Presidential Commencement Addresses (Updated 5/20/2021)

President Biden has given one commencement address thus far in 2021--at the Coast Guard Academy (May 19). It was the 11^th time a president has spoken at the Coast Guard Academy. 

Starting with Eisenhower, every president has made at least one commencement address in the first year of their presidency.  Most gave only one or two addresses, but George H. W. Bush set the record by making six addresses in 1989.  LBJ was runner-up with 5 in 1965. 

The earliest instance of a commencement address in our database is Theodore Roosevelt 1902 address at the Naval Academy—the most frequent commencement destination. The military academies account for 30% of presidential commencement addresses.

Occasionally, commencement addresses have involved an extended articulation of important new policy position (see below) but that is relatively rare.  Commonly, Presidents state their position on prominent contemporary issues. Almost always, they provide an opportunity for Presidents to extol shared American values and international commitments. 

The speeches are surely undertaken with an eye to the audience--but also to geographical proximity to Washington D.C.  There have been slightly more commencement addresses at private institutions (51%) than public.  Seven percent have been to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (4 times at Howard).  Eleven percent have been at institutions with religious affiliations (6 times at Notre Dame) and 11% to secondary schools or community colleges. Presidents have rarely given commencement addresses at the most elite private institutions—none at Harvard, three at Yale, two at Princeton (according to APP documents).

Substantively important commencement addresses include these: 

Lyndon Johnson, University of Michigan, May 22, 1964  (Great Society)

Lyndon Johnson, Howard University June 4 1965 (Civil rights)

George W. Bush, US Military Academy, June 1, 2002 (Preemptive war)