U.S Vice President Kamala Harris, has delivered a commencement speech at the U.S Military Academy, also known as West Point.
This is Harris’ first visit is to the U.S. Army academy. She becomes the first woman to deliver a commencement speech there. Commencement speeches at the country’s military academies are usually delivered by the President, Vice President or high-ranking military official. This means that until Harris’ election, the Speakers have always been men.
In her speech, Kamala Harris praised the graduating cadets for their noble sacrifice in serving their country. However, she was quick to add that they were entering an “unsettled world” due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rising threats from China.
“The world has drastically changed,” Harris stated. She made reference to the global pandemic that took millions of lives and the fraught shifts in global politics in Europe and in Asia.
“It is clear you graduate into an increasingly unsettled world where long-standing principles are at risk,” Harris added.
Additionally, the U.S Vice President denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the first major ground war in Europe since World War II.
In a seeming reference to the brewing disputes over the South China Sea, Harris cautioned the approximately 950 graduating cadets to be wary of China, as it rapidly modernizes its military for control of parts of the high seas,
Harris was joined at the commencement by Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, who in 2021 became the first woman to hold the military service’s top civilian post.
Harris made no mention in her address about the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, where the White House and congressional Republicans are straining to prevent a debt crisis.
Last year, Harris addressed graduates at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Harris Speaks About Essence Of Diversity In Institutions
In her speech, Harris touched on the importance of having institutions reflect the diversity of the broader United States, making the comment at an institution that has made slow progress diversifying its ranks in the four decades since the first class of female cadets graduated.
Today, about one quarter of the student body are women. Only a few dozen graduates each year are Black women, though the number has increased in recent years. The academy did not admit women until 1976 and had its first female graduates in 1980.
Upon graduation, the cadets will be commissioned as Army second lieutenants.
The U.S military academy has educated future military leaders such as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Gen. George Patton and Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
While Harris visited West Point, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Manhattan, President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday, June 1, 2023 to address graduates at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Meanwhile, U.S Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III addressed the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Friday, May 26, 2023.
