Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney makes his first major campaign speech on foreign policy Monday.

Mr. Romney will speak to students at the Virginia Military Institute in the town of Lexington – the country's oldest military academy.

So far, he has focused mostly on the economy and his plans to repeal President Barack Obama's health care reforms. But he has criticized the president's Middle East policy, saying Mr. Obama is letting the United States be at the mercy of events rather than shaping them.

Mr. Romney wrote in The Wall Street Journal last month that events are moving the country away from being able to protect its people and allies.

President Obama is in California, where on Monday he will dedicate a monument to the late leader of the United Farm Workers union, Cesar Chavez. Later, he will attend a fundraising dinner in San Francisco.

With one month to go before the election, polls indicate the president is still in front, but Mr. Romney has closed the gap after last week's first debate. Many analysts say Mr. Romney was better prepared and that the president gave an uncharacteristically lethargic performance.

Sunday night in Los Angeles, the president playfully chided himself for the lackluster performance. Speaking to a crowd of 6,000 at a fundraising concert featuring such entertainers as Stevie Wonder, Katy Perry, Jennifer Hudson and George Clooney, the president lauded them for performing flawlessly night after night. Then Mr. Obama said “I can't always say the same,” provoking sympathetic laugher and applause.