--- title: Joe Biden Delivers Yale Commencent Address: Graduation Speech Video description: Oh, and he also offered plenty of humor and wisdom canonical: https://time.com/3882531/joe-biden-yale-graduation-speech/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-18T16:58:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:04.710Z og:title: Joe Biden Obviously Wore Aviators During His Entire Yale Graduation Speech og:description: Oh, and he also offered plenty of humor and wisdom og:url: https://time.com/3882531/joe-biden-yale-graduation-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden Obviously Wore Aviators During His Entire Yale Graduation Speech twitter:description: Oh, and he also offered plenty of humor and wisdom twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Joe Biden Obviously Wore Aviator Sunglasses During His Entire Yale Graduation Speech ## Video: The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches [Watch (HLS stream): The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ANHI2RmH.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2013-05-16. The best moments of celebrity commencement speeches from the past decade including Stephen Colbert and Steve Jobs_ by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 18, 2015 4:58 PM UTC by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 18, 2015 4:58 PM UTC Joe Biden delivered a very Joe Biden commencement address at Yale University’s “Class Day” ceremony Sunday. He began by acknowledging that he’s known for speaking his mind: “I realize no one ever doubts I mean what I say. The problem occasionally is I say all that I mean. I have a bad reputation for being straight, sometimes at inappropriate times.” He maintained his signature straightforwardness throughout the speech — and also wore his signature aviator sunglasses the whole time. He managed to poke fun at both Yale’s athletic shortcomings and his own political shortcomings, with jokes like, “One touchdown away from beating Harvard this year for the first time since 2006,” he said. “So close to something you wanted for eight years. I can only imagine how you feel. I can only imagine. So close. So close.” But the VP also offered some valuable advice to the graduates. “Intellectual horsepower and tolerance alone does not make a generation great unless you can break out of the bubble of your own making, technologically, geographically, racially, socially,” Biden said. “To truly connect with the world around you because it matters. No matter your material success, it matters.” To watch Biden’s full speech, skip ahead one hour and 10 minutes in the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3882531/joe-biden-yale-graduation-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3882531/joe-biden-yale-graduation-speech/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Obviously Wore Aviator Sunglasses During His Entire Yale Graduation Speech","datePublished":"2015-05-18T16:58:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:04.710Z","description":"Oh, and he also offered plenty of humor and wisdom","url":"https://time.com/3882531/joe-biden-yale-graduation-speech/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3882531/joe-biden-yale-graduation-speech/","name":"Joe Biden Obviously Wore Aviator Sunglasses During His Entire Yale Graduation Speech"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches","description":"The best moments of celebrity commencement speeches from the past decade including Stephen Colbert and Steve Jobs","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ANHI2RmH/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-05-16T19:42:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ANHI2RmH.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3882531/joe-biden-yale-graduation-speech/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3882531/joe-biden-yale-graduation-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```