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Biden Pushes For Unity in Inaugural Address | NPR Politics

President Biden said the nation must end its "uncivil war," asking for unity during his inaugural address after he and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn in at the Capitol. • Read "We've Got A Steep Road Ahead': Around The U.S., People Focus On The Future" at https://www.npr.org/2021/01/20/958857097/weve-got-a-steep-road-ahead-around-the-u-s-people-focus-on-the-future • Read: 'This Is America's Day': Biden's Inaugural Address, Annotated" at https://www.npr.org/2021/01/20/956922884/bidens-inaugural-address-annotated• Listen: The NPR Politics Podcast at https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510310/npr-politics-podcast ------------------------------------------------------ Follow NPR elsewhere, too: • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/npr/ • Twitter: https://twitter.com/npr • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NPR

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3 years ago
JOHN ROBERTS: So help you God? JOE BIDEN: So help me God. ROBERTS: Congratulations, Mr. President. [CROWD CHEEERING] BRIAN NAYLOR: Joe Biden was sworn in Wednesday as the nation's 46th president. He took the oath of office a few minutes before 12:00 noon Eastern Time following the swearing in of Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman, black and Asian American, to hold that post. In his inaugural address, President Biden touched on the multiple crises America faces, the coronaviruses pande
mic, job losses, climate change, racial injustice and political extremism and violence. He said the solutions for those problems could only be found through unity. BIDEN: 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, as my mom would say just for a moment, stand in the
ir shoes... And we can still disagree. My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we're going to need each other, we need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter. NAYLOR: Biden's optimism and call for unity stood in stark contrast with the words of his predecessor, former President Trump, four years ago, in which he decried American carnage. In a break with tradition, Trump did not attend Biden's swearing in and departed Washington for his Florida state earlier in the day. Bide
n concluded his address, saying he will work to write an American story of hope, not fear, light, not darkness, decency and dignity, love and healing. Brian Naylor, NPR News.

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