US President Donald Trump will deliver his first official State of the Union address of his second term on February 24 (February 25, 7:30 AM IST). One key question is how long he will speak.
The exact duration is not fixed. The US Constitution requires the President to inform Congress about the state of the nation and propose priorities. It does not set a time limit. So the length has varied across history.
There have been 100 in-person addresses between 1790 and 2024, according to the House Office of the Historian. Some presidents spoke briefly. Others went long.
Trump's record for long speeches
Past speeches suggest this one may not be short. In 2025, during a joint session address that was not officially a State of the Union, Donald Trump spoke for 1 hour, 39 minutes, and 32 seconds. That broke the record set by Bill Clinton, whose 2000 State of the Union lasted 1 hour, 28 minutes, and 49 seconds, according to the University of California-Santa Barbara's American Presidency Project, USA Today reported.
During President Trump's first term, his congressional speeches averaged about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The longest was in 2019, at 1 hour, 22 minutes, and 25 seconds.
"It's going to be a long speech," Trump said on February 23, adding that there is "so much to talk about."
Why length matters
The duration does not measure policy success. But it affects timing. A longer speech pushes the opposition response later into the night. This year, the Democratic rebuttal will be delivered by Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger.
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Other presidents have also spoken at length. Lyndon B. Johnson spoke for 1 hour and 11 minutes in 1967. Joe Biden spoke for 1 hour and 13 minutes in 2023, as reported by USA Today.
Based on history, Americans can expect President Trump's address to last at least an hour. The final timing will only be known once he finishes speaking.
