1972 State of the Union Address

Last updated
1972 State of the Union Address
DateJanuary 20, 1972 (1972-01-20)
Time12:30 p.m. EST
Duration29 minutes
VenueHouse 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 Richard Nixon
Spiro Agnew
Carl Albert
Previous 1971 State of the Union Address
Next 1973 State of the Union Address

The 1972 State of the Union Address was a State of the Union address given by U.S. President Richard Nixon on January 20, 1972. [1]

Contents

Topics

In the address, Nixon proposed a value-added tax of 3% on retail sales. [2] He also discussed deficiencies in the country's emergency medical services, advising the U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare to reorganize such services. [3] :27 With respect to the then-ongoing Vietnam War, the president declared that "As our involvement with the war in Vietnam comes to an end, we must go on to build a generation of peace". [4] :189 (The war actually ended with the Fall of Saigon in 1975, three years later, making the president's declaration read as premature in retrospect. [4] :190)

The address continued six great goals from the 1971 State of the Union Address, but with various other items added to appease interest groups. [5] :54 (These goals were: welfare reform, peacetime prosperity, restoring the natural environment, improving healthcare, revenue sharing, and reorganizing the U.S. federal government. [5] :52)

Event

The address ended up being the shortest-ever recorded State of the Union address in history. It lasted for only 28 minutes and 55 seconds. [6]

On January 21, Democratic Congresspeople recorded an official response to the address in a 53-minute televised panel. [7]

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References

  1. "Address on the State of the Union Delivered Before a Joint Session of the Congress. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  2. Kaven, William (August 1972). "Now Comes the Value-Added Tax". Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly. 13 (2): 2–8. doi:10.1177/001088047201300202. ISSN   0010-8804.
  3. United States Congress House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce Subcommittee on Public Health and Environment (1972). Emergency Medical Services Act of 1972: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Public Health and Environment of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, Ninety-second Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 12563 and H.R 13582 ... H.R. 12787 and H.R. 13447 ... H.R. 9876 ... U.S. Government Printing Office.
  4. 1 2 Chiu, Monica (2014-11-01). Drawing New Color Lines: Transnational Asian American Graphic Narratives. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN   978-988-8139-38-5.
  5. 1 2 Harper, Edwin L. (1996). "Domestic Policy Making in the Nixon Administration: An Evolving Process". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 26 (1): 41–56. ISSN   0360-4918. JSTOR   27551549.
  6. "See the Presidents who have had the longest and shortest State of the Union addresses". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  7. "U.S. Senate: Opposition Responses to the State of the Union Address (1966-Present)". www.senate.gov. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
Preceded by State of the Union addresses
1972
Succeeded by