WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, ending the tumultuous four-year term in the White House of Republican Donald Trump.
Biden, 78, took the oath of office from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts at a solemn ceremony at the US Capitol which was snubbed by the outgoing president and took place in the shadow of a raging coronavirus pandemic.
Biden, sworn in at 11:49 a.m. ET, used a 21-minute inaugural address to call for unity and offer an optimistic message that Americans can get through dark moments by working together.
The ceremonies were scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic, with heightened security measures arising from the Capitol riot exactly two weeks ago.
“Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge,” Biden said early in his address. “Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause: the cause of democracy.”
Biden pivoted to the challenges ahead, acknowledging the surging virus that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States and become a polarized issue unlike in most other countries. Biden looked out over a capital city dotted with empty storefronts that attest to the pandemic’s deep economic toll and where summer protests laid bare the nation’s renewed reckoning on racial injustice.
“Those 400,000 fellow Americans — moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, neighbours and co-workers — we’ll honour them by becoming the people and nation we know we can and should be,” he said, before asking for a silent prayer on their behalf.
Biden called on Americans to overcome divisions, declaring that “without unity, there is no peace.”
“We must end this uncivil war that pits red versus blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal,” he said. “We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.”
There was, he said, “much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain.”
“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.”
Biden also hailed the historic achievement of his Vice-President Kamala Harris. Harris took the oath administered by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, becoming the first Black, South Asian and female vice-president.
Harris, who spent some of her teen years in Montreal, was said to be using a Bible in the swearing-in ceremony that belonged to Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice.
Biden and his wife, Jill, began the day by attending a service at Washington’s Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. Along with Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, those in attendance included: both Senate leaders, Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Chuck Schumer, as well as Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Biden is only the second Catholic president in U.S. history after John F. Kennedy, and St. Matthew’s is the seat of the Catholic archbishop of Washington. — NNN-AGENCIES:
