Another first under #Trump

West Point alumni group cancels official award ceremony for Tom Hanks : NPR https://www.npr.org/2025/09/06/nx-s1-5532646/west-point-military-academy-alumni-group-scraps-award-celebrations-honoring-tom-hanks-sylvanus-thayer

The official excuse: The academy should "concentrate on its core military mission". But...

West Point has been going through a period of readjustment since the start of the Trump administration. In February, West Point eliminated student clubs for women and minority students following Trump's crackdown on diversity programs in federal institutions.

Meanwhile, Hanks has been public about his support for Democratic presidential candidates in the past. His name has appeared on lists of celebrities who endorsed former President Joe Biden during his 2020 campaign. After Biden's victory, Hanks hosted the Celebrating America televised special which was organized by the Biden Inaugural Committee. He got behind Barack Obama's campaign in 2008. Obama awarded Hanks the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the country's highest civilian honors, in 2016. The actor has also been outspoken in his criticisms of President Trump. In remarks at the Rome Film Festival in 2016, captured by the Associated Press, the actor called the then-Republican candidate a "self-involved gas bag."

In an email to NPR, retired U.S. Army brigadier general and professor emeritus of history at West Point Ty Seidule said the history of the Thayer Award has until now remained pretty uncontroversial. The ceremony is rarely canceled or postponed. Seidule said he doesn't buy the idea that Hanks' ceremony was axed in order for West Point to focus on its military goals: "West Point is capable of focusing on the Secretary of Defense priorities and still having a parade and dinner."