President Joe Biden on Wednesday used his first commencement address as commander in chief to tell Coast Guard Academy graduates they will play a vital role as the United States reasserts itself on the world stage.

Biden, speaking at the Coast Guard’s sun-soaked Connecticut campus, told the 240 graduates that “the world is changing” and told them that they are at “significant inflection point.”

But the most viral moment from Biden’s speech that made headlines wasn’t from Wednesday — it was from 1988.

“I can only assume that you’ll enjoy educating your family about how the Coast Guard is quote ‘The hard nucleus around the Navy forms in times of war,’” Biden told the cadets.

When no one responded, Biden quipped, “You’re a really dull class. Come on, man. Is the sun getting to you?”

Video of Reagan making the same statement — to rapturous cheers instead of blank stares — quickly went viral.

“My Coast Guard aides have been excellent. One of them taught me that, and I quote, ‘The Coast Guard is that hard nucleus about which the Navy forms in time of war,” Reagan said at a commencement speech 30 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJJOgEf4Mmc

Biden used the rest of his speech to position the United States as a defender of global rules, trade, and marine law, specifically in the South Pacific and the Arctic.

Following the “America First” presidency of Donald Trump, Biden has pushed for the U.S. to re-extend its reach globally so it can compete with rising autocracies in China and Russia.

Notably, Biden made no mention of several current global hotspots, including the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, for which hours earlier he unsuccessfully called for a cease-fire.

Biden seemed to relish the stage, telling stories about his late son Beau — an Army veteran. But he turned serious when he praised them for navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, declaring that “you met the threat head-on. You adapted, you showed resilience. You led.”

 

FLASHBACK: Ronald Reagan comes back to life as a hologram

 

The Associated Press contributed to this article