This art exhibit at the Weisman Art Museum on the campus of the University of Minnesota, was compelling and fun at the same time. R. Luke Dubois looked at the frequency of words in the State of the Union address by the previous 43 presidents, and placed them according to frequency in an eyechart; the most frequent significant word (not prepositions, etc.) at the top of the eyechart, in the largest font. “Looking back on the words chosen for these addresses, DuBois muses on presidential vision and rhetoric and proposes to test the metaphorical eyesight of the nation.”

Here’s George Washington’s:

Our current president’s:

Here’s the list of the most frequent word for each president:

Interesting!