Service academy speeches fall into the category of ‘policy’ speeches. Serious people were attending, and serious things had to be said. This was different than a campaign speech, for instance, where you made a million grandiose promises and said nothing of actual import. Since you are dealing with the nation’s military, it is generally considered the time to say something about foreign policy and military policy. As this was the first graduating class since 9-11, there was no doubt about what people were expecting. I had to say something about fighting terrorism.
On the other hand, it is generally a good idea to be careful with foreign policy speeches. A major temptation is to overreach. One thing which almost always backfired on you was to explicitly name an enemy. ‘Evil empire’ and ‘axis of evil’ gets you nothing but grief in the long run. Sooner or later you are going to have to deal with these assholes. They generally have long memories and will remember your comments. Almost always they will use your words to ramp up public sentiment and popularity back home by labeling you as even more evil (’The Great Satan’ comes to mind.) Just as bad, when you do have to make nice and start dealing with them, your own supporters, on whichever side they might be, will take issue with you, using your own words to damn you.
Even worse is the temptation to start drawing lines in the sand. If they do X, we will do Y. Something or other ‘won’t be allowed’. It’s like you are back in the third grade and you are double-dog-daring the kid on the bus next to you to do something. Of course they are going to do it! If you say you won’t allow somebody to cross ‘The Line of Death’ they are going to stick a toe across it, just to test you. Are you going to start a full blown war? Or maybe draw another line, a few feet back? You either look like a warmonger or an idiot. On my first go we had told North Korea they couldn’t build nukes, said the same thing to Iran, told Syria they couldn’t use chemical weapons — the list was endless. In every case, the bad guys did what they were going to do anyway, we backed down, and we looked like idiots. Many times we stated a policy that we knew was bad simply because people back home in the cheap seats would demand you do something and you didn’t have the gumption to tell them to sit down and shut up.
I had already seen this in action in the days right after 9-11. Everybody and their brother wanted me to attack somebody, anybody, immediately if not sooner, in retaliation. I had simply refused, even going so far as to lie to everybody and look like an idiot until we had all our assets and plans in place.
So the plan for the speech was to simply reiterate the strategy we had been working on in the National Security Council. Ramp up counterterrorism and intelligence, stress diplomacy over war (as Churchill once said, ‘Jaw-jaw is better than war-war’), make some smart choices on weapons, and start pivoting away from Europe and towards Asia. I just hoped I was making the right bet. Dick Cheney was correct when he said the terrorists only had to get it right once; we had to get it right every time!
Mike Gerson had given us all a simple enough template for our speeches, so we were all working off the same page. Say hello and thank you, say how wonderful it was to be wherever we were, get to the guts of the policy, say something cute and amusing about the particular academy we were at, say thank you and goodbye. There was enough flexibility that we wouldn’t end up sounding like clones of each other.
It was curious in a way, because neither on this trip nor the last, had I ever been to West Point. I had been to Annapolis several times, if simply because it was only an hour’s drive on the highway from where I grew up, and it’s quaint enough and near the bay that it makes for a good date night. The afternoon before the graduation Marilyn and I took Air Force One to Stewart International in Newburgh. It used to be an Air Force base, and it was the closest airport to West Point, maybe twenty-some minutes away. We managed to avoid any local dignitaries, and were instead greeted officially at West Point itself. West Point is just like any other college, in that the entire weekend is taken up with graduation festivities. We would attend a reception and banquet that evening, and then we would stay the night, and I would speak and participate in the graduation ceremonies in the morning.
The boys (and girls, too — there were a lot more women in the Army now than when I had been in) were so starched and formal it was rather amusing. They all had that ramrod-straight I-can’t-smile I-am-an-officer seriousness that must have been drilled into them for the last four years. Even Roscoe Buckminster was like that, as he formally introduced his mother and brother to us at the reception. Marilyn stifled a snicker and Anna Lee rolled her eyes. “Roscoe, I have known you since you were in diapers, so don’t try to be so serious. If you don’t crack a smile, I am going to find your roommates and tell them things you don’t want them to know!” I told him. “This is graduation! You are supposed to be happy, not running around like you have a stick up your butt!”
His eyes popped wide at that, and his serious demeanor broke. “What!? No! I mean, you can’t!”
Anna Lee and Marilyn both started laughing at him, and one of the generals we were with snorted out a laugh, too.
“You just watch me, buster.”
“Uncle Carl! That’s not fair,” he told me.
“They still give out demerits here for misbehaving?” I asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Just remember, your old man and I, if we had gone here, we would have set a new record, and we both turned out okay. Have some fun, Roscoe.” Tyrone was standing there next to Anna Lee. I reached over and shook his hand, too. “You still want to come here, Tyrone?”
He smiled and stood a little taller. “Yes, sir!”
“Even after what your brother has told you about this place?”
That got me a laugh. “Yes, sir.”
“Well, if you can qualify, you come talk to me and I’ll see what I can do. Just promise me you’ll earn a few more demerits than Cadet Starchy here.”
“He will do no such thing!” countered Anna Lee.
“We’ll talk some more, later,” I said, laughing. They moved along and the mood of those remaining in line lightened up a fair bit.
Perforce, Marilyn and I stayed sober throughout the proceedings. We didn’t need pictures of the President and First Lady getting sloshed. We weren’t able to actually get a drink until after the banquet. I was actually able to sit down with Lieutenant General Lennox, who I had spoken to over by phone the night we learned about Harlan’s death. He was an artilleryman like me. We both had a laugh about how the kids seemed to take themselves so seriously. He had been a graduate of West Point also. A few weeks with a rough older sergeant or two would take the starch out of them.
The next morning it was out to Michie Stadium, for the graduation. The one thing that surprised me was that they graduated in those silly gray uniforms. I thought they would have graduated in their Army dress uniforms, like I had. Apparently not. Eventually it was my time at the podium.
“Thank you very much, General Lennox, Mr. Secretary, Governor Pataki, members of the United States Congress, Academy staff and faculty, distinguished guests, proud family members, and graduates. I want to thank you for your welcome. Marilyn and I are especially honored to visit this great institution in your bicentennial year.