1992 State of the Union Address

The 1992 State of the Union address was a speech given by President George H. W. Bush to a joint session of the 102nd United States Congress on January 28, 1992. This was the last State of the Union address by President Bush, who lost his re-election bid to Bill Clinton in the 1992 election.

The president discussed the collapse of the Soviet Union, Operation Desert Storm, military spending cuts, nuclear disarmament, economic recovery (high unemployment remained from the early 1990s recession), several types of tax cuts and credits, and controlling government spending. Bush listed a nine-point, long-term plan advocating:

1. free trade
2. school choice
3. research and development tax credits and emerging technologies funding
4. anti-crime legislation
5. inner city development
6. privatized health care reform
7. reduction of the federal budget deficit
8. Congress to act on various existing reform proposals
9. efforts to strengthen families

Seeing increased division in American media and politics, Bush denounced election-year partisanship and described the popular sentiment as a passing mood.

The speech lasted 51 minutes and consisted of 5,012 words.

The Democratic Party response was delivered by the Speaker of the House, Representative Tom Foley of Washington. Foley, speaking for 12 minutes, criticized Bush's economic recovery plans as being the same as those that led to the recession and argued for more support of the middle class instead of wealthier Americans.

Edward Madigan, the Secretary of Agriculture, served as the designated survivor.

See also

• United States presidential election, 1992

External links

• (full transcript), The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara.
• (full video), Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.
• Transcript of the Democratic Party response, New York Times

Preceded by 1991 State of the Union Address

State of the Union addresses 1992

Succeeded by 1994 State of the Union Address