--- title: Barack Obama at Coast Guard Academy: Commencement Address description: Read Barack Obama's commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2011. canonical: https://time.com/4340970/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-u-s-coast-guard-academy/ author: Barack Obama article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T18:31:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:39:19.406Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2011 og:description: "I want you to know that your nation will do everything in our power to help you succeed" og:url: https://time.com/4340970/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-u-s-coast-guard-academy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc110caa30e4e1100/698893d4ab6d77562b6a9be1/obama-commencement-speech-coast-guard.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama delivers the c og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2011 twitter:description: "I want you to know that your nation will do everything in our power to help you succeed" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc110caa30e4e1100/698893d4ab6d77562b6a9be1/obama-commencement-speech-coast-guard.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2011 > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:31 PM UTC  President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address on May 18, 2011 at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address on May 18, 2011 at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:31 PM UTC Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/18/remarks-president-us-coast-guard-academy-commencement) from Obama’s speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut in 2011. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4340970/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-u-s-coast-guard-academy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4340970/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-u-s-coast-guard-academy/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2011","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:31:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:39:19.406Z","description":"\"I want you to know that your nation will do everything in our power to help you succeed\"","url":"https://time.com/4340970/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-u-s-coast-guard-academy/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc110caa30e4e1100/698893d4ab6d77562b6a9be1/obama-commencement-speech-coast-guard.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Barack Obama","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/barack-obama/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc110caa30e4e1100/698893d4ab6d77562b6a9be1/obama-commencement-speech-coast-guard.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama delivers the c","caption":"US President Barack Obama delivers the c","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4340970/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-u-s-coast-guard-academy/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2011"}}]}] ```