Vice President Kamala Harris to be 2023 West Point graduation speaker

WEST POINT — Vice President Kamala Harris will be the guest speaker at this year's West Point graduation, the White House announced Wednesday.

This will mark Harris' first visit to the U.S. Military Academy, and the first time in West Point's 221-year history that a woman will serve as the commencement speaker.

Graduation will be Saturday, May 27.

"We are honored to have the vice president as our commencement speaker," said Lt. General Steven W. Gilland, superintendent of West Point. "As an accomplished leader who has achieved significant milestones throughout her career, we look forward to her inspiring remarks to our cadets."

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Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was last year's commencement speaker. President Donald Trump addressed the graduates in 2020 and Vice President Mike Pence did so in 2019.

This will be the 13th time a Vice President has addressed the graduating class. Pence, Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore, Dan Quayle, George Bush, Spiro Agnew, Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon B. Johnson have all addressed the graduating class as vice president.

Harris was born in Oakland, California to parents who emigrated from India and Jamaica. She graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of Law.

She is the first woman, the first Black American and the first South Asian American to be elected vice president.

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Vice President Harris to address West Point cadets at 2023 graduation