Biden talks of expanded U.S. military role around world in West Point graduation speech

WEST POINT — President Joe Biden touted U.S. military support for Ukraine but drew a line at sending troops into its war with Russia in a speech on Saturday to graduating cadets.

Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "brutal tyrant," and said American soldiers were "working around the clock" to rush arms and gear to Ukrainians for their grinding struggle against an invasion and bombing that has lasted more than two years. The U.S. is "standing strong" with Ukraine, he said, though with one important limit.

"There are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine, and I'm determined to keep it that way," Biden said.

Biden spoke for 20 minutes under sunny skies at the U.S Military Academy's commencement ceremony, with 1,036 graduating cadets seated before him in dress grey uniforms on the football field at Michie Stadium. He was the latest in a long line of commanders-in-chief to address West Point's class of newly minted Army officers.

The last to do so was Donald Trump, in 2020. His three predecessors — Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — each spoke twice at West Point graduations, once in each of their two terms. The line of presidential speakers dates back at least as far as Theodore Roosevelt in 1902.

Biden brought up the war in Ukraine while talking about the widening range of roles the U.S. military now plays, in places all over the world. He cited one of its recent feats: a $320 million floating pier just built off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians caught in the Israel-Hamas war.

Another example: Helping Israel shoot down more than 300 missiles and drones launched at it by Iran in April.

Biden took the audience inside the White House for that event, describing a tense gathering in the Situation Room with his national security team as they learned of each attack wave from Iran — and, ultimately, the destruction of nearly every incoming missile and drone. The U.S. military and other allies took part in that successful defense.

Biden closed on a lofty note, telling cadets that the U.S. is the only nation "founded on an idea" and that they are its guardians.

"Ideas need defenders to make them real," he said. "That's what you, Class of 2024, are all about. Defenders of freedom, champions of liberty, guardians — and I mean this — guardians of American democracy."

Among those seated with Biden on the dais was Rep. Pat Ryan, the first West Point graduate in history to represent the academy in Congress. Ryan, a 2004 graduate and Iraq war veteran who won his House seat in 2022, had accompanied Biden on a helicopter ride to West Point that morning from nearby Stewart Airport, where Biden's plane landed.

Biden had spoken twice before at West Point graduations as vice president, in 2012 and 2016. Vice presidents, defense secretaries and others generally deliver those speeches in years when the president doesn't come. Vice President Kamala Harris gave last year's address.

About a quarter of this year's 1,036 graduates were women, according to a demographic breakdown distributed by the academy. The class also included 134 African Americans, 108 Hispanics, 92 Asians and seven Native Americans.

Those getting their diplomas on Saturday represented 84% of the 1,231 cadets who entered West Point in 2020.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Joe Biden in West Point speech vows to keep U.S. troops out of Ukraine