Full video of the speech as published by theRonald Reagan Presidential Library | |
 | |
| Date | January 25, 1988 (1988-01-25) |
|---|---|
| Time | 9:00 p.m.EST |
| Duration | 44 minutes |
| Venue | House Chamber,United States Capitol |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′23″N77°00′32″W / 38.88972°N 77.00889°W /38.88972; -77.00889 |
| Type | State of the Union Address |
| Participants | |
| Previous | 1987 State of the Union Address |
| Next | 1989 Joint session speech |
The1988 State of the Union Address was given by the 40thpresident of the United States,Ronald Reagan, on January 25, 1988, at 9:00 p.m.EST, in the chamber of theUnited States House of Representatives to the100th United States Congress. It was Reagan's seventh and finalState of the Union Address and hiseighth and final speech to ajoint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was theHouse speaker,Jim Wright, accompanied byGeorge H. W. Bush, thevice president in his capacity as thepresident of the Senate.
Donald Hodel, theSecretary of the Interior, served as thedesignated survivor.[1]
President Reagan began by announcing that his speech would not be a litany of achievements over the past seven years of his administration, but that he would continue to propose policy initiatives. He outlined the following objectives:
Reagan discussed the federal deficit, the size of the federal budget, abortion, crime, drugs, theline-item veto, foreign relations and theSoviet–Afghan War. He famously summarized the effect of government intervention on the poor:[2]
Some years ago the federal government declared War on Poverty, and poverty won. Today the federal government has 59 major welfare programs and spends more than $100 billion a year on them. What has all this money done? Well, too often it has made poverty harder to escape. Federal welfare programs have created a massive social problem. With the best of intentions, government created a poverty trap that wreaks havoc on the very support system the poor need most to lift themselves out of poverty: the family.
In closing he returned to his vision of America as acity on a hill: "We can be proud ... that another generation of Americans has protected and passed on lovingly this place called America, this shining city on a hill, this government of, by, and for the people."
The speech lasted approximately 44 minutes and consisted of 4,955 words.[3] The address was broadcast live on radio and television.
TheDemocratic Party response was delivered by Senate Majority LeaderRobert Byrd ofWest Virginia andSpeaker of the HouseJim Wright ofTexas.[4]
| Preceded by | State of the Union addresses 1988 | Succeeded by |
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