“Here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people,” Biden said. Tens of thousands of National Guard troops were on the streets to provide security precisely two weeks after a violent mob of Trump supporters, incited by the Republican president, stormed the building in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory. Biden then strode into the Oval Office, a room he knew well as vice president, for the first time as commander in chief.Īt the Capitol earlier, Biden, like all those in attendance, wore a face mask except when speaking. At age 78, he is the oldest president inaugurated.īoth he, Harris and their spouses walked the last short part of the route to the White House after an abridged parade. Swearing the oath with his hand on a five-inch-thick Bible that has been in his family for 128 years, Biden came to office with a well of empathy and resolve born by personal tragedy as well as a depth of experience forged from more than four decades in Washington.
“This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward and we must meet this moment as the United States of America.” Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart,” Biden said. “I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. Four years after Trump’s “American Carnage” speech painted a dark portrait of national decay, Biden warned that the fabric of the nation’s democracy was tearing but could be repaired. Trump, awaiting his second impeachment trial, was at his Florida resort by the time the swearing-in took place.īiden, in his third run for the presidency, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. Bush and Barack Obama - were there to witness the transfer of power. The absence of Biden’s predecessor from the inaugural ceremony underscored the national rift to be healed.īut a bipartisan trio of former presidents - Bill Clinton, George W. Then he swore in hundreds of aides - virtually - telling them, “You’re my possibilities.” “There’s no time to start like today,” a masked Biden said. His actions included re-entry into the Paris Climate Accords and a mandate for wearing masks on federal property. It included a blitz of executive orders on matters that don’t require congressional approval - a mix of substantive and symbolic steps to unwind the Trump years. “Few people in our nation’s history have been more challenged, or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we’re in now.”īiden was eager to go big early, with an ambitious first 100 days including a push to speed up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations to anxious Americans and pass a $1.9 trillion economic relief package. Much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain,” Biden said. “We have much to do in this winter of peril, and significant possibilities. The new president denounced “lies told for power and for profit” and was blunt about the challenges ahead.Ĭentral among them: the surging virus that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States, as well as economic strains and a national reckoning over race. government.īiden never mentioned his predecessor, who defied tradition and left town ahead of the ceremony, but his speech was an implicit rebuke of Donald Trump. senator from California is also the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency and the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the U.S. History was made at his side, as Kamala Harris became the first woman to be vice president.
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