WASHINGTON -- Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, declaring that "democracy has prevailed" and summoning American resilience and unity to confront the deeply divided nation's historic confluence of crises.
Biden took the oath at a U.S. Capitol that had been battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks earlier. On a cold Washington morning dotted with snow flurries, the quadrennial ceremony unfolded within a circle of security forces and devoid of crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, Biden gazed out over 200,000 American flags planted on the National Mall to symbolize those who could not attend in person.
"The will of the people has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded. We've learned again that democracy is precious and democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed," Biden said. "This is America's day. This is democracy's day. A day in history and hope, of renewal and resolve."
History was made at his side, as Kamala Harris became the first woman to be vice president. The former U.S. senator from California is also the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency and the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the U.S. government.
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Biden never mentioned his predecessor, who defied tradition and left town ahead of the ceremony, but his speech was an implicit rebuke of Donald Trump. The new president denounced "lies told for power and for profit" and was blunt about the challenges ahead.
Central among them: the surging virus that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States, as well as economic strains and a national reckoning over race.
"We have much to do in this winter of peril, and significant possibilities. Much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain," Biden said. "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."
A bipartisan trio of former presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- were there to witness the ceremonial transfer of power.
Biden, in his third run for the presidency, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy.
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Four years after Trump gave a dark and defiant inaugural address pledging to end "American carnage," Biden sought to appeal to the country's more hopeful sentiments and make a plea for unity.
"Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path," he said, calling on the nation to "start afresh."
He cited his inauguration as a symbol of the country turning the page.
"We've learned again that democracy is precious, democracy is fragile -- and at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed," he said.
He called for Americans to put aside their deep divisions to come together to confront the coronavirus pandemic, economic troubles and the scourge of racism.
"We must end this uncivil war -- red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal," Biden said in the 21-minute address that blended soaring 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."
Biden used the word "unity" repeatedly, saying that he knew it "can sound to some like a foolish fantasy" but insisting that Americans had emerged from previous moments of polarization and can do so again.
"We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature," he said. "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."
Swearing the oath with his hand on a 5-inch-thick Bible that has been in his family for 128 years, Biden takes office with a well of empathy and resolve born by personal tragedy as well as a depth of experience forged from more than four decades in Washington. At age 78, he is the oldest president inaugurated.
Both he, Harris and their spouses walked the last short part of the route to the White House after an abridged parade. Biden then walked into the Oval Office, a room he knew well as vice president, for the first time as commander in chief.
Earlier, the two were sworn in during an inauguration ceremony with few parallels. Biden, like all those in attendance, wore a mask except when speaking. And tens of thousands of National Guard troops were on the streets to provide security precisely two weeks after a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden's victory.
"Here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people," Biden said. "To stop the work of our democracy. To drive us from this sacred ground. It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever. Not ever."
Washington, all but deserted downtown and in its federal areas, was quiet. And calm also prevailed outside heavily fortified state Capitol buildings across nation after the FBI had warned of the possibility of armed demonstrations leading up to the inauguration.
The day began with a reach across the political aisle after four years of bitter partisan battles. At Biden's invitation, congressional leaders from both parties bowed their heads in prayer in the socially distanced service a few blocks from the White House.
Biden was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts; Harris by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic member of the Supreme Court. Vice President Mike Pence, standing in for Trump, sat nearby as Lady Gaga, holding a golden microphone, sang the national anthem accompanied by the U.S. Marine Corps band.
When Pence, in a last act of the outgoing administration, left the Capitol, he walked through a door with badly cracked glass from the riot two weeks ago. Later, Biden, Harris and their spouses were joined by the former presidents to solemnly lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Ceremony.
In the evening, in lieu of the traditional balls that welcome a new president to Washington, Biden was to take part in a televised concert that also marked the return of A-list celebrities to the White House orbit after they largely eschewed Trump. Among those in the lineup: Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Lemire, Zeke Miller, Alexandra Jaffe, Jill Colvin and Darlene Superville of The Associated Press; by Peter Baker of The New York Times; and by Toluse Olorunnipa and Annie Linskey of The Washington Post.
