With all that the Class of 2020 has endured during what was supposed to be that special senior year, they deserve a presidential quality commencement speech. What local high school graduations are going to look like this year is still swirling in the wind at press time. So, I looked to the Oval Office of our Great Nation to provide those special words of direction and encouragement as the class of 2020 steps into whatever the future will hold.

Our 2nd President, John Adams, will give the opening remarks.

“You will ever remember that all the end of study is to make you a good man and a useful citizen.” “To be good and to do good is all we have to do.”

President Adams will now step down from the podium and will be followed by President George Washington, and then all presidents in attendance today are in historical order.

“Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for better to be alone than to be in bad company.” ~George Washington

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his good. Nothing on Earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” ~Thomas Jefferson

“Circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.” ~James Madison

“We must support our rights, or lose our character, and along with it our liberty.” ~James Monroe

“Always vote for principle, although you may vote alone.” Our 5th president ~John Quincy Adams.

“Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes in, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.” ~Andrew Jackson

“Labor disgraces no man, unfortunately, you will occasionally find men who disgrace labor.” ~Ulysses S. Grant

“There is nothing stable but Heaven and the Constitution.” ~James Buchanan

“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” “Most folks are as happy as they make their minds up to be.” ~Abraham Lincoln

Moving ahead to the 32nd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, “The reward of suffering is experience for the future.” “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

“I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.” ~FDR

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because they want to do it.” ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” ~JFK

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but it is ours to win or lose.” ~Lyndon B. Johnson

“Those that hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.” ~Richard Nixon

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” ~Gerald Ford

“We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.” ~Jimmy Carter

“Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn’t pass it on in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and be handed on for them to do the same.” ~Ronald Reagan

“There is nothing more fulfilling than to serve your country and your fellow citizens and do it well.” 41st president. ~George H.W. Bush

“We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.” ~William Jefferson Clinton

“We did not come to fear the future, we came to shape it.” ~Barack Obama

“I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That’s where the fun is.” ~Donald Trump

To wrap things up in our most historic commencement message to the class of 2020, again our 16th President Abraham Lincoln, “And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.”

Being the President of the United States of America is, and always has been, the most difficult job in the world. Much can be learned from these men. Their words of wisdom, advice, and preservation of freedom are timeless. Several did a great job as leader of our great Nation, some average, a few not so much. All have provided the winding road of liberty that you are blessed with as a graduate of the Class of 2020.

Tip of my Webb Weekly cap with the American Flag on the side to all in the Class of 2020. At this most unique time in American history, please go out and make a difference for the good. If possible, please reside and use your talents right here at home in the West Branch Valley. Help preserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in our little corner of the world.

God Bless America.