Inaugural Address Lengths

  • William Henry Harrison had the longest inaugural address at 8,460 words and took one hour and 45 minutes to deliver. This was 3,000 words more than Taft's which was the second longest.
  • George Washington's second inaugural address was the shortest at 135 words. It lasted less than two minutes.
  • The average length of a presidential inaugural address is 2,350 words.
  • Five presidents did not give inaugural addresses.

Rank#PresidentYearLength in Words
19William Henry Harrison18418,460
227William H. Taft19095,434
311James K. Polk18454,809
45James Monroe18214,472
523Benjamin Harrison18894,392
630Calvin Coolidge19254,055
725William McKinley18973,968
88Martin Van Buren18373,843
931Herbert Hoover19293,672
1016Abraham Lincoln18613,637
115James Monroe18173,375
1214Franklin Pierce18533,336
1329Warren G. Harding19213,329
1420James A. Garfield18812,979
156John Quincy Adams18252,915
1647Donald J. Trump20252,888
1715James Buchanan18572,831
1840Ronald Reagan19852,561
1946Joe Biden20212,551
2019Rutherford B. Hayes18772,486
2134Dwight D. Eisenhower19532,459
2240Ronald Reagan19812,427
2344Barack Obama20092,395
242John Adams17972,321
2541George H. W. Bush19892,320
2633Harry S. Truman19492,273
2725William McKinley19012,218
283Thomas Jefferson18052,166
2942Bill Clinton19972,155
3037Richard M. Nixon19692,128
3144Barack Obama20132,096
3243George W. Bush20052,071
3324Grover Cleveland18932,015
3432Franklin D. Roosevelt19331,880
3532Franklin D. Roosevelt19371,808
3637Richard M. Nixon19731,803
373Thomas Jefferson18011,730
3828Woodrow Wilson19131,704
3922Grover Cleveland18851,686
4034Dwight D. Eisenhower19571,658
4142Bill Clinton19931,598
4243George W. Bush20011,592
4328Woodrow Wilson19171,526
4436Lyndon B. Johnson19651,507
4545Donald J. Trump20171,433
461George Washington17891,431
4735John F. Kennedy19611,366
4832Franklin D. Roosevelt19411,359
4918Ulysses S. Grant18731,339
5039Jimmy Carter19771,229
514James Madison18131,211
524James Madison18091,177
537Andrew Jackson18331,176
547Andrew Jackson18291,128
5518Ulysses S. Grant18691,127
5612Zachary Taylor18491,090
5726Theodore Roosevelt1905984
5816Abraham Lincoln1865700
5932Franklin D. Roosevelt1945559
601George Washington1793135
-10John TylerDid not give an inaugural address.
-13Millard FillmoreDid not give an inaugural address.
-17Andrew JohnsonDid not give an inaugural address.
-21Chester A. ArthurDid not give an inaugural address.
-38Gerald R. FordDid not give an inaugural address.

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