Commencement Addresses, 1999

P2000.
Occasional Reports, Notes and Commentaries on the Road to the White House

Coming Soon to A Commencement Ceremony Near You
by Eric M. Appleman

May 21, 1999, updated June 20--It's graduation time at high schools and universities and colleges around the country, and most presidential candidates have taken advantage of the opportunity to deliver a speech or two. Whether, years hence, graduates will remember the words of wisdom delivered, or even who spoke them, is an open question, but the speakers have gamely given it the college try.

There are different approaches. For example, Vice President Gore delivered a major policy speech on education in his commencement address at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. At the Citadel in South Carolina, Pat Buchanan focused on America's place in the world in a speech titled "A Republic, Not an Empire." Meanwhile, Lamar Alexander, speaking at Maryville College in his hometown of Maryville, Tennessee, delivered a more personal address, urging graduates to "Find the Good and Praise It."

In addition to the traditional graduation gatherings, there are a couple of unusual events this season. Elizabeth Dole spoke at a "Virtual College Commencement" on the CollegeClub.com website, and Alan Keyes is scheduled to speak at the Seacoast Christian Home Educators Association commencement in Barrington, New Hampshire.

Here is the line-up of delivered and planned commencement speeches as of May 21:

Commencement Addresses
Bradley Mount St. Clare College, Clinton, IA--May 8
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill--May 16

Gore Graceland College, Lamoni, IA--May 16
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH--May 22
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA--June 19

Alexander Maryville College, Maryville, TN--May 16

Bauer none reported or planned as of May 21

Buchanan The Citadel, Charleston, SC--May 8

Bush Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX--May 15
Austin College, Sherman, TX--May 16
Brazosport High School, Freeport, TX--May 26
Nacogdoches High School, Nacogdoches, TX--May 28

Dole Erskine College, Due West, SC--May 15
Hollins University, Roanoke, VA--May 16
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN--May 16
CollegeClub.com--May 19
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT--May 24
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH--June 11

Forbes New Hampshire College School of Business, Manchester, NH--March 27

Kasich New Hampshire Community Technical College, Nashua, NH--May 15
Suffolk University, Boston, MA--May 23
Sto-Rox High School, McKees Rocks, PA--June 3 [JK's alma mater]
Hilliard Darby High School, Columbus, OH--June 5
St. Francis Desales High School, Columbus, OH--June 5

Keyes Seacoast Christian Home Educators Association, Barrington, NH--June 4

McCain University of Arizona College of Law, Tucson, AZ--May 15
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD--May 27
National Defense University, Washington, DC--June 16

Quayle none reported or planned as of May 21
Marilyn Quayle--Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH--May 22

Smith none reported or planned as of May 21