Biden becomes the 46th president, vowing to heal and unite a nation in crisis
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, just hours after his predecessor left the White House, clearing the way for a beleaguered nation to turn the page on one of the most divisive chapters in its political history.
Before taking his oath on the Capitol's West Front, Biden stood witness to the shattering of a historic barrier as Kamala Harris, formerly a senator from California, was sworn in as the first woman, Black person and South Asian American to become vice president. Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice, administered Harris' oath.
Then, with his inaugural address, Biden began his call for the country to unite in the face of multiple crises.
“We have learned again that democracy is precious, democracy is fragile and, at this hour, democracy has prevailed,” the new president said.
Without ever naming Donald Trump, Biden made pointed note of the lingering damage from his predecessor's postelection campaign to stay in power, which tested the foundations of democracy — damage that was literally evident in places throughout the Capitol, violently invaded just 15 days before by the former president's supporters.
"Here we stand just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people," Biden said. "It did not happen. It will not happen. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. Not ever."
His 21-minute address, while urging unity and conciliation, was laden with stinging implied indictments of his predecessor's legacy, including Trump's repeated lies that that he, not Biden, won the presidential election.
"We must reject the culture where facts themselves are manipulated, even manufactured," Biden said. He called for a change of political culture, so that people could disagree without "this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal."
"We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts," he went on, "if we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes."
And Biden spoke directly to Trump's supporters: "To all those who did not support us, let me say this: Hear me out, as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart."
In a slap at Trump's style of leadership, which was laser-focused on appealing to his political base, Biden said, "I pledge this to you: I will be a president for all Americans. And I promise you I will fight as hard for those who did not support me."
Just a few hours earlier, Trump had left Washington for Florida, making one last trip from Joint Base Andrews on Air Force One to West Palm Beach after a small farewell rally at the airport. In doing so, he broke one last norm — dispensing with the 152-year-old rituals of a peaceful transfer of power by declining to greet his successor at the White House and then attend the inauguration.
He'd left the White House shortly after 8 a.m., departing on Marine One for the brief ride to the air base. There, before boarding the iconic plane, he told a smaller-than-expected crowd of family members, aides and supporters, “This has been an incredible four years. We’ve accomplished so much together.”
"We will be back in some form," Trump said in closing, seeming to hint as he has before of perhaps seeking the presidency again in 2024. Then, at 8:59 a.m., Air Force One lifted off as speakers at the military base blared Frank Sinatra singing "My Way." Trump did adhere to one tradition: He left a note for his successor at the White House. Its contents were not immediately disclosed.
Just moments after Trump and his wife waved and disappeared into the plane to depart, Biden and wife Jill Biden emerged from Blair House, the government mansion across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, to go to the nearby Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle for morning Mass, reminding Americans that for only the second time in history the nation has a Catholic president.
The church service allowed Biden to start his day with the show of bipartisanship that Trump denied him. Joining him at Mass were Congress' four leaders — two Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, and two Republicans, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. The Republicans had declined to attend Trump’s sendoff and thereby underscored his isolation in the final days of his presidency.
Among the Republicans who attended the inauguration ceremony was former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who had often been at odds with Trump but who rarely spoke up to criticize him.
“Our institutions were tested this year and our institutions passed the test. I'm here out of respect for the peaceful transfer of power and for the institutions," Ryan said, adding, "Joe Biden is the legitimately elected president of the United States and I'm here to honor this process.”
Rarely has a new president had less need for an orientation to the White House: Biden, at 78 the oldest man to become president, brings to the job 50 years of governing experience as senator and vice president. He has run for president three times in the past 33 years. Now he takes on the job of his dreams, but at a nightmarish time of health, economic and societal crises.
In his inaugural address, Biden accepted the daunting mandate to end a worsening pandemic and repair an economy ravaged by it.
He took the oath with his hand on a family Bible that he used for swearing-in ceremonies as vice president and senator over half a century, an heirloom that has been in his family since 1893. The entire spectacle set a markedly different tone than four years ago, when Trump in his inaugural address evoked a dark vision of “American carnage,” a country racked by poverty, industrial decline, drugs and crime.
Biden’s view from the Capitol, looking across the National Mall to the Washington Monument, was devoid of the hundreds of thousands typically in attendance. His audience was limited to perhaps 1,000 socially distanced Americans, a precaution against spreading the COVID-19 virus that has killed more than 400,000 and ravaged the U.S. economy, and a protection against continued threats of violence by pro-Trump domestic terrorists.
An unprecedented deployment of military and law enforcement personnel stood guard, turning the area around the ceremonial site and the city beyond into an armed encampment.
Matt Hood, a 38-year-old visitor from Baltimore, was reassured by all the security he saw at the Capitol’s perimeter fence as he arrived before dawn to document the inauguration. “They might try, but they won’t get through,” Hood said.
Some, however, suggested that the fortifications were excessive. “I like to think it's an overabundance of caution because no one likes the picture of fortress Washington being required for the orderly transfer of power,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) “So it's — it's a bit disturbing and a picture that could have been avoided.”
For the first time in history, the incoming president was joined on the inaugural platform with a vice president who is not a white man, a pivotal moment for a nation still struggling to end racial disparities. It was especially poignant for Black women who have been an important if underappreciated part of the Democratic Party.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), a longtime friend of Harris, said having her in the White House was “just a remarkable historic moment for me."
“Black women have fought so hard to elect other people, to be part of this Democratic Party, to get people out to vote,” Lee said. “We never would be here had it not been for the work and the struggle and the fights that Black women oftentimes have led with Black men. She’s the right woman for the right time.”
The dignitaries in attendance included three former presidents -- Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton -- as well as Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016. While Trump stayed away, his vice president, Mike Pence, showed up. The ceremony, which began with a light snow falling, featured a lineup of celebrity performers, including Jennifer Lopez, Garth Brooks and Lady Gaga.
As Lady Gaga sang an unconventional rendition of the national anthem, the sun emerged and stayed out to shine as Biden spoke. Yet reminders of the threat of violence were everywhere: Some House members wore body armor. Harris was escorted by Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police officer newly famous for his videotaped defense of the Senatede against the rioters Jan. 6.
“It’s on one hand heartbreaking, and on the other a very poignant reminder of the fragility of democracy,” said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.).
Biden’s focus people coming together echoes the message he delivered from the beginning of his presidential campaign: the need for national unity, to repair racial divisions exploited by Trump, to restore the soul of America.
Though Biden’s message initially seemed to some a bit corny — as a septuagenarian white man in a younger, diverse field of presidential rivals, he seemed like a political anachronism — he proved remarkably prescient about what the American people would want after Trump. Many Democrats believe, in retrospect, that he might have been the only candidate who could have beaten Trump, and now seems uniquely equipped to meet the moment.
Biden acknowledged that it would not be easy.
“I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days,” he said. “I know that the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we all are created equal, and the harsh ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart.”
Times staff writer Molly Hennessey-Fiske contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
