Biden sets record with most words spoken in a State of the Union

President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday set the record for most words spoken at a such a speech in six decades, beating the former lead by just one word.

Biden spoke 9,191 words, which is one more word than then-President Clinton’s 1995 State of the Union, according to a count from USA Today.

A White House official told The Hill that wasn’t intentional.

Biden also now holds the spot for the highest average of words in State of the Union addresses, coming in at 8,300, USA Today found. His address on Tuesday, during which he went off-script at multiple times, was significantly longer than the 7,705 words in his 2022 State of the Union and the 8,003 words in his 2021 speech to a joint session of Congress. 

Clinton is the second most wordy president, with 7,373 words as his average, USA Today found. 

And of course wordy does not necessarily mean long.

Clinton still has the record for longest State of the Union address after his 2000 speech lasted more than an hour and 28 minutes. Biden’s speech on Tuesday was an hour and 13 minutes long.

In term of wordiness, former President Obama comes in third with 6,708 average words in State of the Union addresses, USA Today found, followed by former President Trump at 5,650 words and former President George W. Bush at 5,081 words.

Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Carter were not very wordy by comparison, with their averages at 4,355 and 3,700, respectively. 

In the middle are former Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, who spoke an average of 4,888 and 4,521 words in their State of the Union addresses, respectively.