Vice President Mike Pence will deliver a commencement address to the U.S. Air Force Academy’s 2020 graduating class.
Vice President Mike Pence listens as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Friday, April 17, 2020, in Washington.
“I know we gather at a time of great challenge in the life of our nation,” Pence said as he began his remarks. “And while we don’t quite look like the usual graduation at the Air Force Academy, let me tell you, this is an awesome sight. And I wouldn’t be anywhere else but with the 62nd class of the Air Force Academy, the class of 2020.”
“You knew your graduation day would be memorable. But did you imagine that your commencement would take place in mid-April? Or that each of us would have a face mask at the ready? Or that you would march a COVID-compliant eight feet apart to the terrazzo?” asked Barbara Barrett, secretary of the Air Force.
While much of the ceremony focused on the graduates, many of whom will be joining the new Space Force, Pence also spoke about the government's response to the coronavirus, noting that, “we gather at a time of national crisis as the coronavirus epidemic impacts our nation and the wider world." He later greeted graduates at a distance and met with small groups, including cadets from his home state of Indiana, who had their temperatures taken before meeting with the vice president.
Pence was initially meant to speak to the academy’s graduates via recorded video, as military officials, who moved up the commencement by six weeks because of the pandemic, doubted Pence would want to travel. But White House aides said Pence on Monday made the call himself to make the trip as the White House was finalizing its guidelines for reopening American again.
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