What is 1986 State of the Union Address?
The '''1986 [[State of the Union address]]''' was given by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] to a [[Joint session of the United States Congress|joint session]] of the 99th [[United States Congress]] on February 4, 1986. The speech was the second State of the Union address of President Reagan's second term. Reagan was the only president to have [[postpone]]d his State of the Union Address. On January 28, 1986, he planned to give his address, but after learning of the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]], he postponed it for a week and addressed the nation on the day's events.<ref>{{cite web|work=Ronald Reagan Presidential Library|url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/12886b.htm|title=Address to the nation on the ''Challenger'' disaster|access-date=July 4, 2006|archive-date=February 9, 2012|archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/65JQe6eWQ?url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/12886b.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> This was the only time that the State of the Union address had to be postponed because of an event.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Shuttle Explosion: Reagan Postpones State of the Union Speech|first=Bernard|last=Weinraub|newspaper=New York Times|date=January 29, 1986|page=A9}}</ref> The speech lasted for about 31 minutes<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou_minutes.php |title=Length of State of the Union Addresses in Minutes |publisher=Presidency.ucsb.edu |access-date=2012-10-22}}</ref> and had 3,514 words.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou_words.php#axzz1uwEqkUwK |title=Length of State of the Union Addresses |publisher=Presidency.ucsb.edu |access-date=2012-10-22}}</ref> The address was broadcast live on radio and television. The [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] [[Democratic response to the State of the Union address|response]] was delivered by Senator [[George J. Mitchell|George Mitchell]] (ME), Lt. Gov. [[Harriett Woods]] (MO), Gov. [[Charles Robb]]