Abstract
Speeches are vital to modern presidential governance. We know that speeches inform others of presidents’ policy preferences and allow them to meet public expectations; yet we do not know precisely what influences presidents’ tendencies to deliver them. This article argues that presidents consider the potential benefit or cost of delivering speeches. Deteriorating conditions in the political environment should cause a change in presidential behavior, while improvements may encourage presidents to continue their current course of action. Using time series analysis, I find that this is indeed the case. Typically, low presidential approval ratings and a poor economy encourage presidents to deliver more and fewer policy-based speeches, respectively. Even though the “golden age” of presidential politics also matters to presidential speechmaking, individual presidents do not significantly explain speechmaking over time.
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