biden vows to mend nation democracy has ......2 days ago  · biden s elusive promise of na-tional...

‘DEMOCRACY HAS PREVAILED’:BIDEN VOWS TO MEND NATION

T H E 4 6 T H P R E S I D E N T

President Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, in front of the White House on Wednesday as they prepared to become its newest inhabitants. Mr. Biden signed 17 executive actions on his first day in office.DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

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President Donald J. Trump’s clemencyactions showed animosity for a justicesystem seeking to punish corruptionand betrayals of public trust. PAGE A27

THE PARDONS

Disdain for Accountability Gail Collins PAGE A31

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A30-31

WASHINGTON — Joseph Rob-inette Biden Jr. was sworn in onWednesday as the 46th presidentof the United States, assumingleadership of a country ravagedby disease, dislocation and divi-sion with a call to “end this uncivilwar” after four tumultuous yearsthat tore at the fabric of Americansociety.

Mr. Biden sought to immedi-ately turn the corner on Donald J.Trump’s polarizing presidency, in-viting Republicans to join him inconfronting the nation’s dire eco-nomic, social and health criseseven as he began dismantling hispredecessor’s legacy with ordersto halt construction of his borderwall, lift his travel ban and rejointhe Paris climate agreement.

The ritualistic transfer of powerended weeks of suspense as thevanquished president waged a re-lentless bid to hang on, only to berebuffed at every level of govern-ment, clearing the way for Mr. Bi-den to claim his office. With hishand on a five-inch-thick Biblethat has been in his family for 128years, Mr. Biden recited the 35-word oath administered by ChiefJustice John G. Roberts Jr. at 11:49a.m., 11 minutes before the consti-tutionally prescribed noon hour.

Vice President Kamala DeviHarris was sworn in a few min-utes earlier by Justice Sonia So-tomayor using a Bible that oncebelonged to Thurgood Marshall,the civil rights icon and SupremeCourt justice. Ms. Harris thus be-came the highest-ranking womanin the history of the United Statesand the first Black American andfirst person of South Asian de-scent to hold the nation’s secondhighest office.

The drama of the moment wasunderscored by the sight of Mr. Bi-den taking the oath on the sameWest Front of the Capitol seizedjust two weeks ago by a maraud-ing mob trying to block final ratifi-

cation of Mr. Trump’s election de-feat. Without ever naming Mr.Trump, who left the White Houseearly in the morning for Floridabut still faces a Senate trial forprovoking his supporters, Mr. Bi-den said that the United States’democratic experiment itself hadcome under assault by extremismand lies but ultimately endured.

“Through a crucible for theages, America has been testedanew and America has risen to thechallenge,” the president said in a21-minute Inaugural Address thatblended soaring themes with

folksy touches.“The will of the people has been

heard, and the will of the peoplehas been heeded,” he added.“We’ve learned again that democ-racy is precious. Democracy isfragile. And at this hour, myfriends, democracy has pre-vailed.”

Already abbreviated because ofMr. Trump’s refusal to concede,the transition that ended Wednes-day was like none before, not justfrom one party to another butfrom one reality to another. Apresident who came to Washing-ton to blow up the system was re-placed by one who is a lifelong

Taking Reins of CountryTorn by Crisis and Strife; Historic Leap for Harris

By PETER BAKER

Barack Obama greeting VicePresident Kamala Harris.

POOL PHOTO BY SUSAN WALSH

Continued on Page A12

WASHINGTON — Quite a dif-ference between two chillyWednesdays in January: Under acrystalline Inauguration Day skyand a bunting-draped Capitol, theMarine Band welcomed the 46thpresident into office with a proces-sion of fanfares — in the same spotthat a mob answering the call ofthe 45th had ransacked the build-ing two weeks earlier to try to stopthis transfer of power.

There was no mention of Don-ald J. Trump, the departed and de-platformed commander in chiefwho flew out of town early in themorning as the first president in152 years to refuse to attend theswearing-in of his successor.

Whether or not related to theformer president’s absence, a bi-partisan lightness seemed to pre-vail across the stage. Snow flur-ries gave way to sun and an auradistinctly serene. Senator MitchMcConnell, the Republican leader,and now former Vice PresidentMike Pence — both close allies ofMr. Trump who broke bitterly withhim in his final days — were seencracking grins, even chucklingwith their counterparts in the op-posing party.

Supreme Court justices greetedformer presidents with elbow

bumps and waved to maskedmembers of Congress from sev-eral feet away, a literal separationof powers mandated by the pan-demic. The rampage on Jan. 6 hadbrought on uniformed troops clus-tered in all directions across aCapitol complex otherwise aban-doned by civilians. Still, the inau-guration felt like a friendly gather-ing, a small step toward PresidentBiden’s elusive promise of na-tional unity.

“This is a great nation. We aregood people,” Mr. Biden said,speaking in simple goals, sound-ing almost plaintive at times in his

Transfer of Power Brings RespiteTo City Where a Mob Held Sway

By MARK LEIBOVICH

National Guard troops duringthe inauguration Wednesday.

JASON ANDREW FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A13

As a child, Joseph R. Biden Jr.wrestled with words, grapplingwith a boyhood stutter. Years later,as a young politician, he couldn’tstop saying them, quickly devel-oping a reputation for long-winded remarks.

It was words that undercut hisfirst two campaigns for the WhiteHouse, with charges of plagiarismending his 1988 bid and verbalmissteps that hampered his 2008outing from nearly the first mo-ments. And it was his self-de-scribed penchant for being a“gaffe machine,” as he once put it,

that would cement his vice-presi-dential nickname of “Uncle Joe,”the endearing relative whoprompts the occasional wince.

Through a nearly half-century-long political career marked bypersonal tragedy and forged in na-tional upheaval, Mr. Biden’s strug-gle with his own words has re-mained a central fact of his profes-sional life, and of the ambition heharbored for nearly as long, theWhite House.

Yet over the course of the 2020campaign, and especially in thetwo months since his victory, Mr.Biden, the nation’s 46th president,has transformed himself into asteady hand who chooses words

with extraordinary restraint.The self-described “scrappy kid

from Scranton,” who called Presi-dent Trump a “clown” and toldhim to “shut up” during their firstdebate, refused to take the politi-cal bait laid by Mr. Trump forweeks after the election with hisattempts to overturn the results.Rather than get sucked into the

Trumpian chaos, Mr. Biden fo-cused on announcing his cabinetand helping his party win two run-off races in Georgia. And with asecond impeachment trial loom-ing in the Senate, Mr. Biden, 78,has maintained his steadfast faithin the political center, positioninghimself as a champion of all Amer-icans and a deal maker betweenthe left and the right.

“There’s more of a sense of acalm resolve now,” said Repre-sentative Lisa Blunt Rochester,Democrat of Delaware, who hasknown Mr. Biden for decades andserved as a co-chair of his cam-paign. “Even the words that he

A President Forged by Setbacks as Much as by His SuccessBy LISA LERER ‘Take a Measure of Me

and My Heart,’ HeAsks of America

Continued on Page A14

WASHINGTON — In the end,the inauguration triumphed overthe insurrection.

President Biden’s plea fornational unity in his Inaugural

Address on Wednes-day was rooted in abelief — born ofdecades working

inside the fractious institutions ofgovernment — that America canreturn to an era where “enoughof us have come together tocarry all of us forward.”

It was a call for the restorationof the ordinary discord of democ-racy, with a reminder that “poli-tics doesn’t have to be a ragingfire, destroying everything in itspath.” The words were made allthe more potent because theywere delivered from the samesteps at the entrance to the Capi-tol where a violent attack twoweeks ago shocked the nationinto realizing the lengths towhich some Americans would goto overturn the results of a demo-cratic election.

Mr. Biden’s inauguration wasnotable for its normalcy, and thesense of relief that permeatedthe capital as an era of constantturmoil and falsehood ended. Yethe takes office amid so many

interlocking national traumasthat it is still unclear whether hecan persuade enough of thenation to walk together into anew era. To do so, he needs tolead the country past the parti-san divisions that made mask-wearing a political act, and towin acceptance from tens ofmillions of Americans who be-lieved a lie that the presidencyhad been stolen.

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. ishardly the first president to takeoffice in a moment of nationaldesperation and division. Lin-coln, whose inauguration amidfear of violence hung over this

A Call for the Return of Civility,And Truth as a Guiding Light

By DAVID E. SANGER

President Donald J. Trumppreparing to leave Washington.

ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEWSANALYSIS

Continued on Page A18

Amanda Gorman, 22, tried to make herinaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,”hopeful, realistic and unifying. Earlyreviews were glowing. PAGE A22

THE POET

A Young Wordsmith ConnectsWith his pen, President Biden acted toraze and rebuild his predecessor’senvironmental, immigration, pandemicand other policies. PAGE A20

THE FIRST DAY

Dismantling Trump’s LegacyVice President Kamala Harris couldwell be making frequent trips to theCapitol, with the Senate evenly splitbetween the two parties. PAGE A24

THE TIEBREAKER

A Powerful Voice

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,945 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

Today, partial sunshine, breezy, high41. Tonight, clear to partly cloudy,low 33. Tomorrow, partly sunny, agusty wind at times, high 42.Weather map appears on Page B6.

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