--- ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at West Point in 2014  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:33 PM UTC  President Barack Obama attends the West Point Graduation on May 28, 2014 in West Point, New York. President Barack Obama attends the West Point Graduation on May 28, 2014 in West Point, New York.Steve Sands—WireImage/Getty Images  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:33 PM UTC Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/28/remarks-president-united-states-military-academy-commencement-ceremony) from Obama’s speech at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York in 2014. --- > “” --- Barack Obama at West Point: Commencement Address Transcript ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4341783/obamas-commencement-transcript-speech-west-point-2014/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4341783/obamas-commencement-transcript-speech-west-point-2014/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at West Point in 2014","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:33:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:41:17.829Z","description":"\"America’s support for democracy and human rights goes beyond idealism — it is a matter of national security\"","url":"https://time.com/4341783/obamas-commencement-transcript-speech-west-point-2014/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabb91635591b0d86/698893ef524fc0331edf8129/obama-west-point-2014.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/bltabb91635591b0d86/698893ef524fc0331edf8129/obama-west-point-2014.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"West Point Graduation 2014","caption":"West Point Graduation 2014","creditText":"Steve Sands—WireImage/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/4341783/obamas-commencement-transcript-speech-west-point-2014/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at West Point in 2014"}}]}] ```