Vice President Kamala Harris became the first woman to deliver a commencement speech at West Point in New York on Saturday, where she said the “world has drastically changed” since the class of 2023 entered the U.S. Military Academy.
“A once-in-a-century global pandemic took millions of lives and disrupted life for billions more. America ended our longest war. And Russia launched the first major ground war in Europe since World War II,” Harris told graduates in her address. “Looking forward to the future, it is clear you graduate into an increasingly unsettled world where longstanding principles are at risk.”
West Point was established in 1802 when President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the academy. Among its alumni are Presidents Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower, and numerous senior U.S. military leaders.
Graduation speeches are usually given by presidents, vice presidents or high-ranking military officials. Saturday was Harris’ first visit there.
Harris is the first woman and person of color to serve as the vice president of the United States.
Today, about one-quarter of the West Point student body are women. The academy didn’t admit women until 1976 and had its first graduating class that included women in 1980.
Harris noted the class of 2023 graduates the same year as the 75th anniversary of the allowance of women into the U.S. military, and its racial desegregation.
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“These milestones are a reminder of a fundamental truth: Our military is strongest when it fully reflects the people of America,” Harris said.
She called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, “an attack on the lives and freedom of the Ukrainian people” and an attack on the foundation of international security.
Cadets should also be wary of China’s modernizing military, terrorism and the accelerating climate crisis, Harris said.
“All a threat to global stability and security,” she said, adding that global security depends on the United States’ leadership.
Harris gave a shoutout in her speech to two of the graduates, Aaron Hall and Claire Dworsky, whom Harris nominated for admission to West Point while she was a California senator.
“Our military is the strongest in the world. Our military is a force that underwrites global stability and our national security,” Harris said. “And it is this pillar of our strength where you, cadets, have dedicated yourself to lead.”
Upon graduation, the cadets will be commissioned as Army second lieutenants.
President Joe Biden is slated to give a commencement speech at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on Thursday, and previously spoke at Howard University’s graduation in the nation’s capital earlier this month. Harris is a graduate of Howard, a historically Black university.
Last year, Harris addressed graduates at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Contributing: The Associated Press