Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the keynote tackle on the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s 141st graduation workout routines on May 18, 2022, in New London, Conn.

Stephen Dunn/AP

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Stephen Dunn/AP

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the keynote tackle on the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s 141st graduation workout routines on May 18, 2022, in New London, Conn.

Stephen Dunn/AP

Vice President Kamala Harris will ship the keynote speech at West Point’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, making her the primary lady to offer a graduation tackle within the navy academy’s 221-year historical past.

“We are honored to have the Vice President as our commencement speaker,” stated West Point’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. Steven W. Gilland, in a statement. “As an accomplished leader who has achieved significant milestones throughout her career, we look forward to her inspiring remarks to our cadets.”

Traditionally, vice presidents have delivered the graduation speech to graduating courses at U.S. navy academies.

Last 12 months, Harris gave the graduation tackle to U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduates, and in 2021, she turned the first female commencement speaker on the U.S. Naval Academy.

President Biden, in the meantime, is about to talk at this 12 months’s U.S. Air Force Academy commencement. Earlier this month, he spoke at Howard University’s commencement ceremony.

As vp, Biden delivered West Point’s graduation speech in 2016.

When requested why it is taken so lengthy for a lady to function graduation speaker, a West Point spokesperson solely stated that the function often rotates amongst senior management inside the academy’s chain of command, which incorporates the president, vp, secretary of protection and the chairman of the joint chiefs.

Historically, males have largely held these senior positions in authorities. Although deputy secretaries of protection have delivered commencement addresses at West Point up to now, Kathleen Hicks — who turned the primary feminine deputy protection secretary in 2021 — has not but spoken on the faculty’s graduation.

As for the college itself, girls did not begin attending West Point till 1976 — a 12 months after Congress handed laws that allowed girls to enroll on the federal service academies. In 1980, Andrea Hollen turned the first of 62 pioneering women to graduate from West Point. Since then, greater than 5,000 girls have graduated from the navy academy.