The Language of the State of the Union

The Atlantic ^ | 1-18-15 | Benjamin Schmidt and Mitch Fraas

[smokingfrog]

Since 1790, every president has made an annual report to Congress, highlighting the challenges and opportunities facing the nation. Presidents from Jefferson to Taft dispatched lengthy written addresses; since Wilson, most have emulated Washington’s example and delivered shorter remarks in person. Using the Bookworm platform for text analysis, we’ve combed through the full texts of all 224 State of the Union addresses and ranked the frequency with which each president used each word.

We invite you to explore these speeches. Click on any individual word and observe how frequently each president employed it. Sort by DATE to see how the word’s use has evolved over time, and by DENSITY to rank the presidents by their propensity to use that particular word. Click on any of the colored bars to summon a list of all the times that the corresponding president used the word in a State of the Union address. Then scroll down below the graph and see how our team of historians interprets what this chart reveals, and what it may conceal.

[smokingfrog]

Interesting.

[MeshugeMikey]

stunning compilation

Thank you!

[Guna]

That is amazing! (It would have been very revealing to include the number of times the word “I” is used.)

[spokeshave]

Ha....it left (no pun intended) out the most important and smallest word.,.....

I

and the second

ME

[smokingfrog]

I was hoping to find out how many times he used the word “fair” when I found this.

If anyone knows, ping me.