FLASHBACK: Biden Scolds Coast Guard Graduates as 'Dull' After They Don't Clap at His Joke

Biden delivered what was at times a lighthearted commencement address for the graduating class of 2021 at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. The president praised the cadets for "choosing a more difficult path" amid the COVID-19 pandemic and said the group represented "the most progressive, best-educated, least prejudiced, most open generation in American history." He also delivered a handful of jokes that were met with mixed reactions.

"I can only assume that you will enjoy educating your family about how the Coast Guard is 'the hard nucleus around [which] the Navy forms in times of war,'" Biden said, with the crowd failing to react.