Bill Clinton: “Maryland May 22, 1998 Thank you. Thank you very much. Secretary Dalton, thank you for your generous introduction and…”

“Maryland May 22, 1998 Thank you. Thank you very much. Secretary Dalton, thank you for your generous introduction and your dedicated service. Admiral Larson, thank you. Admiral Johnson, General Krulak, Admiral Ryan, Board of Visitors Chair Byron; to the faculty and staff of the Academy; distinguished guests; to proud parents and family members, and especially to the brigade of midshipmen: I am honored to be here today. And pursuant to longstanding tradition, I bring with me a small gift. I hereby free all midshipmen who are on restriction for minor conduct offenses. [Applause] There was so much enthusiasm, I wonder if you heard the word ``minor'' offenses. [Laughter] You know, the President has the signal honor of addressing all of our service academies serially, one after the other in appropriate order. This is the second time I have had the great honor of being here at the Naval Academy. But I began to worry about my sense of timing. I mean, what can you say to graduating midshipmen in a year when the most famous ship on Earth is again the Titanic? [Laughter] But then I learned this is a totally, almost blindly confident bunch. After all, over in King Hall you eat cannonballs. [Laughter] Now, for those of you who don't know what they are, they're not the ones Francis Scott Key saw flying over Fort McHenry; they're just huge apple dumplings. Nonetheless, they require a lot of confidence. [Laughter] I will try to be relatively brief today.…”