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Understanding 9/11tv Commencement Speeches President Biden Delivers Commencement Address at West... CSPAN May 25, 2024 9:15pm-9:40pm EDT
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c-span now, andrg. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. powered by cable. >> the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of conquering congress like no other. since 1979, we've been your primary source for capitol hil, providing unfiltered coverage of government. taking youare debated and decide support of america's cablec-spa5 >> biden delivers the commencement address to graduates of the u.s. military academy and west point. while this is his third commencement address, it's his first as president and commander-in-chief of the u.s. armed forces. about 1000 cadets receive their
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commissions as second the commencement. >> thank you thank you thank you. ■ you. secrp&ar general, members of congress. fellow graduates. [applause] faculty, staff, soldiers, fil and friends, most of all, west in■á 1776, general washington's
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army went to new york city. the british navy dominated the coast of new england. if they could control the hudson, they could cut the colonies in half, divide and conquer. classic strategy. ral washington saw it coming. he knethhudson, with a plateau . american artillery batteries ale water, at a place called west point. 's west point was the key to america. he wasthe british never capture. they failed to divide and conquer. a few years later, they surrendered at the battle of
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yorktown. [applause] an army of o■mrdinary people. the sacred cause of freedom. you are about to become fulle ers of the most honorable and most consequential ghting in the history of the world. that's not hyperbole. of the world. that's the truth. [applausever men and women at west point have stayed true. today, 13 undergraduates, the as of 2024 -- 1300es, the class of 2024 joins a force that has never will.
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[applause] together countless hours, rigorous■/ academics, at america's first engineering school, and of course, no one is perfect, even ulysses s grant and white house in -- dwight eisenhower. i'm not getting. -- kiddiif that sounds familiar, maybe i can help you. commander-in-chief, i absolve all cadets of minor conduct offenses. [applause]
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if you have y questions, the superintendent can clarify what minor means. [laughter] ofere wasn't all difficult. every time you beat n[applause] now look. lots of west point classes have some win navy but not every class over four years has beat navy 51■ times. [applause] delaware, you done good. tw ago i was on -- at the white house.
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son was a decorated major in the u.s. army, spending years in iraq. he always made it clear. [indiscernible] i was appointed -- when i was 29 years old, to the naval acamy. was one of 10. i wanted to play football. the day i was supposed to go down for the mine, who was also , he came to pick me up. out two days earlier, they had a quarterback named roger starbucks and joe marino. i said hell, i'm not going there. i went to delaware. by the way, that fellow is a wonderful man. when i was 29, first question he
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was asked was,regrets senator? he saidat the end of the debatei tood up and said, i was asked if i had any regrets. i said no but i have one. that joe -- had joe biden gotten into the academy when i appointed him, he would still have seven months left on him able to run. cadets, as proud as her country is today, your family is prouder. [speaking another language] years ago -- four ye ago, because of the pandemic, it wase west point experience. now your loved ones get to see this is your we■?, cadets it is time fostand.
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[applause] classf '24, this extraordinary group includes the army's all-time home run, athletes on manhattan island, which i could never quite figure out, and a classic rhodes scholar. ■you hail from all 50 states.
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some of u are third-generation west pointers. others of the first in the family to join the u.s. armed yn in annapolis this year. i won't want to be at that family reunion. [laughter] er time there is ae,n't know h'o do it but anyways. [laughter] look, i wish i could praise every cadet one by one because you deserve it. you make your nation proud. as your commander-in-chief, you have earned every bit of what you have been given. class, like none was an appropriate choice.
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you are grua world likeone fore. i have been a senator since i was 29. never left government. ladies and gentlemen, the world is changing rapidly. accelerating. r been a time in history when our military does so many different things in so many places around the world at the same■u#% time. right now, america's soldiers are supporting bravew+ u fight . we are working around the clo moving. training ukrainians how to use advanced weapons systems. they sharing lessons and tactics
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wyconstantly. there are no american soldiers at war in ukraine. i'm determined to keep it that way but we are standing strong with ukraine and we will stand th[applause] we are sndinai man who i have known well for many years, awe will not walk away. putin wants to see nato fractured. we talked about this very issue. i shouldn't get into this probably. [laughter] it gets me a littlei said to hig
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to nato in europe. the greatest defense alliance in history is stronger than ever. finland and sweden are our newest members. in the middle east, conducting diplomacy, our army and navy have■■1 on the mediterranean. in recordsaving aid to the palestinians. delivers thousands ofs together, including arab nations to l ass.
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the head of u.s. central command, west point,he has done. he was on the screen from thew'k in. at 6:34 p.m., the. president, wd of a ballistic missile launch then 75.nutes later, we se0 under incrediblegeneral and thee performed exceptionally from sea, air and bases nearby. 99% of the missiles from iran never reached their targets because of the quality of our
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forces.it could have been a dev. it could have gone the other way. on the others of the the indo pacific, we keep our allians like aucusm our paia and the u.k. cooperation with japan and the republic of, other allies, thanks to ourwe have begun a nel th japan and the philippines. we elevated thed together with japan and australiaoree, os indo pacific. stability, we
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are dependent on our strategic partnerships. i wonder if the classes of '74 here today could imagine, when they were sitting where you were at the same time during vietnam. across vastly different regions, very different our women and men in uniform are hard at work, strengthening our question investing in so anyone who thinks they can threaten thanks again. defending our values by standing up to tyrants and safeguarding the piece, protecting freedom and openness. thanks to u.s. armed forces, we are doing guld only america can do, as the indispensable nation, the world's only superpower and the leading democracy in the we are strongest when we lead by example but by the power of our example.
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[applause] you can clap for that.one additw every member of our armed forces is safe and respected in the ranks. for the first time in a decade, the rates of sexual assault and harassment have gone down across it is long past time to end the scourge of sexual violence in the military. once and for all we can do this. cadets, make no mistake. there remains a hardwe cannot dr nations tried to coerce their nations or terrorists reply.
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i am making historic investments in the military. for, america has had the most powerful military in the world. that happens because we choose to make it happen. root -- to use comes to protecting a nation. when anyone targets american services, we will deliver justice to them. that happened earlie year when three heroic members of the army reserve were killed in a drone attack in northeast georgia. to relaunched successful airstrikes militants. we will never forget to honor who gave their lives. made you leaders of character. in minutes, you will be u.s. army officer's. in time, some of you will serve in powerful roles at the the white house.
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confront challenges the previous generation of soldiers couldn't imagine. when thatpens, hold fast to your values. you learned here at westduty, hr code, we will no lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate those who do." (d all, hold fast to your oath. on your very first day at west point, you raised your right hand and took an oath, n t pres, but to the constitution of the u.s. against all enemies foreign and domesti [applause] along line have given their
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lives to the constitution, fighting to declare the the right to worship, theht to raise your voice in protest. they have saved and sacrifid.ase go people, by the people, for thenot perish from the earth." west pointers know better than free. it requires vigilance. from the beginning, nothing is guaranteed about our democracy in ari every generation has an obligation to defend and protect it, to preserve it, to choose it. now is your turn. over 1000 graduates of west point wrote to the class of 20 the oath you have taken here "hano date, nok=t r country.
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suppor;ut yo nation, keep it, honor it and live it." let me close with this. in the early days of our nation, as general whington said, west point was the key of america. today you are still the key. your commitment to protect is what makes ameri america. world. we are the only country in the world founded on an idea. other are founded based on geography, religion. we're the only one founded on an idea. the idea is that we all deserve to idea fenders to make them real.
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-- defenders to make them real. that is what you are about. champions of liberty, guardians, i this, of american democracy. institution helped make america free two■? ago, and generations of west point graduates kept us free, through every challenge and danger, you must keep us free at this time. like none before. ■xi know you can, i know you wi. we are the united states of america capacity when we do it together. may god bless you may god protect our troops. congratulations, class of 2024. [applause]
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ladies and gentlemen, at)( this time please remain standing for the presentation of the flag. will present a panoramic photo of the class of 20 24 to the president. >> president biden, on behalf of the class ofñ 2020 four, please accept this class picture aarecr thank you, mr. president. president biden:proudly! [applause]
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>> c-span's washington journal, our livebi helping you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy. from washington and acrosth more libertarian national convention and the role its voters will play in campaign 2024 with ve weigle. then ferrone shares his book proven strategies and tactics to win elections. join in the conversation live at ■a, c-span t c-span.org. c-span is your unfiltered view government. we are funded by these television companies and ♪
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supporting-span as a public service providers, giving you a front seat to democracy. >> water policy experts from western states joint science and environmental professors from iowa state university and the university of colorado to testify on climate change and how certain regions of the country are affected by war scarcity. the senate budget committee hearing runs an hour and a half.
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