Will Biden’s speech at Morehouse address campus protests? History suggests

Presidents have often used keynote speeches during difficult times for the nation to state their positions on issues.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

The tradition dates back at least to 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt addressed the Naval Academy, the most frequent destination for commencements. Military academies account for 30% of the president’s commencement speeches.

“I now ask you to ensure that, should the day ever present itself, your courage, your will, your burning desire to win new fame for the flag will be strengthened by the training you have given yourself and those of others. under your command in the practical work of your profession in seamanship and artillery,” Roosevelt told the men.

Exactly a century later, in 2002, in his first commencement address since the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush laid out his vision for the war on terrorism during commencement exercises at the Military Academy American from West Point.

Bush spent much of his speech addressing the attacks, the importance of America defending itself and its allies and what he described as “the perilous intersection of radicalism and technology.”

“Our security will require the best intelligence, to reveal the threats hidden in caves and growing in laboratories,” he said. “Our security will require modernizing national agencies like the FBI so that they are ready to act, and act quickly, against danger. Our security will require transforming the army you lead – an army that must be ready to strike at a moment’s notice in any dark corner of the world. And our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and determined, prepared to take preemptive action when necessary to defend our freedom and our lives. »

In May In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson delivered his “Great Society” speech at the University of Michigan. Two months later, he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, giving one of his pens to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

A year later, Johnson delivered the commencement address at Howard University – which has hosted five sitting presidents, including Biden. The speech at this historically black university focused on civil rights, while establishing the intellectual framework for affirmative action in “To Fulfill These Rights.”

“This, then, is the glorious opportunity for this generation to put an end to the great wrong of the American nation and, in doing so, to find America for ourselves, with the same immense thrill of discovery that gripped those who began to realize only here. , finally, was a home for freedom,” Johnson said on campus.

During his tenure in the White House, President Jimmy Carter spoke at four college commencements. In his 1977 speech at Notre Dame – on the heels of Watergate and the Vietnam War – Carter laid out his foreign policy agenda.

“I believe we can have a democratic foreign policy. It is based on fundamental values. And he uses the power and influence that we possess for human purposes,” Carter said. “We can also have a foreign policy that the American people support and, for a change, know and understand.” »

According to John Woolley, who maintains a database of presidential commencement addresses at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Carter spoke at four commencement ceremonies during his presidency, including at the Capitol Page School, the United States Naval Academy, and Cheyney State College, now known as Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.

In 2013, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to speak at a Morehouse graduation and used his speech to speak directly to black men.

On campus and beyond.

The first black president said there was “no time for excuses” for this generation of African-American men and that it was time for their generation to step up in their professional and personal careers.

Under a constant downpour, Obama told the students that they “are heirs to a great legacy.” You have within you the same courage and the same strength, the same determination as the men who preceded you.

“That’s what it’s like to be a Morehouse man,” the president said. “That’s what it means to be an American. Success may not come quickly or easily. But if you strive to do what is right; if you work harder and dream bigger; if you lead by example in your own life and do your part to help meet the challenges of our times, then I am confident that together we will continue the never-ending task of perfecting our union.

Obama’s last words were almost drowned out by thunder. But he stayed there long enough to receive an honorary doctorate in law.