--- title: Barack Obama at Notre Dame: Commencement Address Transcript description: Here's everything President Barack Obama told the Notre Dame Class of 2009 during his commencement address. canonical: https://time.com/4336922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-notre-dame/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T18:25:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:34:04.085Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Notre Dame og:description: "We must find a way to live together as one human family" og:url: https://time.com/4336922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-notre-dame/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd05573dfdba91d4/698893438e0601a80a465e1d/obama-speech-commencement-notre-dame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama speaks May 17, og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Notre Dame twitter:description: "We must find a way to live together as one human family" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd05573dfdba91d4/698893438e0601a80a465e1d/obama-speech-commencement-notre-dame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Notre Dame > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3b8265a5-6814-4b97-b334-41ff587cd95e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 2, 2016 6:25 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony in the Joyce Center of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, May 17, 2009. US President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony in the Joyce Center of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, May 17, 2009. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 2, 2016 6:25 PM UTC President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at University of Notre Dame on May 17, 2009\. Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-notre-dame-commencement) from his speech on campus in South Bend, Indiana. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4336922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-notre-dame/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4336922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-notre-dame/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Notre Dame","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:25:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:34:04.085Z","description":"\"We must find a way to live together as one human family\"","url":"https://time.com/4336922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-notre-dame/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd05573dfdba91d4/698893438e0601a80a465e1d/obama-speech-commencement-notre-dame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd05573dfdba91d4/698893438e0601a80a465e1d/obama-speech-commencement-notre-dame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama speaks May 17,","caption":"US President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony in the Joyce Center of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, May 17, 2009.","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/4336922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-notre-dame/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Notre Dame"}}]}] ```