BIG MOMENT FOR U.S. AND BRITAIN
‘LET’S START AFRESH ...WE MUST END THIS UNCIVIL WAR’
THE world witnessed the birth of an era of hope as Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th US President yesterday.
Boris Johnson welcomed the new American administration as a “big moment” for Britain, adding: “When you look at the issues that unite me and Joe Biden, the UK and the United States... there’s a fantastic joint common agenda.”
Taking charge days after The Capitol was stormed by a pro Donald Trump mob, Mr Biden promised to start afresh and “end this uncivil war”.
He also pledged to “restore the soul of America and cross the river of divide”.
Ousted Republican president Mr Trump and wife Melania flew out of Washington before his Democrat successor’s inauguration that was watched by a worldwide TV
audience of billions. Mr Biden took a solemn oath to become, at the age of 78, the oldest person to take over the Oval Office.
After years of bitter divisions that plagued the US, he said: “This is America’s Day. This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve. Today we celebrate a triumph not of a candidate but of a cause, a cause of democracy.
“We come together as one nation. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.” And he pledged his “whole soul is in putting America back together again”.
On the day when Mr Biden promised the country’s healing had started, Kamala Harris became the first Asian American Vice-President and the first woman to hold that office.
Delivering a conciliatory address on the West Front of The Capitol, President Biden said: “The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.
“We’ve learned again that democracy’s precious, democracy’s fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed. Without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. This is our historic moment.”
Moments later he declared on Twitter: “Now the real work begins”.
Boris Johnson watched the ceremony on television at No 10, calling the transfer of power “a step forward” for the US.
He said: “I really congratulate Joe and Kamala on their achievement. It’s a fantastic thing for America, a step forward for the country that has been through a bumpy period.
“And for us and America it’s a big moment,” the PM added.
President Biden’s inauguration had
been scaled back by the pandemic but took place in front of 1,000 masked guests, including past Presidents and First Ladies Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, plus George and Laura Bush.
Also there were British Ambassador Karen Pierce, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The Queen had sent a private message earlier.
Father Lee O’Donovan – who had led the funeral of Joe Biden’s son Beau – conducted the invocation, while the benediction was given by Rev Silvester Beaman, from President Biden’s home state of Delaware. Pop star Lady Gaga, sporting a symbolic gold dove and olive branch, sang US anthem The Star-Spangled Banner, and singer Jennifer Lopez gave a rousing rendition of This Land Is Your Land and America The Beautiful.
President Biden took the oath of office before US Chief Justice John Roberts, placing his hand on a family heirloom Bible
He said: “We come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power. I understand that many of my fellow Americans view the future with fear and trepidation. I understand they worry about their jobs. They lie in bed... thinking about their families, about what comes next.”
He then added: “But the answer is not to turn inward to retreat into competing factions. We must end 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.
“If we show a little tolerance and humility and if we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes.”
He was joined at the ceremony by his teacher wife, First Lady Dr Jill Biden, and by Vice-President Harris’s husband Douglas Emhoff.
Ms Harris, daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, was sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina member.
The ceremony unfolded in front of a heavily fortified Capitol which had been stormed by Trump supporters, angered by false claims that November’s presidential election was stolen from him.
President Biden prayed “for those we’ve left behind” and said Covid had “taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War Two”.
The US has had more than 402,400 Covid-related deaths, the world’s worst toll.