State of the Military

datascience@berkeley looked at each president’s first State of the Union address — from Woodrow Wilson to Donald J. Trump — to find out how often they mentioned the military.

Donald J. Trump

Party: Republican
Year: 2018
Total Word Count: 5,799

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Army
1
0.017244352
Battlefield
1
0.017244352
Guantanamo
2
0.034488705
Marines
1
0.017244352
Military
4
0.06897741
Missile
1
0.017244352
Navy
1
0.017244352
Nuclear
6
0.103466115
Veterans
9
0.155199172
War
2
0.034488705
Weapons
1
0.017244352

Barack Obama

Party: Democrat
Year: 2010
Total Word Count: 7,304

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Battle
1
0.013691128
Military
2
0.027382256
Nuclear
5
0.068455641
Troops
4
0.054764513
Veterans
1
0.013691128
War
7
0.095837897
Weapons
3
0.041073384

George W. Bush

Party: Republican
Year: 2002
Total Word Count: 3,878

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Battlefield
1
0.025786488
Guantanamo
1
0.02578648788
Military
4
0.103145952
Missile
2
0.051572976
Navy
1
0.02578648788
Nuclear
3
0.077359464
Soldiers
2
0.051572976
Troops
3
0.077359464
Veterans
1
0.025786488
War
12
0.309437855
Weapons
12
0.309437855

Bill Clinton

Party: Democrat
Year: 1994
Total Word Count: 7,432

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Military
5
0.067276642
Missile
1
0.013455328
Nuclear
4
0.053821313
Troops
1
0.013455328
War
2
0.026910657
Weapons
5
0.067276642

George Bush Sr.

Party: Republican
Year: 1990
Total Word Count: 3,777

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Army
3
0.079428118
Battle
1
0.02647603918
Military
6
0.158856235
Troops
2
0.052952078

Ronald Reagan

Party: Republican
Year: 1982
Total Word Count: 5,154

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Military
8
0.1552192472
Nuclear
1
0.019402406

James Carter, Jr.

Party: Democrat
Year: 1978
Total Word Count: 4,580

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Military
5
0.109170306
Nuclear
7
0.152838428
War
6
0.131004367
Weapons
3
0.065502183

Gerald Ford

Party: Republican
Year: 1975
Total Word Count: 4,126

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Military
7
0.169655841
Navy
2
0.048473097
Nuclear
6
0.145419292
War
2
0.048473097

Richard Nixon

Party: Republican
Year: 1970
Total Word Count: 4,457

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Battle
1
0.022436617
Military
3
0.06730985
War
16
0.358985865
Weapons
1
0.02243661656

Lyndon B. Johnson

Party: Democrat
Year: 1964
Total Word Count: 3,168

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Military
3
0.09469697
Nuclear
1
0.031565657
War
7
0.220959596
Weapons
2
0.063131313

John F. Kennedy

Party: Democrat
Year: 1961
Total Word Count: 5,274

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Military
5
0.094804702
Missile
3
0.056882821
Nuclear
3
0.056882821
War
6
0.113765643
Weapons
2
0.037921881

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Party: Republican
Year: 1953
Total Word Count: 6,973

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Army
1
0.01434103
Military
12
0.172092356
Navy
2
0.028682059
Soldiers
1
0.01434103
Veterans
2
0.028682059
War
5
0.071705148
Weapons
1
0.01434103

Harry S. Truman

Party: Democrat
Year: 1946
Total Word Count: 27,465

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Army
7
0.021845986
Battle
1
0.003640998
Marines
1
0.003640998
Military
15
0.054614965
Navy
16
0.058255962
Nazi
4
0.014563991
Soldiers
1
0.003640998
Troops
2
0.007281995
Veterans
36
0.131075915
War
222
0.808301475
Weapons
2
0.007281995

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Party: Democrat
Year: 1934
Total Word Count: 2,230

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
War
1
0.044843049

Herbert Hoover

Party: Republican
Year: 1929
Total Word Count: 10,994

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Army
7
0.063671093
Marines
3
0.027287611
Military
1
0.00909587
Navy
8
0.072766964
Soldiers
2
0.018191741
Veterans
9
0.081862834
War
14
0.127342187

Calvin Coolidge

Party: Republican
Year: 1923
Total Word Count: 6,706

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Army
5
0.074560095
Navy
5
0.074560095
Veterans
3
0.044736057
War
10
0.149120191

Warren Harding

Party: Republican
Year: 1921
Total Word Count: 5,606

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Navy
1
0.017838031
Soldiers
1
0.017838031
War
14
0.24973243

Woodrow Wilson

Party: Democrat
Year: 1913
Total Word Count: 3,553

WordFrequencyPercentage of Speech
Military
1
0.028145229

Frequency adjusted for speech length.
Similar variations of words were combined. For example: naval and navy are both categorized as “navy.”

Source: The American Presidency Project — http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php