When I graduated from West Point 36 years ago, our graduation speaker was the retiring Chief of Staff of the Army, General Wickham. I'm sure I'm not alone in failing to remember a single word of the wisdom he shared with us.
This year's graduation speaker will be Kamala Harris. Given her demonstrated public speaking abilities, I'm sure every graduating cadet, as well as every family member in the audience, will have their phones out while she speaks in order to have their very own, personalized copy of whatever she says that will become that day's meme and set YouTube on fire.
Congratulations, Class of 2023!
I have to believe that the superintendent, a 3-star general, was demonstrating that discretion is the better part of valor when he published this sentiment:
"We are honored to have the Vice President as our commencement speaker," West Point's superintendent, Lt. Gen. Steven W. Gilland, said in a statement provided by the White House. "As an accomplished leader who has achieved significant milestones throughout her career, we look forward to her inspiring remarks to our cadets."
President Reagan was slated to be our class' speaker, but then some scheduling conflict arose. If I remember correctly, we were actually surveyed to find out if we'd be ok with graduating a day or two earlier or later (probably later), but given all the travel plans and hotel reservations that would have to have been changed by our families, our graduation day was kept as scheduled and General Wickham spoke.
My cousin's son was Class of '14. President Obama gave the address. We had to be in our seats on a foggy cold morning NLT 0700 because of security. Not so bad for me but my 80 year old aunt and many of the other older attendees had issues keeping warm and staying awake.
ReplyDeleteWhen the President was introduced, he got booed from the stands.
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ReplyDeleteWhen you have a comment about something I post, I'll consider leaving it here. Until then, though, no.
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ReplyDeleteKamala must have wanted a do over from her less than stellar speech at the Naval Academy. You had the privilege to hear from someone who shares the ethics and core values of the military and had a distinguished career supporting this country.
Less than 40 years and the quality of speakers for a such a prestigious academy has gone into the toilet.