This is a list of State of the Union addresses. The State of the Union is the constitutionally mandated annual report by the president of the United States, the head of the U.S. federal executive departments, to the United States Congress, the U.S. federal legislative body.
William Henry Harrison and James A. Garfield are the only presidents in U.S. history to not deliver a State of the Union, as they both died within their first year in office before they could do so.
Before 1933, the State of the Union was delivered at the end of the calendar year. The ratification of the 20th Amendment in 1933 changed the opening of Congress from early March to early January, affecting the delivery of the annual message. There was none in 1933, and since 1934, it has been in January, February, or March.
Starting in 1981, presidents have been invited to address a joint session of Congress early in the first year of their presidency. These have reflected the style of a State of the Union address. However, the addresses are not officially titled "State of the Union" but "Address to Joint Session of Congress" or like that instead. Since 1989, the opposition party has offered a response. There were unofficial addresses by newly inaugurated presidents in 1981, 1989, 1993, 2001, 2009, 2017, 2021, and 2025.