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Vice President Kamala Harris delivered the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday and said that “our military is strongest when it fully reflects the people of America” in its diversity.
“You stand on the broad shoulders of generations of Americans who have worn the uniform,” Harris told some 950 graduating cadets, receiving a standing ovation for her remarks. She told the graduates they will play a vital role in defending the United States and thanked them for being willing to risk their lives to selflessly serve our nation.
“The power of America’s military not only rests on our technology, our weaponry, our hardware, it rests on the character and the resolve of our people,” Harris said.
The vice president is the first woman to speak to a graduating class at the academy, which was founded in 1802 to educate cadets to become Army officers. Graduates are commissioned as second lieutenants.
Other Black speakers at past West Point commencements were Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2021, President Barack Obama in 2010 and 2014, Army Secretary Togo West in 1994 and Army Chief of Staff (and later Secretary of State) Colin Powell in 1990.
President Joe Biden spoke to graduating seniors at West Point in 2016 when he was vice president. Biden will deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy on Thursday.
Harris spoke to the graduating class at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy last year and to graduates of the U.S….
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