Trump just delivered the most ‘America’-filled inaugural speech of all time
President Donald Trump delivers his speech at the inauguration ceremonies as the 45th president of the United States.
Donald Trump’s first inaugural address contained more mentions of the word “America” than any other inaugural address in history. It was a speech that was in line with his tone on the campaign trail: short, simple, and strongly worded.
We took the first inaugural addresses of every president and compared them to Trump's speech. (Presidents who took office after a resignation or death of a sitting president were not included.)
Trump said the word "America" more times than any other president, but when counting all combinations of "America," "American" or "Americans," Ronald Reagan actually takes the lead by one mention over Trump.
But Reagan's 1981 address is different in tone than Trump's. Reagan called on the exceptionalism of each American individual and stated that “[w]e will not rest until every American enjoys the fullness of freedom, dignity, and opportunity as our birthright,” contrasts with Trump’s message.
From Reagan's inaugural address:
Trump's speech ended in a reference to his campaign slogan, and calls for a patriotic, mighty America:
Reagan used "American" or "Americans" 19 times and "America" 17 times; Trump's ratio was 15 "American/s" to 20 "America."
We analyzed Trump's address using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test, which is a common algorithm used to measure linguistic complexity.
The results? Trump's address was written at an eighth-grade level, on-par with the simplicity of his convention speech.
Trump is noted for his use of simple but evocative language throughout his bid for the presidency, contributing to his populist appeal.
We also measured the length of presidential speeches. Among modern presidents, Trump’s address was the third shortest, just 1,467 words and slightly longer than 16 minutes.
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