Crowds of family members and dignitaries–including a somber Mike Pence–milled about on the inaugural stage, waiting for the main figures to arrive on the chilly morning of January 20, 2021.
There were old faces and new. The Obamas fist and elbow bumped old friends, Nancy Pelosi chatted with George W. and Laura Bush, Biden grand-babies were bounced on parents’ hips, A-Rod stood around looking lonely (his wife JLo sang later in the event), ex-presidential hopeful and future Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and his husband chatted, and lots and lots of Secret Service members watched for any signs of trouble.
Although the raging coronavirus required a (mostly) distanced, mask-wearing, podium sanitizing event, and 25,000 National Guardsmen and women ringed the perimeter, the sense of pomp and circumstance was not entirely lost. The Marine Corps band provided up-tempo yet stately welcomes for various VIPs followed by rousing trumpet heralds first for Vice President Harris, and a few minutes later for President Biden.
The accomplished, ambitious, and hard-working Kamala Harris–the first woman, first Black woman, and first woman of South Asian descent to occupy the office of Vice President–glided down to the ceremonial stage with her husband Doug Emhoff on her arm. Her royal purple double-breasted coat and matching dress provided a nod not only to the mix of red and blue but to the first Black woman ever elected to Congress, Shirley Chisholm whose campaign colors were purple and gold.
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. in a classic blue suit, overcoat, and pale blue tie, came down the stairs with ease, his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, a professor of English, at his side.
The power couples made their greetings and then the event was called to order. A somber invocation was given followed by a soaring rendition of the National Anthem from Lady Gaga in an Oscars-worthy gown with giant red skirt. Upon her bosom perched a gold pin of a lifesized dove with an olive branch.
Harris was sworn in by the first Latina Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor. Next, JLo sang “America the Beautiful.” Finally, Chief Justice John Roberts swore in Biden, his wife holding their five-inch thick family bible. Millions of Americans took a collective sigh of relief.
The theme of the president’s address was unity.
He said, “I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days, I know the forces that divide are deep and they are real,” but, he added, “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.”
Many Democrats have expressed skepticism about Biden’s message of unity which has seemed particularly threadbare in light of the insurrection at the Capitol just two weeks before the inauguration.
However, the president managed to avoid sounding naive. As he called for unity he also laid out a group of priorities he intends to take up immediately, ones that are controversial among his political adversaries: racial inequity, immigration, climate crisis, joblessness, a struggling economy, and of course the scourge of coronavirus.
He framed these plans in terms of unity saying, “Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path…To all those who did not support us, let me say this. Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart. If you still disagree, so be it. That’s democracy. That’s America.”
President Biden spent the rest of his first day signing 17 executive orders, memorandums, and proclamations. These include halting efforts to build a border wall, returning the US to the Paris climate accord, undoing Trump’s Muslim ban, rejoining the World Health Organization, and giving directives to agencies to get his coronavirus plan underway.
In the words of 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, the youngest person to serve as inaugural poet, from her poem “The Hill we Climb,” “…while democracy can be temporarily delayed/it cannot be permanently defeated.”