--- title: 31 Years of Skutniks: A Brief History of Special Guests at the State of the Union Address description: Named for Lenny Skutnik, the savior of a drowning jetliner passenger whose aircraft crashed into the Potomac River in 1982, these (mostly) heroic folks have... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7185886/30-years-of-skutniks-a-brief-history-of-special-guests-at-the-state-of-the-union-address/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-01-25T02:06:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T07:57:51.633Z article:section: Politics og:title: 31 Years of Skutniks: A Brief History of Special Guests at the State of the Union Address og:description: Named for Lenny Skutnik, the savior of a drowning jetliner passenger whose aircraft crashed into the Potomac River in 1982, these (mostly) heroic folks have... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7185886/30-years-of-skutniks-a-brief-history-of-special-guests-at-the-state-of-the-union-address/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc65cb37aaf090a4b/698b23b6cabb1dd8c0e5ba19/sl_souguest3_0124_blog.jpg?branch=production&width=611&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 611 og:image:height: 344 og:image:alt: William McRaven, 2012 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 31 Years of Skutniks: A Brief History of Special Guests at the State of the Union Address twitter:description: Named for Lenny Skutnik, the savior of a drowning jetliner passenger whose aircraft crashed into the Potomac River in 1982, these (mostly) heroic folks have... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc65cb37aaf090a4b/698b23b6cabb1dd8c0e5ba19/sl_souguest3_0124_blog.jpg?branch=production&width=611&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) # 31 Years of Skutniks: A Brief History of Special Guests at the State of the Union Address by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Jan 25, 2012 2:06 AM UTC  First Lady Michelle Obama receives applause prior to the start of President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech Jan 24, 2012 in Washington. Among the attendees is Admiral William McRaven who commands the Joint Special Operations Command and is credited with executing Operation Neptune's Spear, the specials ops raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. First Lady Michelle Obama receives applause prior to the start of President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech Jan 24, 2012 in Washington. Among the attendees is Admiral William McRaven who commands the Joint Special Operations Command and is credited with executing Operation Neptune's Spear, the specials ops raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.Win McNamee / Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Jan 25, 2012 2:06 AM UTC Named for Lenny Skutnik, the savior of a drowning jetliner passenger whose aircraft crashed into the Potomac River in 1982, these (mostly) heroic folks have been mainstays of the annual State of the Union address since Ronald Reagan started the tradition with Skutnik three decades ago. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7185886/30-years-of-skutniks-a-brief-history-of-special-guests-at-the-state-of-the-union-address/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7185886/30-years-of-skutniks-a-brief-history-of-special-guests-at-the-state-of-the-union-address/"},"headline":"31 Years of Skutniks: A Brief History of Special Guests at the State of the Union Address","datePublished":"2012-01-25T02:06:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T07:57:51.633Z","description":"Named for Lenny Skutnik, the savior of a drowning jetliner passenger whose aircraft crashed into the Potomac River in 1982, these (mostly) heroic folks have...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7185886/30-years-of-skutniks-a-brief-history-of-special-guests-at-the-state-of-the-union-address/","keywords":["Obama","SOTU"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc65cb37aaf090a4b/698b23b6cabb1dd8c0e5ba19/sl_souguest3_0124_blog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc65cb37aaf090a4b/698b23b6cabb1dd8c0e5ba19/sl_souguest3_0124_blog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"William McRaven, 2012","caption":"First Lady Michelle Obama receives applause prior to the start of President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech Jan 24, 2012 in Washington. 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