President Trump issued a call for national unity in a tightly scripted address to the 2020 graduating class of West Point on Saturday morning, the first time he has spoken to cadets of the storied US Military Academy.
“It was this school that gave us the men and women who fought and won a bloody war to extinguish the evil of slavery within one lifetime of our founding,” he said on a crystalline day in the Hudson Valley.
“It was under the leadership of West Point graduates like the legendary General Mathew Ridgway that the Army was at the forefront of ending the terrible injustice of segregation,” he added. Ridgway de-segregated the Army while commanding troops in the Korean War.
“With the grace of god and the heroes of West Point, America will always prevail,” Trump said.
The graduation ceremony for the 1,107 members of the Class of 2020 was closed to guests. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said the school was aiming for a “small, safe graduation ceremony.”
The speech came as states around the country continue to loosen pandemic lockdown restrictions that have kept millions of Americans at home and without work for months – and amid continuing unrest in America’s cities in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
“I also want to thank the men and women of our national guard who respond with precision for so many recent challenges, from hurricanes and natural disasters to ensuring peace, safety and the constitutional rule of law on our streets,” Trump said, in his only direct reference to the crisis.
Following similar guidelines from the US Air Force Academy ceremony in April, graduating West Point cadets were seated six feet apart from each other. Trump dispensed with the customary handshake for each graduate, instead saluting each of them as they approached the speakers’ dais in pairs.
Mandatory testing of the 1,100 cadets last week revealed at least 15 cadets who tested positive for COVID-19, though none have shown symptoms.
Later Saturday Trump is expected to attend a big-money campaign fundraiser at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Vice President Pence gave the graduation address to West Point cadets last year.
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