The Longest and Shortest Acceptance Speeches in US Political History

Presidential Pitches

SG Buckley

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Photo by Fine Photographics on Unsplash

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke for 38 minutes at the Democratic National Convention this week, making it one of the shortest acceptance speeches in US modern history. (Adlai Stevenson’s speech was the shortest at 16 minutes, followed by John F. Kennedy’s at 22 minutes.)

Guess who holds the record for the longest presidential candidate acceptance speech?

Correct!

At this year’s Republican National Convention, former president Donald Trump spoke for 92 minutes. That’s the longest acceptance speech in recorded US political history, knocking out the previous record holder by 15 minutes.

Guess who that record holder was?

Correct again!

Trump’s 2024 acceptance speech was 15 minutes longer than his acceptance speech in 2016, which was previously the longest.

Third place?

Correct again!

Image of data from PBS News

Of course, it’s not length that matters but content. If you remain undecided about who to vote for in this year’s US…

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SG Buckley

Writer, editor, parent. Former staffer at Quartz, WSJ and Inc. magazine.