President Biden told Naval Academy graduate sailors on Friday that he presented himself at the school in 1965, but a quick check of his biography shows problems with history.
Biden said he filed the application in Annapolis with a letter from then-Delaware Sen. J. Caleb Boggs, but the year he cited, 1965, is the same as graduating from the University of Delaware. The academy does not offer undergraduate degrees.
“I was told that the class of 72 is here. I was appointed to the academy in 1965 by a senator against whom I ran in 1972, I never planned it that way. I was not old enough to be an oath. I was only 29 when I was running, “Biden said.
“He was a good man. His name is J. Caleb Boggs,” the president continued. “I didn’t come to the academy because I wanted to be a football star. And you had a man named [Roger] Staubach i [Joe] Bellino here. So I went to Delaware. “
President Biden speaks at the US Naval Academy graduation and commissioning ceremony on Friday.AP A midshipman celebrates his graduation and commissioning.REUTERS
Bellino and Staubach are the only two Navy football players to have won the Heisman Trophy as the best college football players in America. Bellino won the prize in 1960, while Staubach did so in 1963.
“But all the jokes aside,” Biden continued on Friday, “the best line of the debate was after it was all over, the announcer, the questioner, who was a good guy but supported my opponent, who he was a good man too, and he could add – and he said, “Sen. Boggs, is there anything else you want to say? And he said, “Yeah, just one thing.” And he grabbed the microphone. He said, “You know, Joe, if you accepted my commission on … my appointment to the academy,” he said, “you would still have a year and three months of active service and now I would have no problem.” . ‘”
It is unclear whether Biden has told the story before, but he surprised political journalists who have covered his numerous campaigns and his presidency. Biden’s 2008 autobiography “Promises to Keep” does not mention the Naval Academy.
A midshipman celebrates receiving his diploma.REUTERS
White House and academy spokesmen did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for additional information.
The U.S. military was heavily involved in the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s, and if Biden had attended the academy, he would have had to serve in the Navy once he graduated.
Biden received five student draft adjournments during his four years at the University of Delaware and the following three years at Syracuse University School of Law.
After Biden graduated from law school in 1968, he was deemed unfit for military service citing childhood asthma. His memoirs do not mention the condition as they describe his footballing exploits or his job as a lifeguard. A report released in November by his doctor also does not mention asthma.
Biden is in the habit of seeking to relate to his audience by sharing questionable anecdotes about his personal experiences, as well as making false or exaggerated statements.
In September, Biden told Jewish leaders that he remembered “spending time in” and “going to” the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after the mass murder of 11 people in 2018. The synagogue said that he never visited and the White House later said he was thinking of a 2019 phone call to the synagogue rabbi.
Biden said he filed a petition in Annapolis with a letter from then-Delaware Sen. J. Caleb Boggs.
About two weeks later, Biden told an Idaho audience that his “first job offer” came from the local Boise Cascade wood and wood products business. The company said it was news to them and that Biden had not previously described an interest in moving to the state.
In January, Biden told students at historically black Atlanta schools that he was arrested during civil rights protests, of which there is no evidence.
Perhaps in the most infamous example, Biden in 2020 claimed that he “had the great honor of being arrested” in South Africa when “he was trying to see him.” [Nelson Mandela] about Robbens [sic] Island ”, where Mandela was in prison until 1990. He said Mandela thanked him. Biden later admitted that was not true.
Biden left his first presidential campaign in 1988 due to a speech-related plagiarism scandal and a law school document and controversy over allegations he made about his academic record.
Marines swear in the Navy during the U.S. Naval Academy graduation and commissioning ceremony. REUTERS
Critics of the president often accuse the 79-year-old man of mental decline. During his remarks on Friday, the president said “North Korea” when he meant “South Korea” while listing supporters of US sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.