On Jan. 20, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.
The inauguration took place on the steps of the U.S. Capitol despite recent protests and riots led by extremist Trump supporters. National Guard troops patrolled the premises during Biden’s inaugural address but the ceremony took place without any major incidents.
Earlier that morning, Trump gave a farewell speech before the transfer of power.
“It was my greatest honor and privilege to be your president … I will be watching, I will be listening … We will be back in some form,” concluded Trump.
As supporters chanted “Thank you, Trump,” the former president departed Washington for the last time on a flight to Florida, refusing to attend the inauguration of his successor.
Trump left President Biden a letter, one of the only traditions regarding the transfer of power that Trump followed. The contents of the letter are not yet public.
Due to the coronavirus, mail-in voting was a prominent factor in the 2020 election process. Because of the abnormal circumstances surrounding and affecting the election, voter fraud has been alleged by both political parties.
Hours before taking the oath of office, Biden, a Catholic, attended a church service at St. Matthew’s Cathedral with bipartisan congressional leaders. One of the leaders who took part in the service was former Vice President Mike Pence, who was not present at Trump’s farewell speech.
Shortly after the service, both Kamala Harris and Joe Biden took the oath of office.
Biden is the second Catholic president since John F. Kennedy, and, making history, Vice President Harris is the first woman, and the first woman of color, to hold office as the vice president.
After officially becoming America’s 46th President, Biden began his inaugural speech.
“On this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation, and I ask every American to join me in this cause,” said Joe Biden.
As the first act of his presidency, the Democrat initiated a moment of silent prayer for those who lost their lives in the past year during the pandemic.
Biden’s later agenda for his first day in office included freezing and undoing both various past and recent Trump policies and signing 15 executive orders.
Those orders included re-joining the Paris Agreement on climate change, pausing federal student loan debt and issuing a mask mandate on federal property.
The president’s main concern is what he and his team call “the four overlapping and compounding crises,” which include the COVID-19 pandemic, economic damage, climate change and delayed racial equity.
Biden reiterated his desire for the nation by expressing in the last half of his speech, “We must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we do that, I guarantee you that we will not fail.”
