 minutes in 1995. Even though some people may balk at the length of those speeches, they are still short affairs compared to similar events in other countries. Vladimir Putin's annual press conference is a good example and that lasted three hours and 10 minutes in 2015. Last year, it was even longer at four hours and 18 minutes.
