President Donald Trump was set to deliver the commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday morning, bringing a presidential visit to New London as the ceremony was scheduled for 11 a.m. Air Force One was due to arrive shortly before the event, and a motorcade was to carry the president to the academy.
The visit put much of the city on alert. Groton police said Poquonnock Road, Rainville Avenue and Clarence B Sharp Highway would be affected, while New London saw a dozen roads blocked off and no-parking signs posted throughout the city. Police presence was heightened across the area as crowds and traffic built around the academy.
For New London Mayor Michael Passero, the appearance carried a familiar significance. “It’s special on the year the president comes,” he said. The Coast Guard Academy commencement has drawn presidents before, including Joe Biden in 2021 and Trump in 2017, when he last gave the speech there.
That history is part of why the day stood out. The academy is used to ceremony, but not every graduation brings Air Force One, a motorcade and road closures across two cities. This time, the visit combined pageantry with a real traffic headache for people moving through New London and Groton.
Trump’s return also underscored how rare the academy’s presidential stage remains. With Biden having delivered the keynote in 2021 and Trump back in 2025 after speaking there in 2017, Wednesday’s ceremony marked one of the few moments when the Coast Guard Academy becomes the center of national attention, at least for a morning.
