Remarks from Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent at Joint Base Lindsey Graham Renaming Ceremony

As prepared for delivery. 

Secretary Hegseth and Senator Darline Graham.  Colonel Shirley.  Governor McMaster and the great men and women of our military.  It is an honor to join you all in my home state as we pay tribute to one of its most devoted sons.

The names we attach to our military installations reveal something of ourselves.  They signal the type of service we honor.  The kind of character we esteem.  And perhaps above all, the sort of example we ask future generations to follow.

Today, this base takes the name of a patriot who embodied each of those ideals in equal measure.

Of course, Lindsey Graham believed that the first obligation of the federal government is to keep its people safe.

He carried that conviction for more than three decades in uniform and in Washington.

And to place his name upon a base dedicated to our defense is to join Lindsey’s memory to the cause that animated his life.

But beneath the force of Lindsey’s convictions was a man of uncommon warmth and generosity of spirit.

However far duty carried him, Lindsey never outgrew the people or the places that first claimed him as our own.

His was a distinctly American ascent from Central, South Carolina to the pinnacle of the United States Senate.

Along the way, the arc of Lindsey’s life stirred the pride of every South Carolinian.  It reminded us that in America, the circumstances of one’s upbringing are never binding.  And that the highest places remain well within reach of those born far from power and privilege.

Few men have traveled greater distances without ever leaving home behind.

And across both of his callings in life, be it in the Air Force or in Congress, on a base in Afghanistan or on the floor of the Senate, he devoted himself to the same great purpose of serving a cause greater than self.

Joint Base Graham is the backbone of our Air Force’s C-17 fleet, the workhorse of our air defense.

Before joining the administration, I would sit on my side porch here in Charleston watching squadrons of C-17s returning from their missions across the globe.  Nobody does it like our amazing South Carolina pilots and crews.

From today forward, these planes will have Joint Base Graham on their tails.  A reminder that Senator Graham was America’s workhorse.

That is why Lindsey Graham’s legacy belongs here. And it’s why this base will bear that name with pride.

So may God continue to surround the Graham family as they draw strength from a grateful state.

May He bless our troops who sacrifice every day to defend our way of life.

And may Lindsey Olin Graham’s memory continue to be the blessing his life was as it stands watch over every mission launched from the Lowcountry to the farthest-reaching corners of the globe in defense of freedom.

Thank you.