State of The Union Addresses And Reading Level Over Time

This article (via Manan Shukla) evaluates the reading level in the State of the Union addresses of US presidents.  The reading level has declined dramatically over time.  The audience for these addresses has changed over time.  They used to be primarily for Congress, and not intended for general consumption by the public.  Moreover, they were written addresses until Woodrow Wilson started the precedent of giving them orally.  Our written language tends to be more complex than our spoken language.  The reading level, however,  has declined substantially from the level of Wilson's address.  It probably has more to do with the need to reach a broad audience than to anything else.