President Donald Trump on Monday celebrated the decision by a West Point alumni group to cancel an award ceremony that had been scheduled to honor actor Tom Hanks, calling Hanks “destructive” and “WOKE.” The Sylvanus Thayer Award had been set to be presented to Hanks on Sept. 25, but the West Point Association of Graduates announced last week it would not hold the ceremony, according to news reports.
In a post on his social media platform, Trump called the cancellation an “Important move!” and urged awards bodies to “review their Standards and Practices in the name of Fairness and Justice.” West Point, its alumni association and a representative for Hanks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Sylvanus Thayer Award, named for an early superintendent known as the “Father of West Point,” has been given annually since 1958 to a citizen whose service and accomplishments reflect the academy’s motto: “Duty, Honor, Country.” In June, association board chairman Robert McDonald praised Hanks in a press release for his support of veterans and the space program and noted his positive portrayals of service members.
But the association’s president and CEO, retired Army Col. Mark Bieger, wrote in an emailed statement reported by The Washington Post that calling off the ceremony "allows the Academy to continue its focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight, and win as officers in the world’s most lethal force, the United States Army." The Washington Post was the first outlet to report the cancellation.
The episode comes amid broader moves by the Trump administration to influence leadership and ideology at higher education institutions and within the military. This summer, the Army secretary directed West Point to review hiring practices, bar outside groups from choosing employees and removed a recently announced hire who previously led the nation’s cybersecurity agency under President Joe Biden. Earlier this year, West Point disbanded a number of cadet clubs centered on ethnicity, gender, race and sexuality, and the academy rehung a portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in its library.
Hanks has long been active in Democratic politics and civic engagement efforts. He has publicly endorsed Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, narrated a short film for Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, hosted a primetime special celebrating Biden’s 2021 inauguration, and served as a celebrity co-chair for When We All Vote, a nonpartisan civic engagement organization. He has also criticized Donald Trump publicly, calling him a “self-involved gasbag” in 2016 and decrying policies such as the attempted travel ban for Muslim-majority countries.
Last year’s Thayer Award recipient was former President Barack Obama. The cancellation of Hanks’s ceremony reinforces tensions between cultural figures who are openly political and institutions navigating competing pressures over public perception and mission focus. As of Monday, neither West Point nor representatives for Hanks had issued further statements, and it was unclear whether the association planned any alternative recognition of the award recipient.