WASHINGTON — Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, taking workplace at a second of profound financial, well being and political crises with a promise to hunt unity after a tumultuous 4 years that tore on the material of American society.
With his hand on a five-inch-thick Bible that has been in his household for 128 years, Mr. Biden recited the 35-word oath of workplace swearing to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” in a ceremony administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., finishing the method at 11:49 a.m., 11 minutes earlier than the authority of the presidency formally adjustments palms.
The ritual switch of energy got here shortly after Kamala Devi Harris was sworn in as vp by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, her hand on a Bible that when belonged to Thurgood Marshall, the civil rights icon and Supreme Court justice. Ms. Harris’s ascension made her the highest-ranking lady within the historical past of the United States and the primary Black American and first particular person of South Asian descent to carry the nation’s second highest workplace.
In his Inaugural Address, Mr. Biden declared that “democracy has prevailed” after a take a look at of the system by a defeated president, Donald J. Trump, who sought to overturn the outcomes of an election after which inspired a mob that stormed the Capitol two weeks in the past to dam the ultimate depend. But he known as for Americans to place apart their deep and darkish divisions to come back collectively to confront the coronavirus pandemic, financial troubles and the scourge of racism.
“We must end this uncivil war — red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal,” Mr. Biden stated within the 21-minute tackle that blended hovering themes with folksy touches. “We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes, as my mom would say, just for a moment.”
Mr. Biden used the phrase “unity” repeatedly, saying that he knew it “can sound to some like a foolish fantasy” however insisting that Americans had emerged from earlier moments of polarization and may achieve this once more.
“We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature,” he stated. “For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.”
The ceremony on a cold, breezy however sunny day with a short smattering of snowflakes delivered to an in depth the stormy and divisive four-year Trump presidency. In attribute style, Mr. Trump as soon as once more defied custom by leaving Washington hours earlier than the swearing in of his successor relatively than face the truth of his personal election defeat, though Mike Pence, his vp, did attend.
Mr. Trump flew to Florida, the place he plans to stay at his Mar-a-Lago property. But inside days, the Senate will open the previous president’s impeachment trial on the cost that he incited an rebellion by encouraging the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an try and cease the formal counting of the Electoral College votes ratifying his defeat.
The sight of the nation’s newly put in president and vp on the identical West Front of the Capitol occupied simply two weeks in the past by the marauding pro-Trump crowd underscored how surreal the day was. Unlike most inaugurals suffused with pleasure and a way of recent starting, the festivities on the nation’s 59th Inauguration Day served as an example America’s troubles.
Amid worry of additional violence, Washington has been remodeled into an armed camp, with some 25,000 National Guard troops becoming a member of 1000’s of cops and a large swath of downtown blocked off. With the coronavirus pandemic nonetheless raging, Americans have been advised to remain away, resulting in the eerie spectacle of a brand new president addressing a largely empty National Mall, stuffed not with folks however with flags meant to characterize the absent crowd.
Many of the standard inaugural customs have been scrapped due to the virus, together with a lunch with congressional leaders in Statuary Hall, the boisterous parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and the gala night balls the place the brand new president and his spouse are sometimes anticipated to bounce.
Instead, Mr. Biden will assessment navy models on the East Front of the Capitol and later proceed to the White House escorted by marching bands from all branches of the navy as nicely as college drum traces from the University of Delaware and Howard University, the alma maters of the brand new president and vp, respectively. After that, a digital “Parade Across America” will characteristic performances stay streamed from 56 states and territories.
To symbolize the theme of nationwide unity that Mr. Biden sought to mission, he will likely be joined by three former presidents — Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — to put a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery earlier than the parade. Instead of the formal dances, the brand new first and second {couples} will participate in a 90-minute televised night program hosted by the actor Tom Hanks.
If the pomp and circumstance have been constrained by the challenges of the day, Mr. Biden’s dedication to get off to a quick begin unraveling the Trump presidency was not. He deliberate to signal 17 govt orders, memorandums and proclamations within the late afternoon aimed toward reversing most of the main components of the final administration, a dramatic repudiation of his predecessor and a extra expansive set of Inauguration Day actions than any in trendy historical past.
Among different strikes, he deliberate to situation a nationwide masks mandate for federal staff and federal property, search the extension of an eviction pause and scholar mortgage aid, rejoin the Paris local weather accord, droop building of Mr. Trump’s border wall, raise the journey ban on sure predominantly Muslim international locations, bolster this system permitting younger immigrants introduced into the nation illegally as kids to remain, bar discrimination by the federal authorities based mostly on sexual orientation or gender identification and impose a moratorium on oil and pure gasoline leases within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Rarely if ever has a brand new president moved to reverse a lot of his predecessor’s work on his first day in workplace, however Mr. Biden was intent on signaling a clear break from Mr. Trump. Some of the orders have been extra symbolic than substantive, and enduring change will nonetheless require laws. To that finish, Mr. Biden deliberate to unveil on Wednesday an immigration overhaul offering a path to citizenship for 11 million folks residing within the nation illegally that should be accepted by Congress in what is certain to be a contentious debate.
Commanding consideration in Congress will likely be a problem, with Mr. Trump’s trial seemingly consuming the Senate for days or perhaps weeks. As it stands, the Senate appeared unlikely to verify any of Mr. Biden’s cupboard decisions on Inauguration Day, one other breach of customized. Mr. Trump had two of his cupboard secretaries confirmed on the day he took workplace, whereas Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush every had seven.
With Ms. Harris’s inauguration, the Senate, evenly divided with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, now flips to the Democrats due to her tiebreaking vote as the chamber’s president. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York turns into the Democratic majority chief and hopes to create two parallel tracks so it could actually think about each nominations and laws even as it conducts the Trump trial.
Mr. Biden hoped to make use of his Inaugural Address to strike a sharply completely different tone from his predecessor, who favored provocation over conciliation. Mr. Biden started engaged on it earlier than Thanksgiving in a course of run by his longtime adviser, Mike Donilon. He obtained assist from Jon Meacham, the historian who’s serving as an outdoor casual adviser, as nicely as from Vinay Reddy, his speechwriter, whereas counting on his sister, Valerie Biden Owens, who has lengthy been an vital sounding board.
But even as the brand new president known as for unity, he needed to make use of the speech to name out racism within the wake of the George Floyd killing and the siege of the Capitol by extremists. And whereas he didn’t need to cite Mr. Trump by title, he talked in regards to the want for fact and the results of lies after 4 years by which the president made tens of 1000’s of false or deceptive statements.
Beyond age, gender and race, Mr. Biden may hardly be extra of a distinction to the president he succeeded. A longtime senator, former vp and consummate Washington insider, Mr. Biden prides himself on his expertise working throughout the aisle and hopes to forge a partnership with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority chief, and different Republicans.
Garrulous and loquacious, identified for an incandescent smile, a generally overly acquainted shoulder rub and a proclivity for gaffes, Mr. Biden practices the form of feel-your-pain politics of empathy mastered by Mr. Clinton and the call-me-anytime politics of relationships exemplified by the primary President George Bush.
At 78, Mr. Biden is the oldest president in American historical past — older on his first day in workplace than Ronald Reagan was on his final — and even allies quietly acknowledge that he’s not at his prime, which means he will likely be continually watched by mates and foes alike for indicators of decline. But he overcame the doubts and the obstacles to assert the prize of his lifetime practically 34 years after kicking off the primary of his three presidential campaigns.
While he has robust center-left beliefs at his core, he’s not ideologically pushed, prepared and even keen to maneuver with the political middle of gravity. The progressive wing of his get together stays skeptical and he might discover it daunting to carry collectively his electoral coalition, whose important level of settlement was shared antipathy for Mr. Trump.
Mr. Biden arrives on the pinnacle of energy with a tailwind of public assist. Fifty-seven % of Americans view him favorably, according to Gallup, a better ranking than Mr. Trump ever noticed in workplace, and 68 % approve of Mr. Biden’s dealing with of the transition. But the overwhelming majority of the general public believes the nation is on the fallacious observe and, in a measure of the impression of Mr. Trump’s drumbeat of false allegations of election fraud, 32 % told CNN pollsters that they didn’t consider Mr. Biden gained the election legitimately.
Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris deliver new range to the highest echelon of presidency. Mr. Biden is barely the second Catholic president after John F. Kennedy and Ms. Harris broke a number of gender and racial obstacles in profitable the vice presidency. The Cabinet that Mr. Biden assembled has file numbers of girls and other people of colour as nicely as the primary homosexual particular person to steer one of many statutory Cabinet departments.
Mr. Biden, who spent Tuesday evening at Blair House, the presidential visitor quarters throughout Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, started his public day at 8:50 a.m. when he departed for a service on the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle together with his spouse, Jill Biden, together with Ms. Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Joining them have been congressional leaders of each events, together with Mr. McConnell.
That too was a change in custom, as most new presidents earlier than taking the oath worship at St. John’s Church, the Episcopal parish throughout Lafayette Square from the White House. But St. Matthew has its personal presidential historical past as the location of Kennedy’s funeral.
Among these attending the swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol have been the three former presidents and their wives, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, as nicely as former Vice President Dan Quayle. In addition to Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Sotomayor, 4 different members of the Supreme Court have been current,: Justice Elena Kagan and all three of Mr. Trump’s appointees, Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Mr. Pence and his spouse Karen Pence obtained bipartisan applause once they arrived on the Captiol in appreciation for his or her present of respect for the transition of energy regardless of Mr. Trump’s snub. It was Mr. Pence’s first go to since he was rushed out of the Senate chamber two weeks in the past to flee the pro-Trump mob, a few of whom chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as a result of he refused to attempt to block the counting of the Electoral College votes as Mr. Trump had demanded.
Performing on the ceremony have been Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks. Set to affix Mr. Hanks for the night efficiency dubbed “Celebrating America” at 8:30 p.m. have been stars together with Kerry Washington, Bruce Springsteen, Eva Longoria, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Demi Lovato.
Celebrity celebration will bracket demonstrations of getting right down to enterprise. Mr. Biden will signal his orders and memorandums within the Oval Office at 5:15 p.m. to be adopted a half-hour later by a digital swearing-in of his workers. At 7 p.m., Jen Psaki, the brand new White House press secretary, will maintain her first day by day briefing, re-establishing an everyday alternative for reporters to query the White House that had all however disappeared underneath Mr. Trump.
The Bidens will then spend their first evening within the White House, finishing a journey that formally started in 1987 and unofficially a lot earlier. These weren’t the circumstances the brand new president may need imagined arriving at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when he set out on this path, however historical past all the time has its surprises.
