<Li> During his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson introduced legislation that would come to be known as the "War on Poverty". This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent . The speech led the United States Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act, which established the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to administer the local application of federal funds targeted against poverty . </Li> <Li> During his State of the Union address on January 15, 1975, Gerald R. Ford very bluntly stated that "the state of the Union is not good: Millions of Americans are out of work...We depend on others for essential energy . Some people question their Government's ability to make hard decisions and stick with them; they expect Washington politics as usual ." Ford said he didn't "expect much, if any, applause . The American people want action, and it will take both the Congress and the President to give them what they want . Progress and solutions can be achieved, and they will be achieved ." </Li> <Ul> <Li> In his 2002 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush identified North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as representing significant threats to the United States . He said, "States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world". In this speech, he would outline the objectives for the War on Terror . </Li> </Ul> <Li> In his 2002 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush identified North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as representing significant threats to the United States . He said, "States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world". In this speech, he would outline the objectives for the War on Terror . </Li>

The president’s state of the union address is mandated by the constitution