"Take a moment and take in this setting. This is the realization of the American Dream. These cherished ceremonies are, for me, annual rituals of renewal. I come to these academies across America with a sense of awe, humility, and envy -- awe, that the American Dream is so fully realized in these environs, where the working class and the privileged mingle in common pursuit of learning and advancement, where immigrants, fresh from foreign lands, had equal claim to economic opportunity and rule of law in our great system."
-Tom Brokaw
This speech was delivered May 16, 2005.