president's speech

Watch CBS News

Watch: Kamala Harris' full speech at the 2024 DNC

By Melissa Quinn , Caitlin Yilek

Updated on: August 23, 2024 / 11:19 AM EDT / CBS News

Vice President Kamala Harris made history as the first woman of color to accept the presidential nomination of a major party on Thursday when she delivered a speech closing out the 2024 Democratic National Convention . 

Harris, who replaced President Biden at the top of the ticket just a few weeks ago, delivered a forceful address to delegates in Chicago laying out her argument for the White House. She began by reintroducing herself to the country and reciting her biography before tying her story into her vision for the country and warning about the dangers of returning former President Donald Trump to the presidency.

"With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a new way forward," she said. "Not as members of any one party or faction. But as Americans."

Read the full transcript of Harris' speech as delivered, and watch the speech  in the player above:

Good evening. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Thank you all. We've got to get to some business. Thank you, thank you, thank you. OK, let's get to business. Let me start by thanking my most incredible husband, Doug, for being an incredible partner to me and being an incredible father to Cole and Ella. And happy anniversary, Dougie. I love you so very much. To our president, Joe Biden — when I think about the path that we have traveled together, Joe, I am filled with gratitude. Your record is extraordinary, as history will show, and your character is inspiring. And Doug and I love you and Jill and are forever thankful to you both.  And to Coach Tim Walz, you are going to be an incredible vice president. And to the delegates and everyone who has put your faith in our campaign, your support is humbling. So, America, the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected. But I'm no stranger to unlikely journeys.  My mother, our mother, Shyamala Harris, had one of her own, and I miss her every day, and especially right now. And I know she's looking down smiling. I know that. So my mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone, traveling from India to California with an unshakeable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer. When she finished school, she was supposed to return home to a traditional arranged marriage. But, as fate would have it, she met my father, Donald Harris, a student from Jamaica. They fell in love. And got married. And that act of self-determination made my sister Maya and me. Growing up, we moved a lot. I will always remember that big Mayflower truck, packed with all our belongings, ready to go. To Illinois. To Wisconsin. And wherever our parents' jobs took us. My early memories of my parents together are joyful ones. A home filled with laughter and music. Aretha. Coltrane. And Miles. At the park, my mother would say, "Stay close." But my father would say, as he smiled, "Run, Kamala. Run. Don't be afraid. Don't let anything stop you." From my earliest years, he taught me to be fearless. But the harmony between my parents did not last. When I was in elementary school, they split up. And it was mostly my mother who raised us. Before she could finally afford to buy a home, she rented a small apartment in the East Bay. In the Bay, you either live in the hills or the flatlands. We lived in the flats. A beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers. All who tended their lawns with pride. My mother, she worked long hours. And, like many working parents, she leaned on a trusted circle to help raise us. Mrs. Shelton, who ran the daycare below us and became a second mother. Uncle Sherman. Aunt Mary. Uncle Freddy. Auntie Chris. None of them family by blood. And all of them family by love. Family who taught us how to make gumbo. How to play chess. And sometimes even let us win. Family who loved us. Believed in us. And told us we could be anything and do anything. They instilled in us the values they personified. Community. Faith. And the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated. With kindness, respect and compassion. My mother, was a brilliant, five-foot-tall brown woman with an accent. And, as the eldest child, I saw how the world would sometimes treat her. But my mother never lost her cool. She was tough. Courageous. A trailblazer in the fight for women's health. And she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle mentioned the other night. She taught us to never complain about injustice. But do something about it. Do something about it. That was my mother. She also taught us, "And never do anything half-assed." And that is a direct quote. A direct quote. I grew up immersed in the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement. My parents had met at a civil rights gathering. And they made sure that we learned about civil rights leaders, including the lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley. Those who battled in the courtroom to make real the promise of America. So, at a young age, I decided I wanted to do that work. I wanted to be a lawyer. And when it came time to choose the type of law I would pursue, I reflected on a pivotal moment in my life. You see, when I was in high school, I started to notice something about my best friend Wanda. She was sad at school. And there were times she didn't want to go home. So, one day, I asked if everything was alright. And she confided in me that she was being sexually abused by her step-father. And I immediately told her she had to come stay with us. And she did. That is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor. To protect people like Wanda. Because I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity and to justice. As a prosecutor, when I had a case, I charged it not in the name of the victim. But in the name of "the people." For a simple reason. In our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. I would often explain this to console survivors of crime. To remind them: No one should be made to fight alone. We are all in this together. And every day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words: "Kamala Harris, for the people." And to be clear: My entire career, I have only had one client. The people. And so, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks. On behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey. On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with. People who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth. I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America. And with this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a new way forward. Not as members of any one party or faction. But as Americans. And let me say, I know there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self. To hold sacred America's fundamental principles. From the rule of law, to free and fair elections, to the peaceful transfer of power. I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads. And listens. Who is realistic, practical and has common sense. And always fights for the American people. From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life's work. As a young courtroom prosecutor in Oakland, California, I stood up for women and children against predators who abused them. As attorney general of California, I took on the big banks. Delivered $20 billion for middle-class families who faced foreclosure. And helped pass a homeowner Bill of Rights, one of the first of its kind. I stood up for veterans and students being scammed by big for-profit colleges. For workers who were being cheated out of their wages, the wages they were due. For seniors facing elder abuse. I fought against cartels who traffic in guns, drugs and human beings. Who threaten the security of our border and the safety of our communities. And I will tell you, these fights were not easy. And neither were the elections that put me in those offices. We were underestimated at practically every turn. But we never gave up. Because the future is always worth fighting for. And that's the fight we are in right now. A fight for America's future. Fellow Americans, this election is not only the most important of our lives. It is one of the most important in the life of our nation. In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. Consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office, but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election. Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers. When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help, he did the opposite. He fanned the flames. And now, for an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday Americans. And separately, found liable for committing sexual abuse. And consider what he intends to do if we give him power again. Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol. His explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents and anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active-duty military against our own citizens. Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails. And how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life. Not to strengthen our national security. But to serve the only client he has ever had: Himself. And we know what a second Trump term would look like. It's all laid out in Project 2025. Written by his closest advisers. And its sum total is to pull our country back into the past. But America, we are not going back. We are not going back. We are not going back. We are not going back to when Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare. We are not going back to when he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. When insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing conditions. We are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our public schools. We are not going to let him end programs like Head Start that provide preschool and child care for our children. America, we are not going back. We are charting a new way forward.  Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class. Because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America's success. And building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. And I'll tell you, this is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from. My mother kept a strict budget. We lived within our means. Yet, we wanted for little. And she expected us to make the most of the opportunities that were available to us. And to be grateful for them. Because opportunity is not available to everyone. That's why we will create what I call an opportunity economy. An opportunity economy where everyone has a chance to compete and a chance to succeed. Whether you live in a rural area, small town or big city. And as president, I will bring together labor and workers, and small business owners, and entrepreneurs, and American companies. To create jobs. To grow our economy. And lower the cost of everyday needs. Like health care. Housing. And groceries. We will provide access to capital for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders. And we will end America's housing shortage, and protect Social Security and Medicare. Now compare that to Donald Trump. Because I think everyone here knows, He doesn't actually fight for the middle class. Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends. And he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add up to $5 trillion to the national debt. And all the while he intends to enact what, in effect, is a national sales tax — call it a Trump tax — that would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year. Well, instead of a Trump tax hike, we will pass a middle class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans. Friends, I believe America cannot truly be prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives. Especially on matters of heart and home. But tonight, too many women in America are not able to make those decisions.  And let's be clear about how we got here. Donald Trump hand-picked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom. And now he brags about it. His words: "I did it, and I'm proud to have done it." Well, I'll tell you, over the past two years, I have traveled across our country, and women have told me their stories. Husbands and fathers have shared theirs. Stories of women miscarrying in a parking lot. Developing sepsis. Losing the ability to ever again have children, all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients. Couples just trying to grow their family, cut off in the middle of IVF treatments. Children who have survived sexual assault, potentially forced to carry a pregnancy to term. This is what is happening in our country. Because of Donald Trump. And understand he is not done. As a part of his agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion and enact a nationwide abortion ban with or without Congress. And get this, he plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator, and force states to report on women's miscarriages and abortions. Simply put, they are out of their minds. And one must ask: Why exactly is it that they don't trust women? Well, we trust women. We trust women. And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. In this election, many other fundamental freedoms are at stake. The freedom to live safe from gun violence in our schools, communities and places of worship. The freedom to love who you love openly and with pride. The freedom to breathe clean air, and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis. And the freedom that unlocks all the others: the freedom to vote. With this election, we finally have the opportunity to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. And let me be clear. And let me be clear. After decades in law enforcement, I know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border. Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The Border Patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign. So he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security. And here is my pledge to you: As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law. I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border. And America, we must also be steadfast in advancing our security and values abroad. As vice president, I have confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances and engaged with our brave troops overseas. As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. And I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families. And I will always honor, and never disparage, their service and their sacrifice. I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence. That America — not China — wins the competition for the 21st century. And that we strengthen — not abdicate — our global leadership. Trump, on the other hand, threatened to abandon NATO. He encouraged Putin to invade our allies. Said Russia could "do whatever the hell they want." Five days before Russia attacked Ukraine, I met with President Zelenskyy to warn him about Russia's plan to invade. I helped mobilize a global response — over 50 countries — to defend against Putin's aggression. And as president, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies. With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a cease-fire done. And let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7. Including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival. At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination. And know this: I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists. I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un, who are rooting for Trump. Who are rooting for Trump Because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself. And as president, I will never waver in defense of America's security and ideals, because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand, and I know where the United States of America belongs. So fellow Americans, I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go — in everyone I meet — I see a nation that is ready to move forward. Ready for the next step, in the incredible journey that is America. I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation and inspired the world. That here, in this country, anything is possible. That nothing is out of reach. An America where we care for one another, look out for one another, and recognize that we have so much more in common than what separates us. That none of us has to fail for all of us to succeed. And that, in unity, there is strength.  Our opponents in this race are out there, every day, denigrating America. Talking about how terrible everything is. Well, my mother had another lesson she used to teach. Never let anyone tell you who you are. You show them who you are. America, let us show each other — and the world — who we are. And what we stand for. Freedom. Opportunity. Compassion. Dignity. Fairness. And endless possibilities. We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world. And on behalf of our children and our grandchildren, and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment. It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done. Guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love. To fight for the ideals we cherish. And to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth: the privilege and pride of being an American. So, let's get out there. Let's fight for it. Let's get out there. Let's vote for it. And together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told. Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

• Kamala Harris
• Democratic Party
• Democratic National Convention
• 2024 Elections

Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com. She has written for outlets including the Washington Examiner, Daily Signal and Alexandria Times. Melissa covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.

More from CBS News

Harris details Biden's phone call about decision to exit 2024 race

Tim Walz says he's "proud" of son Gus, who lives with neurodivergence

9/11 victims' families call on Harris and Trump to oppose U.S.-Saudi deal

Harris addresses policy shifts in CNN interview, her first as Democratic nominee

Full transcript: President Joe Biden delivers speech to joint session of Congress

The president spoke to a limited crowd due to the pandemic.

President Joe Biden delivered his first speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, just one day prior to 100 days in office.

The setting was very different from a typical address, though. Due to the pandemic, tickets were limited and social distancing rules were in place.

But the message from Biden was one of progress and a return to normalcy from more than a year under limitations.

The transcript of Biden's speech was as follows:

It's good to be back. As Mitch [McConnell] and Chuck [Schumer] will understand, it is good to be almost home, down the hall.

Anyway, thank you all. Madam speaker, madam vice president. No president has ever said those words from this podium. No president has ever said those words, and it's about time.

The first lady. I'm her husband. Second gentleman, chief justice, members of the United States Congress and the Cabinet, distinguished guests, my fellow Americans: while the setting tonight is familiar, this gathering is just a little bit different, a reminder of the extraordinary times we're in.

Throughout our history, presidents have come to this chamber to speak to Congress, to the nation, and to the world to declare war, to celebrate peace, to announce new plans and possibilities. Tonight, I come to talk about crisis and opportunity. About rebuilding a nation, revitalizing our democracy and winning the future for America.

I stand here tonight one day shy of the 100th day of my administration. One hundred days since I took the oath of office and lifted my hand off our family Bible and inherited a nation, we all did, that was in crisis. The worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.

Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation America is on the move again.

Turning peril into possibility, crisis to opportunity, setbacks into strength. We all know life can knock us down, but in America, we never, ever, ever stay down. Americans always get up. Today, that's what we're doing. America is rising anew, choosing hope over fear, truth over lies, and light over darkness.

After 100 days of rescue and renewal, America is ready for a take-off, in my view. We're working again, dreaming again, discovering again, and leading the world again. We have shown each other and the world that there is no quit in America, none. 100 days ago, America's House was on fire. We had to act. And thanks to the extraordinary leadership of Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi, Majority Leader Schumer, and the overwhelming support of the American people, Democrats, independents and Republicans, we did act.

Together, we passed the American Rescue Plan, one of the most consequential rescue packages in American history. We're already seeing the results.

MORE: In 1st, two women will sit behind a president for a speech to Congress

We're already seeing the results. After I promised we'd get 100 million COVID-19 vaccine shots into people's arms in 100 days, we will have provided over 220 million COVID shots in those 100 days. Thanks to all the help of all of you. We're marshaling, with your help, everyone's help, we're marshaling every federal resource.

We have gotten vaccines to nearly 40,000 pharmacies and over 700 community health centers where the poorest of the poor can be reached. We're setting up community vaccination sites, developing mobile units to get to hard-to-reach communities. Today, 90% of Americans now live within five miles of a vaccination site. Everyone over the age of 16, everyone, is now eligible to get vaccinated right now, right away. [applause]

Go get vaccinated, America. Go and get the vaccination. They're available. You're eligible now. When I was sworn in on Jan. 20, less than 1% of the seniors in America were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. One hundred days later, 70% of seniors in America over 65 are protected, fully protected. Senior deaths from COVID-19 are down 80% since January, down 80% because of all of you.

And more than half of all the adults in America have gotten at least one shot. A mass vaccination center in Glendale, Arizona, I asked the nurse, I said, "What's it like?" She looked at me, and she said, "It's like every shot is giving a dose of hope." That was her phrase, "a dose of hope."

A dose of hope for an educator in Florida who has a child suffering from an autoimmune disease wrote to me, said she's worried -- that she was worried about bringing the virus home. She said she then got vaccinated at a -- at a large site in her car. She said she sat in her car when she got vaccinated and just cried, cried out of joy and cried out of relief.

Parents seeing the smiles on their kids faces for those who are able to go back to school because the teachers and school bus drivers and cafeteria workers have been vaccinated.

Grandparents hugging their children and grandchildren instead of pressing hands against the window to say good-bye. It means everything. Those things mean everything. You know, they're still -- you all know it, you know it better than any group of Americans. There is still more work to do to beat this virus. We can't let our guard down.

But tonight, I can say because of you -- the American people -- our progress these past 100 days against one of the worst pandemics in history has been one of the greatest logistical achievements -- logistical achievements this country has ever seen. What else have we done those first 100 days?

We kept our commitment, Democrats and Republicans, of sending $1,400 rescue checks to 85% of American households. We've already sent more than 160 million checks out the door. It's making a difference. You all know it, when you go home. For many people, it's making all the difference in the world.

A single mom in Texas who wrote me, she said she couldn't work. But she said the relief check put food on the table and saved her and her son from eviction from their apartment. A grandmother in Virginia who told me she immediately took her granddaughter to the eye doctor -- something she said she put off for months because she didn't have the money. One of the defining images, at least from my perspective in this this crisis has been cars lined up -- cars lined up for miles.

MORE: Biden’s First 100 Days Show How Partisan Things Have Become: FiveThirtyEight

And not -- not people who just barely ever start those cars. Nice cars. Lined up for miles. Waiting for a box of food to be put in their trunk. I don't know about you, but I didn't ever think I'd see that in America?

That's why the rescue plan is delivering food and nutrition assistance to millions of Americans facing hunger -- and hunger is down sharply already. We're also providing rental assistance, you all know this but the American people, I want to make sure they understand -- keeping people from being evicted from their homes, providing loans to small businesses to reopen and keep their employees on the job.

During these 100 days, an additional 800,000 Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act when I established a special sign-up period to do that -- 800,000 in that period. We're making one of the largest one-time ever investments, ever, in improving health care for veterans. Critical investments to address the opioid crisis. And maybe most importantly, thanks to the American Rescue Plan, we're on track to put child poverty in America in half this year.

And in the process, while this is all going on, the economy created more than 1,300,000 new jobs in 100 days. More jobs than the first 100 days than any president on record.

The International Monetary Fund is now estimating our economy will grow at a rate of more than 6% this year. That will be the fastest pace of economic growth in this country in nearly four decades.

America is moving, moving forward. But we can't stop now. We're in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st century. We're at a great inflection point in history. We have to do more than just build back better -- to build back -- we have to build back better, we have to compete more strenuously than we have.

Throughout our history, if you think about it, public investment in infrastructure has literally transformed America. Our attitudes as well as our opportunities. The transcontinental railroad, the interstate highways, united two oceans and brought a totally new age of progress to the United States of America.

Universal public schools and college aid opened wide the doors of opportunity. Scientific breakthroughs took us to the moon. Now we're on Mars, discovering vaccines, gave us the internet and so much more.

These are investments we made together, as one country, and investments that only the government was in a position to make. Time and again, they propel us into the future. That's why I propose the American Jobs Plan, a once-in-a-generation investment in America itself. This is the largest jobs plan since World War II. It creates jobs to upgrade our transportation infrastructure, jobs modernizing our roads, bridges, highways.

Jobs building ports and airports, rail corridors, transit lines. It's clean water. And today, up to 10 million homes in America and more than 400,000 schools and child care centers have pipes with lead in them, including drinking water -- a clear and present danger to our children's health. The American Jobs Plan creates jobs replacing 100% of the nation's lead pipes and service lines so every American can drink clean water.

In the process, we'll create thousands and thousands of good paying jobs. It creates jobs connecting every American with high-speed internet, including 35% of the rural America that still doesn't have it. This is going to help our kids and our businesses succeed in the 21st-century economy. And I'm asking the vice president to lead this effort, if she would, because I know it will get done.

It creates jobs building a modern power grid. Our grids are vulnerable to storms, hacks, catastrophic failures with tragic results, as we saw in Texas and elsewhere during the winter storms. The American Jobs Plan will create jobs that will lay thousands of miles of transmission lines needed to build a resilient and fully clean grid. We can do that.

Look, the American Jobs Plan will help millions of people get back to their jobs and back to their careers. Two million women have dropped out of the workforce during this pandemic -- 2 million. And too often because they couldn't get the care they needed to care for their child or care for an elderly parent who needs help.

Eight-hundred thousand families are on the Medicare waiting list right now to get home care for their aging parent or loved one with disability. If you think it's not important, check out in your own district, Democrat or Republican. Democrat or Republican voters, their great concern -- almost as much as their children, is taking care of an elderly loved one who can't be left alone.

Medicaid contemplated it, but this plan is going to help those families and create jobs for our caregivers with better wages and better benefits, continuing a cycle of growth.

For too long, we failed to use the most important word when it comes to meeting the climate crisis: jobs, jobs, jobs.

For me, when I think climate change, I think jobs. The American Jobs Plan will put engineers and construction workers to work building more energy efficient buildings and homes. Electrical workers, IBEW members installing 500,000 charges stations along our highways so we can own the electric car market. Farmers planting cover crops so they can reduce the carbon dioxide in the air and get paid for doing it.

Look, think about it. There is simply no reason why the blades for wind turbines can't be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing. No reason, none. No reason. So, folks, there is no reason why American workers can't lead the world in the production of electric vehicles and batteries. I mean, there is no reason. We have this capacity. We have the brightest, best trained people in the world.

The American Jobs Plan is going to create millions of good paying jobs, jobs Americans can raise a family on -- as my dad would then say -- "with a little breathing room." And all the investments in the American Job Plan will be guided by one principle: Buy American. Buy American. And I might note parenthetically, that does not violate any trade agreement. It's been the law since the '30s: Buy American. American tax dollars are going to be used to buy American products made in America to create American jobs. That's the way it is supposed to be, and it will be in this administration.

And I made it clear to all my cabinet people. Their ability to give exemptions has been strenuously limited. It will be American products. Now, I know some of you at home are wondering whether these jobs are for you. So many of you, so many of the folks I grew up with feel left behind, forgotten in an economy that's so rapidly changing it's frightening.

I want to speak directly to you, because you think about it. That's what people are most worried about: Can I fit in? Independent experts estimate the American Jobs Plan will add millions of jobs and trillions of dollars to economic growth in the years to come. It is a -- it is an eight-year program. These are good-paying jobs that can't be outsourced. Nearly 90% of the infrastructure jobs created in the American Jobs Plan do not require a college degree. Seventy-five percent don't require an associate's degree.

The American Jobs Plan is a blue collar blueprint to build America. That's what it is. And it recognizes something I’ve always said, in this chamber and the other. Good guys and women on Wall Street, but Wall Street didn't build this country. The middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class.

So that's why I'm calling on Congress to pass Protect the Right to Organize Act, the PRO Act and send it to my desk so we can support the right to unionize.

And by the way, while you’re thinking about sending things to my desk, let's raise the minimum wage to $15. No one -- no one working 40 hours a week, no one working 40 hours a week should live below the poverty line.

We need to ensure greater equity and opportunity for women. And while we're doing this, let's get the Paycheck Fairness Act to my desk as well. Equal pay. It's been much too long.

And if you wonder whether it’s too long, look behind you.

And finally, the American Jobs Plan will be the biggest increase in non-defense research and development on record. We'll see more technological change, and some of you know more about this than I do. We'll see more technological change in the next 10 years than we saw in the last 50. That's how rapidly artificial intelligence and so much more is changing.

And we're falling behind the competition with the rest of the world. Decades ago, we used to invest 2% of our gross domestic product in America, 2% of our gross domestic product in research and development. Today, Mr. Secretary, that's less than 1%. China and other countries are closing in fast. We have to develop and dominate the products and technologies of the future, the advanced batteries, biotechnology, computer chips, clean energy.

The secretary of defense can tell you, and those of you who work on national security issues know, the defense department has an agency called DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. The people who set up before I came here, and that's been a long time ago, to develop break-throughs that enhance our national security. That's their only job.

And it’s a semi-separate agency. It’s under the Defense Department. It's led to everything from the discovery of the internet to GPS and so much more. It's enhanced our security. The National Institutes of Health, the NIH, I believe, should create a similar advanced research project agency for health.

And here’s what it would do. It would have a singular purpose: to develop breakthroughs to prevent, detect and treat diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer. I’ll still never forget when we passed the cancer proposal in the last year I was vice president, almost $9 million going to NIH.

And if you excuse the point of personal privilege, I’ll never forget you standing, Mitch, and saying, name it after my deceased son. It meant a lot. But so many of us have deceased sons, daughters, and relatives who died of cancer. I can think of no more worthy investment.

I know of nothing that is more bipartisan, so let's end cancer as we know it. It is within our power. It's within our power to do it.

Investments in jobs and infrastructure like the ones we’re talking about have often had bipartisan support in the past. Vice President Harris and I met regularly in the Oval Office with Democrats and Republicans to discuss the jobs plan. And I applaud a group of Republican senators who just put forward their own proposal. So let's get to work. I wanted to lay out before the Congress my plan before we got into the deep discussions.

I like to meet with those who have ideas that are different, that they think are better. I welcome those ideas. But the rest of the world is not waiting for us. I just want to be clear, from my perspective, doing nothing is not an option.

Look, we can't be so busy competing with one another that we forget the competition that we have with the rest of the world to win the 21st century. As Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken can tell you, I spent a lot of time with [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping], traveled over 17,000 miles with him, spent over 24 hours in private discussions with him. When he called to congratulate me, we had a two-hour discussion.

He's deadly earnest about becoming the most significant, consequential nation in the world. He and others, autocrats, think that democracy can't compete in the 21st century with autocracies because it takes too long to get consensus. To win that competition for the future, in my view, we also need to make a once-in-a-generation investment in our families and our children.

That's why I’ve introduced the American Families Plan tonight, which addresses four of the biggest challenges facing American families and, in turn, America. First is access to good education. When this nation made 12 years of public education universal in the last century, it made us the best educated, best prepared nation in the world. It's, I believe, the overwhelming reason that propelled us to where we got in the 20th century. But the world has caught up or catching up. They're not waiting.

I would say parenthetically, if we were sitting down, we put a bipartisan committee together said, okay, we're going to decide what we do in terms of government providing for free education. I wonder whether we'd think, as we did in the 20th century, that 12 years is enough in the 21st century. I doubt it. Twelve years is no longer enough today to compete with the rest of the world in the 21st century.

That’s why the American Families Plan guarantees four additional years of public education for every person in America -- starting as early as we can.

We add two years of universal high-quality preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old, no matter what background they come from, puts them in a position to be able to compete all the way through 12 years and increases exponentially their prospect of graduating and going on beyond graduation.

Research shows when a young child goes to school, not day care, they're far more likely to graduate from high school and go to college, or something after high school. When you add two years of free community college on top of that, you begin to change the dynamic. We can do that.

And we’ll increase Pell grants and invest in historical Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, minority-serving institutions. The reason is they don't have the endowments, but their students are just as capable of learning about cyber security, just as capable of learning about metallurgy, all the things that are going on that provide those jobs of the future. Jill is a community college professor who teaches today, as first lady.

She's long said -- if I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: “Joe, any country that out educates us is going to outcompete us.” She will be deeply involved in leading this effort. Thank you, Jill. Second thing we need, American Families Plan will provide access to quality, affordable child care.

What I'm proposing in the legislation -- we guarantee that low and middle income families will pay no more than 7% of their income for high quality care for children up to the age of 5. The most hard-pressed working families won't have to spend a dime. Third, the American Families Plan will finally provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave and medical leave, family medical leave.

No one should have to choose between a job and a paycheck or taking care of themselves and their loved ones or parent or spouse or child. And, fourth, the American Family Plan puts directly into the pockets of millions of Americans. In March, we expanded the tax credit for every child in a family, up to $3,000 per child if they're over 6 years of age.

And $3,600 for children over 6 years of age. With two parents, two kids, that's $7,200 in the pockets that are going to help take care of your family. And that will help more than 65 million children and help cut child care poverty in half.

And we can afford it. So we did that in the -- in the last piece of legislation we passed. But let's extend that child care tax credit at least through the end of 2025. The American Rescue Plan lowered health care premiums for 9 million Americans who buy their coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

I know that’s really popular on this side of the aisle. [laughter] But, let's make that provision permanent so their premiums don't go back up.

In addition to my families plan, I’m going to work with Congress to address this year other critical priorities for American families. The Affordable Care Act has been a lifeline for millions of Americans protecting people with preexisting conditions, protecting women's health. And the pandemic has demonstrated how badly, how badly it's needed. Let's lower deductibles for working families on the Affordable -- in the Affordable Care Act. And let's lower prescription drug costs.

We know how to do this. The last president had that as an objective. We all know how outrageously expensive drugs are in America. In fact, we pay the highest prescription drug prices of anywhere in the world, right here in America. Nearly three times for the same drug, nearly three times what other countries pay.

We have to change that. And we can. Let's do what we talked about for all the years I was down here in this body, in Congress. Let's give Medicare the power to save hundreds of billions of dollars by negotiating lower drug prescription prices.

And by the way, it won’t just -- it won’t just help people on Medicare. It’ll lower prescription drug costs for everyone. And the money we save, which is billions of dollars, can go to strengthening the Affordable Care Act and expand Medicare benefits without costing taxpayers an additional penny. It is within our power to do it. Let's do it now.

We’ve talked about it long enough, Democrats and Republicans. Let's get it done this year. This is all about a simple premise: Health care should be a right, not a privilege in America.

So, how do we pay for my jobs and family plan? I made it clear, we can do without increasing the deficit. Let's start with what I will not do. I will not impose any tax increase on people making less than $400,000. But it is time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans to just begin to pay their fair share. Just their fair share.

Sometimes I have arguments with my friends in the Democratic party. I think you should be able to become a billionaire and a millionaire, but pay your fair share. A recent study shows that 55 of the nation's biggest corporations paid zero federal tax last year. Those 55 corporations made in excess of $40 billion in profit.

A lot of companies also evaded taxes through tax havens in Switzerland and Bermuda and the Cayman islands. And they benefit from tax loopholes and deductions, for offshoring jobs and shifting profits overseas. It's not right. We’re going to reform corporate taxes so they pay their fair share and help pay for the public investments their businesses will benefit from as well.

We're going to reward work, not just wealth. We take the top tax bracket for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, those making over $400,000 or more, back up to where it was when George W. Bush was president, when he started, 39.6%.

That's where it was when George W. was president. We're going to get rid of the loopholes allowing Americans to make more than a million dollars a year and pay a lower tax rate on their capital gains on Americans who receive a paycheck. We're only going to affect three-tenths of 1% of all Americans by that action. Three-tenths of 1%.

And the IRS is going to crack down on millionaires and billionaires who cheat on their taxes. It’s estimated to be billions of dollars by think tanks that are left, right, and center. I'm not looking to punish anybody. But I will not add a tax burden, additional tax burden to the middle class in this country. They're already paying enough.

I believe what I propose is fair. Fiscally responsible. And it raises revenue to pay for the plans I propose and it will create millions of jobs that will grow the economy and enhance our financial standing in the country. When you hear someone say they don't want to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% or corporate America, ask them, whose taxes do you want to raise? Instead, whose are we going to cut?

Look, the big tax cut of 2017, you remember it was supposed to pay for itself. That was how it was sold. And generate vast economic growth. Instead, it added $2 trillion to the deficit. It was a huge windfall for corporate America and those at the very top.

Instead of using the tax saving to raise wages and invest in research and development, it poured billions of dollars into the pockets of CEOs. In fact, the pay gap between CEOs and their workers is now among the largest in history. According to one study, CEOs make 320 times what the average worker in their corporation makes, it used to be in the -- below 100. The pandemic has only made things worse. 20 million Americans lost their job in the pandemic, working and middle class Americans.

At the same time, roughly 650 billionaires in America saw their net worth increase by more than $1 trillion, in the same exact period. Let me say that again: 650 people increased their wealth by more than $1 trillion during this pandemic. And they're now worth more than $4 trillion.

My fellow Americans, trickle down -- trickle down economics has never worked, and it’s time to grow the economy from the bottom and the middle out.

You know, there is a broad consensus of economists left, right, and center, and they agree what I'm proposing will help create millions of jobs and generate historic economic growth. These are among the highest value investments we can make as a nation. I have often said, our greatest strength is the power of our example, not just the example of our power.

My conversations with world leaders, and I’ve spoken to over 38 -- 40 of them now. I have made it known. I have made it known that America is back. And you know what they say? The comment that I hear most of all from them? So they say, “We see America is back. But for how long? But for how long?”

My fellow Americans, we have to show not just that we're back, but that we're back to stay and that we aren't going to go alone.

We're going to do it by leading with our allies. No one nation can deal with all the crises of our time, from terrorism to nuclear proliferation, mass migration, cybersecurity, climate change as well as experiencing -- what we're experiencing now with pandemics.

There’s no wall high enough to keep any virus away. As our own vaccine supply grows to meet our needs -- and we are meeting them -- we will become an arsenal of vaccines for other countries -- just as America was the arsenal of democracy in World War II.

The climate crisis is not our fight alone, either. It’s a global fight. The United States accounts, as all of you know, for less than 15% of carbon emissions. The rest of the world accounts for 85%.

That’s why I kept my commitment to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement on my first day in office.

And I kept my commitment to convene a climate summit right here in America, with all of the major economies of the world -- from China and Russia to India and the European Union. And I said I would do it in my first 100 days. And I want to be very blunt about it.

My attempt was to make sure that the world could see there was a consensus, that we are at an inflection point in history. The consensus is if we act to save the planet, we can create millions of jobs and economic growth and opportunity to raise the standard of living of almost everyone around the world. If you watched any of it, and you were all busy, I’m sure you didn’t have much time, that's what virtually every nation said, even the ones that aren't doing their fair share.

The investments I propose tonight also advance the foreign policy, in my view, that benefits the middle class. That means making sure every nation plays by the same rules in the global economy, including China. My discussions -- in my discussions with President Xi, I told him, we welcome the competition. We're not looking for conflict.

But I made absolutely clear that we will defend America's interest across the board. America will stand up to unfair trade practices that undercut American workers and American industries like subsidies from state to state owned operations and enterprises and the theft of American technology and intellectual property.

I also told President Xi that we’ll maintain a strong military presence in the Indo-Pacific, just as we do with NATO and Europe. Not to start a conflict, but to prevent one.

I told him what I said to many world leaders, that America will not back away from our commitments, our commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to our alliances. And I pointed out to him, no responsible American President could remain silent when basic human rights are being so blatantly violated. An American President -- President has to represent the essence of what our country stands for.

America is an idea, the most unique idea in history: we are created, all of us, equal. It's who we are, and we cannot walk away from that principle. And, in fact, say “we're dealing with the American idea.”

With regard to Russia, I know it concerns some of you, but I made very clear to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that we're not going to seek escalation, but their actions will have consequence if they turn out to be true. And they turned out to be true, so I responded directly and proportionately to Russia's interference on our elections, and the cyberattacks on our government and our business.

They did both of these things, and I told them we would respond and we have. But we can also cooperate when it’s in our mutual interest. We did it when we extended the New START Treaty on nuclear arms, and we're working to do it on climate change. But he understands we will respond.

On Iran and North Korea, nuclear programs that present serious threats to American security and the security of the world, we're going to be working closely with our allies to address the threats posed by both of these countries through diplomacy as well as stern deterrence. And American leadership means ending the forever war in Afghanistan.

We have, without hyperbole, the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. I’m the first president in 40 years who knows what it means to have a son serving in a war zone. Today, we have service members serving in the same war zone as their parents did. We have service members in Afghanistan who were not yet born on 9/11.

The war in Afghanistan, as we remember the debates here, were never meant to be multi-generational undertakings of nation building. We went to Afghanistan to get terrorists -- the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. And we said we would follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell to do it. If you’ve been in the upper Kunar Valley, you’ve kind of seen the gates of hell.

And we delivered justice to Bin Laden. We degraded the terrorist threat of al-Qaida and Afghanistan. And after 20 years of value, valor, and sacrifice, it’s time to bring those troops home.

Even as we do, we’ll maintain over the horizon capacity to suppress future threats to the homeland. And make no mistake, in 20 years, terrorism has metastasized. The threat has evolved way beyond Afghanistan. Those of you in the intelligence committees, the foreign relation community, defense communities, you know well. We have to remain vigilant against the threats to the United States wherever they come from. Al-Qaida and ISIS are in Yemen, Syria, Somalia, other places in Africa, in the Middle East and beyond.

And we won't ignore what our intelligence agency has determined to be the most lethal terrorist threat to the homeland today: white supremacy's terrorism.

We're not going to ignore that either. My fellow Americans, look, we have to come together to heal the soul of this nation. It was nearly a year ago, before her father's funeral, when I spoke with Gianna Floyd, George Floyd’s young daughter. She's a little tyke, so I was kneeling down to talk to her so I could look her in the eye. She looked at me, she said, “My daddy changed the world.”

Well, after the conviction of George Floyd's murderer, we can see how right she was if, if we have the courage to act as a Congress. We have all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of Black Americans. Now is our opportunity to make some real progress. The vast majority of men and women wearing the uniform and a badge serve our communities and they serve them honorably.

I know them. I know they want to help meet this moment as well. My fellow Americans, we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system and to enact police reform in George Floyd's name that passed the House already. I know Republicans have their own ideas, and are engaged in a very productive discussion with Democrats in the Senate. We need to work together to find a consensus, but let's get it done next month by the first anniversary of George Floyd's death.

The country supports this reform, and Congress should act -- should act. We have a giant opportunity to bend the ark of the moral universe towards justice, real justice. And with the plans outlined tonight, we have a real chance to root out systemic racism that plagues America and American lives in other ways.

A chance to deliver real equity, good jobs, good schools, affordable housing, clean air, clean water, being able to generate wealth and pass it down to generations because you have an access to purchase a house. Real opportunities in the lives of more Americans, Black, white, Latino, Asian Americans, Native Americans.

Look, I also want to thank the United States Senate for voting 94-1 to pass COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to protect Asian-American and Pacific Islanders. You acted decisively.

You can see on television the viciousness of the hate crimes we have seen over the past year and for too long. I urge the House to do the same and send that legislation to my desk, which I will gladly, anxiously sign. I also hope Congress will get to my desk the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ Americans.

To all transgender Americans watching at home, especially the young people, who are so brave, I want you to know your president has your back. Another thing: let's authorize the Violence Against Women Act, which has been law for 27 years. Twenty-seven years ago, I wrote it.

It will close -- the act that has to be authorized now, it will close the boyfriend loophole to keep guns out of the hands of abusers. The court order said “this is an abuser,” you can't own a gun. It’s to close that loophole that existed. You know, it’s estimated that 50 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner every month in America, 50 a month.

Let's pass it, and save some lives. And I need -- I need not tell anyone this but gun violence has become an epidemic in America. The flag at the White House was still flying at half mast for the eight victims of the mass shooting in Georgia when 10 more lives were taken in a mass shooting in Colorado.

And in the week in between those two events, 250 other Americans were shot dead in the streets of America. 250. Shot dead. I know how hard it is to make progress on this issue. In the 90s, we passed universal background checks, a ban on assault rifles and high capacity magazines that hold a hundred rounds that can be fired off in seconds. We beat the NRA. Mass shootings and gun violence declined.

Check out the report over ten years. But in the early 2000s, the law expired. We've seen daily bloodshed since. I'm not saying if the law continued we wouldn't see bloodshed. More than two weeks ago in the Rose Garden, surrounded by some of the bravest people I know, the survivors and families who lost loved ones to gun violence, I laid out several of the Department of Justice actions that are being to taken to impact in this epidemic.

One of them is banning so-called ghost guns. These are homemade guns built from a kit that includes directions on how to finish the firearm. The parts have no serial numbers. So they show up at crime scenes and they can't be traced. The buyers of these ghost gun kits aren't required to pass any background check.

Anyone, from a criminal or terrorist, could buy this kit and within 30 minutes have a weapon that's lethal, but no more. And I'll do everything in my power to protect the American people from this epidemic of gun violence, but it is time for Congress to act as well.

I don't want to become confrontational but we need more Senate Republicans to join the overwhelming majority of Democratic colleagues, and close the loopholes required in background checks purchases of guns. We need a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines. And don't tell me it can't be done. We did it before, and it worked.

Talk to most responsible gun owners and hunters, they'll tell you there is no possible justification for having a hundred rounds in a weapon. What do you think, deer are wearing kevlar vests? [laughter] They'll tell you that there are too many people today who are able to buy a gun but shouldn't be able to buy a gun.

These kinds of reasonable reforms have overwhelming support from the American people, including many gun owners. The country supports reform and this -- and Congress should act. This shouldn't be a red or blue issue, and no Amendment to the Constitution is absolute. You can't yell “fire” in a crowded theater. From the very beginning there were certain guns, weapons that could not be owned by Americans.

Certain people could not own those weapons ever. We're not changing the Constitution. We're being reasonable. I think this is not a Democrat or Republican issue. I think it's an American issue. And here's what else we can do. Immigration has always been essential to America. Let's end our exhausting war over immigration.

For more than 30 years, politicians have talked about immigration reform, and we've done nothing about it. It's time to fix it. On day one of my presidency, I kept my commitment to send a comprehensive immigration bill to the United States Congress. If you believe we need to secure the border, pass it, because it has a lot of money for high tech border security. If you believe in a pathway to citizenship, pass it. There’s over 11 million undocumented folks, the vast majority are here overstaying visas, pass it.

We can actually -- if you actually want to solve the problem, I've sent a bill to take a close look at it. We also have to get at the root problem of why people are fleeing ,particularly to our southern border of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The violence, the corruption, the gangs, the political instability, hunger, hurricanes, earthquakes, natural disasters. When I was president, my president -- when I was vice president, the president asked me to focus on providing help needed to address the root causes of migration.

And it helped keep people in their own countries instead of being forced to leave. The plan was working, but the last administration decided it was not worth it. I'm restoring the program, and I asked Vice President [Kamala] Harris to lead our diplomatic effort to take care of this. I have absolute confidence she'll get the job done.

Now look, if you don't like my plan, let's at least pass what we all agree on. Congress needs to pass legislation this year to finally secure protection for Dreamers. The young people who have only known America as their home. And permanent protection for immigrants who are here on temporary protective status who came from countries beset by man-made and natural made violence and disaster.

As well as a pathway to citizenship for foregn workers who put food on our tables. Look, immigrants have done so much for America during this pandemic and throughout our history. The country supports immigration reform. We should act. Let's argue over it. Let's debate it, but let's act. And if we truly restore -- want to restore the soul of America, we need to protect the sacred right to vote.

More people voted in the last Presidential election than any time in American history, in the middle of the worst pandemic ever. It should be celebrated. Instead, it's being attacked. Congress should pass HR-1, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and send it to my desk right away.

The country supports it, and Congress should act now. [applause, cont.] Look, in conclusion, as we gather here tonight, the images of a violent mob assaulting this Capitol, desecrating our democracy remain vivid in all our minds. Lives were put at risk, many of your lives. Lives were lost.

Extraordinary courage was summoned. The insurrection was an existential crisis, a test of whether our democracy could survive, and it did. But the struggle is far from over. The question of whether our democracy will long endure is both ancient and urgent, as old as our Republic, still vital today.

Can our democracy deliver on its promise that all of us created equal in the image of god have a chance to lead lives of dignity, respect, and possibility? Can our democracy deliver to the most pressing needs of our people? Can our democracy overcome the lies, anger, hate, and fears that have pulled us apart? America's adversaries, the autocrats of the world, are betting we can't. And I promise you they're betting we can't.

They believe we’re too full of anger and division and rage. They look at the images of the mob that assaulted the Capitol as proof that the sun is setting on American democracy. But they're wrong. You know it. I know it. But we have to prove them wrong. We have to prove democracy still works, that our government still works, and we can deliver for our people.

MORE: Congress prepares for 'strange' and 'extraordinary' presidential address

In our first 100 days together, we've acted to restore people's faith in democracy to deliver. We're vaccinating the nation, we're creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, we're delivering real results to people. They can see it, feel it in their own lives, opening doors of opportunity, guaranteeing some more fairness and justice. That’s the essence of America. That's democracy in action. Our Constitution opens with the words, as trite as it sounds, “we the people.”

Well, it's time to remember that we, the people, are the government. You and I. Not some force in a distant capital. Not some powerful force that we have no control over. It's us! It's we the people. In another era when our democracy was tested, Franklin Roosevelt reminded us, in America, we do our part, we all do our part. That's all I'm asking. That we do our part, all of us. If we do that, we will meet the center challenge of the age by proving that democracy is durable and strong.

Autocrats will not win the future, we will. America will. And the future belongs to America. As I stand here tonight before you in a new and vital hour of life and democracy of our nation, and I can say with absolute confidence, I have never been more confident or optimistic about America, not because I'm President. Because of what's happening with the American people.

We've stared into the abyss of insurrection and autocracy, pandemic and pain. And We, the people, did not flinch. At the very moment our adversaries were certain we'd pull apart and fail, we came together. We united. With light and hope, we summoned a new strength, new resolve to position us to win the competition of the 21st century.

On our way to a union more perfect, more prosperous, and more just as one people, one nation, and one America. Folks, as I told every world leader I ever met with over the years, it's never ever, ever been a good bet to bet against America and it still isn't.

We're the United States of America.

There is not a single thing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. We can do whatever we set our minds to if we do it together. So let's begin to get together. God bless you all, and may god protect our troops. Thank you for your patience.

Related Topics

• President Biden

Popular Reads

Woman found dead in her cubicle

• Aug 29, 7:16 PM

Stranded man was hiking for World Central Kitchen

• Aug 29, 11:51 AM

Arrest made in couple missing from nudist ranch

• Aug 30, 11:33 AM

Majority says Trump won't accept election: POLL

• Aug 30, 6:11 AM

Trump charged in Jan. 6 superseding indictment

• Aug 27, 6:25 PM

ABC News Live

24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

Help inform the discussion

• X (Twitter)

Presidential Speeches

January 20, 2021: inaugural address, about this speech.

January 20, 2021

Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021. In his Inaugural Address, he stressed the need for the country to come together in unity. Speaking to those who voted for him and to those who did not, Biden made the strong case that together the country could move forward to contain the coronavirus pandemic and improve the economy. His address was in stark contrast to President Donald Trump's Inaugural Address four years earlier. 

• Download Full Video
• Download Audio

Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans.

This is America’s day.

This is democracy’s day.

A day of history and hope.

Of renewal and resolve.

Through a crucible for the ages America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.

Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy.

The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.

We have learned again that democracy is precious.

Democracy is fragile.

And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.

So now, on this hallowed ground where just days ago violence sought to shake this Capitol’s very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.

We look ahead in our uniquely American way – restless, bold, optimistic – and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be.

I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here.

I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

You know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength of our nation.

As does President Carter, who I spoke to last night but who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service.

I have just taken the sacred oath each of these patriots took — an oath first sworn by George Washington.

But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us.

On “We the People” who seek a more perfect Union.

This is a great nation and we are a good people.

Over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go.

We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.

Much to repair.

Much to restore.

Much to heal.

Much to build.

And much to gain.

Few periods in our nation’s history have been more challenging or difficult than the one we’re in now.

A once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country.

It’s taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II.

Millions of jobs have been lost.

Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed.

A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.

A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear.

And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words.

It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy:

In another January in Washington, on New Year’s Day 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

When he put pen to paper, the President said, “If my name ever goes down into history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it.”

My whole soul is in it.

Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this:

Bringing America together.

Uniting our people.

And uniting our nation.

I ask every American to join me in this cause.

Uniting to fight the common foes we face:

Anger, resentment, hatred.

Extremism, lawlessness, violence.

Disease, joblessness, hopelessness.

With unity we can do great things. Important things.

We can right wrongs.

We can put people to work in good jobs.

We can teach our children in safe schools.

We can overcome this deadly virus.

We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care secure for all.

We can deliver racial justice.

We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy.

I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.

But I also know they are not new.

Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.

The battle is perennial.

Victory is never assured.

Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our “better angels” have always prevailed.

In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.

And, we can do so now.

History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.

We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors.

We can treat each other with dignity and respect.

We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.

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.

And, we must meet this moment as the United States of America.

If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail.

We have never, ever, ever failed in America when we have acted together.

And so today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh.

Let us listen to one another.

Hear one another. See one another.

Show respect to one another.

Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.

Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.

And, we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this.

America has to be better than this.

And, I believe America is better than this.

Just look around.

Here we stand, in the shadow of a Capitol dome that was completed amid the Civil War, when the Union itself hung in the balance.

Yet we endured and we prevailed.

Here we stand looking out to the great Mall where Dr. King spoke of his dream.

Here we stand, where 108 years ago at another inaugural, thousands of protestors tried to block brave women from marching for the right to vote.

Today, we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history elected to national office – Vice President Kamala Harris.

Don’t tell me things can’t change.

Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington National Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace.

And here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, and to drive us from this sacred ground.

That did not happen.

It will never happen.

Not tomorrow.

To all those who supported our campaign I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us.

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.

And if you still disagree, so be it.

That’s democracy. That’s America. The right to dissent peaceably, within the guardrails of our Republic, is perhaps our nation’s greatest strength.

Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.

And I pledge this to you: I will be a President for all Americans.

I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.

Many centuries ago, Saint Augustine, a saint of my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.

What are the common objects we love that define us as Americans?

I think I know.

Opportunity.

And, yes, the truth.

Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson.

There is truth and there are lies.

Lies told for power and for profit.

And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders – leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation — to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.

I understand that many Americans view the future with some fear and trepidation.

I understand they worry about their jobs, about taking care of their families, about what comes next.

But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like you do, or worship the way you do, or don’t get their news from the same sources you do.

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.

If we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes just for a moment. Because here is the thing about life: There is no accounting for what fate will deal you.

There are some days when we need a hand.

There are other days when we’re called on to lend one.

That is how we must be with one another.

And, if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future.

My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we will need each other.

We will need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter.

We are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus.

We must set aside the politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation.

I promise you this: as the Bible says weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.

We will get through this, together

The world is watching today.

So here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested and we have come out stronger for it.

We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.

Not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s.

We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.

We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.

We have been through so much in this nation.

And, in my first act as President, I would like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those we lost this past year to the pandemic.

To those 400,000 fellow Americans – mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.

We will honor them by becoming the people and nation we know we can and should be.

Let us say a silent prayer for those who lost their lives, for those they left behind, and for our country.

This is a time of testing.

We face an attack on democracy and on truth.

A raging virus.

Growing inequity.

The sting of systemic racism.

A climate in crisis.

America’s role in the world.

Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways.

But the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with the gravest of responsibilities.

Now we must step up.

It is a time for boldness, for there is so much to do.

And, this is certain.

We will be judged, you and I, for how we resolve the cascading crises of our era.

Will we rise to the occasion?

Will we master this rare and difficult hour?

Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world for our children?

I believe we must and I believe we will.

And when we do, we will write the next chapter in the American story.

It’s a story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me.

It’s called “American Anthem” and there is one verse stands out for me:

“The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day What shall be our legacy? What will our children say?… Let me know in my heart When my days are through America America I gave my best to you.”

Let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our nation.

If we do this then when our days are through our children and our children’s children will say of us they gave their best.

They did their duty.

They healed a broken land. My fellow Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath.

Before God and all of you I give you my word.

I will always level with you.

I will defend the Constitution.

I will defend our democracy.

I will defend America.

I will give my all in your service thinking not of power, but of possibilities.

Not of personal interest, but of the public good.

And together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear.

Of unity, not division.

Of light, not darkness.

An American story of decency and dignity.

Of love and of healing.

Of greatness and of goodness.

May this be the story that guides us.

The story that inspires us.

The story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history.

We met the moment.

That democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch but thrived.

That our America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world.

That is what we owe our forebearers, one another, and generations to follow.

So, with purpose and resolve we turn to the tasks of our time.

Sustained by faith.

Driven by conviction.

And, devoted to one another and to this country we love with all our hearts.

May God bless America and may God protect our troops.

Thank you, America.

More Joe Biden speeches

Presidential Speeches

Pivotal speeches that defined a Presidency

More on the Presidency

• Presidential Biographies
• American History TV: The Presidency
• Historians Survey on Presidents

Videos in this Series

George Washington's 1796 Farewell Address

Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), in an annual Senate tradition, read President George Washington’s …

Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Gettysburg Address

Actor John Cullum recited Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as part of a discussion on its historical significance. T…

"The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself"

To the millions out of work and the millions more struggling during the Great Depression, the newly-elected 32nd preside…

"The President's Responsibility is Inescapable"

Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower both presided over the early years of the Cold War. This selection of thei…

"Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You"

John Kennedy was in the White House for just over 1,000 days, from his 1961 inauguration to his 1963 assassination on th…

"The Great Silent Majority"

In 1964 and 1965, President Lyndon Johnson called on Americans' “better angels” with speeches on the “Great Society” and…

Upcoming Videos

"Government is the Problem"

President Ronald Reagan delivered his 1981 inaugural address from the U.S. Capitol West Front -- a first. He vowed to tu…

"A New World Order"

We heard first from President George H.W. Bush in his 1991 State of the Union Address -- 12 days after leading coalition…

"Axis of Evil"

President George W. Bush called out terrorist states in his first State of the Union Address after September 11, 2001, l…

Mobile Menu Overlay

The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

Speeches and Remarks

Remarks by apnsa jake sullivan in press conference | beijing, people’s republic of   china, remarks as prepared for delivery by national climate advisor ali zaidi in erie, pennsylvania, on biden- ⁠ harris administration investments driving expansion of american energy   jobs, remarks by vice president harris during keynote address at the democratic nation   convention, remarks by vice president harris at a campaign event in milwaukee,   wi, remarks by president   biden before air force one departure | chicago,   il, remarks by president   biden during keynote address at the democratic national committee convention | chicago,   il, remarks by vice president harris at the opening night of the democratic national committee   convention, remarks by vice president harris in press gaggle in moon township,   pa, remarks by vice president harris and governor tim walzafter greeting the aliquippa high school football   team, remarks by vice president harris and governor tim walz at a campaign event in rochester,   pa, stay connected.

We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better.

Opt in to send and receive text messages from President Biden.

What do you think? Leave a respectful comment.

Julie Pace, Associated Press Julie Pace, Associated Press

• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-joe-biden-gives-first-speech-as-president

WATCH: Joe Biden gives first speech as president

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday, declaring that “democracy has prevailed.” He swore the oath of office to take the helm of a deeply divided nation and inheriting a confluence of crises arguably greater than any faced by his predecessors.

Watch Biden’s inaugural address in the video player above.

Biden’s inauguration came at a time of national tumult and uncertainty, a ceremony of resilience as the hallowed American democratic rite unfurled at a U.S. Capitol battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks ago. On a chilly Washington day dotted with snow flurries, a bipartisan trio of ex-presidents along with the elite of nation’s government gathered, ensuring the quadrennial ceremony persevered, even though it was encircled by security forces evocative of a war zone and devoid of crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“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.”

And then he pivoted to challenges ahead, acknowledging the surging virus that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States. Biden looked out over a capital city dotted with empty storefronts that attest to the pandemic’s deep economic toll and where summer protests laid bare the nation’s renewed reckoning on racial injustice.

And he was not applauded by his predecessor.

Flouting tradition, Donald Trump departed Washington on Wednesday morning ahead of the inauguration rather than accompany his successor to the Capitol. Though three other former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — gathered to watch the ceremonial transfer of power, Trump, awaiting his second impeachment trial, instead flew to Florida after stoking grievance among his supporters with the lie that Biden’s win was illegitimate.

READ MORE: Your guide to Inauguration Day

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. On his first day, Biden will take a series of executive actions — on the pandemic, climate, immigration and more — to undo the heart of Trump’s agenda at a moment with the bonds of the republic strained.

“Biden will face a series of urgent, burning crises like we have not seen before, and they all have to be solved at once. It is very hard to find a parallel in history,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “I think we have been through a near-death experience as a democracy. Americans who will watch the new president be sworn in are now acutely aware of how fragile our democracy is and how much it needs to be protected.”

Biden will come to 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 was the oldest president inaugurated.

More 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 will become the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in government.

The two will be sworn in during an inauguration ceremony with few parallels in history.

Tens of thousands of troops are on the streets to provide security precisely two weeks after a violent mob of Trump supporters, incited by the Republican president, stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory.

The tense atmosphere evoked the 1861 inauguration of Lincoln, who was secretly transported to Washington to avoid assassins on the eve of the Civil War, or Roosevelt’s inaugural in 1945, when he opted for a small, secure ceremony at the White House in the waning months of World War II.

The day began with a reach across the aisle after four years of bitter partisan battles under Trump. At Biden’s invitation, congressional leaders from both parties bowed their heads in prayer in the socially distanced service just a few blocks from the White House.

READ MORE: Trump will be remembered as one of the worst U.S. presidents, nearly half of Americans say

Once at the Capitol, Biden will be administered the oath by Chief Justice John Roberts; Harris will be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina member of the Supreme Court. Vice President Mike Pence, standing in for Trump, was sitting nearby as Lady Gaga, holding a gold microphone, sang the National Anthem accompanied by the U.S. Marine Corps band.

The theme of Biden’s approximately 30-minute speech will be “America United,” and aides said it would be a call to set aside differences during a moment of national trial.

Biden will then oversee a “Pass in Review,” a military tradition that honors the peaceful transfer of power to a new commander in chief. Then, Biden, Harris and their spouses will be joined by that bipartisan trio of former presidents to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Ceremony.

Later, Biden will join the end of a slimmed-down inaugural parade as he moves into the White House. Because of the pandemic, much of this year’s parade will be a virtual affair featuring performances from around the nation.

In the evening, in lieu of the traditional glitzy balls that welcome a new president to Washington, Biden will take part in a televised concert that also marks 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.

“I protested 45’s inauguration, and I wanted to be here when he left,” said Raelyn Maxwell of Park City, Utah. “And I wanted to celebrate the new president.” She brought a bouquet of roses she hoped to toss to Harris and some champagne to toast the occasion.

Trump is the first president in more than a century to skip the inauguration of his successor. In a cold wind, Marine One took off from the White House and soared above a deserted capital city to his own farewell celebration at nearby Joint Base Andrews. There, he boarded Air Force One for the final time as president for the flight to his Florida estate.

“I will always fight for you. I will be watching. I will be listening and I will tell you that the future of this country has never been better,” said Trump, who wished the incoming administration well but once again declined to mention Biden’s name.

The symbolism was striking: The very moment Trump disappeared into the doorway of Air Force One, Biden stepped out of the Blair House, the traditional guest lodging for presidents-in-waiting, and into his motorcade for the short ride to church.

Trump did adhere to one tradition and left a note for Biden in the Oval Office, according to the White House, which did not release its contents. And Trump, in his farewell remarks, hinted at a political return, saying “we will be back in some form.”

And he, without question, will shadow Biden’s first days in office.

Trump’s second impeachment trial could start as early as this week. That could test the ability of the Senate, poised to come under Democratic control, to balance impeachment proceedings with confirmation hearings and votes on Biden’s Cabinet choices.

Biden was eager to go big early, with an ambitious first 100 days that includes a push to speed up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations to anxious Americans and pass a $1.9 trillion virus relief package. On Day One, he’ll also send an immigration proposal to Capitol Hill that would create an eight-year path to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally.

He also planned a 10-day blitz of executive orders on matters that don’t require congressional approval — a mix of substantive and symbolic steps to unwind the Trump years. Among the planned steps: rescinding travel restrictions on people from several predominantly Muslim countries; rejoining the Paris climate accord; issuing a mask mandate for those on federal property; and ordering agencies to figure out how to reunite children separated from their families after crossing the border.

Additional reporting by Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Darlene Superville in Washington and Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas.

More inauguration coverage

• Your guide to Inauguration Day
• Live Inauguration Day updates
• How communities across the country are honoring COVID victims

Support Provided By: Learn more

Educate your inbox

Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else.

Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm.

What will Trump’s legacy be after leaving office?

Politics Jan 19

Former President Donald Trump's speech at Detroit National Guard convention draws mixed reaction

DETROIT (WXYZ) — There was mixed reaction from military members and their families Monday as former president Donald Trump delivered remarks at the 146th National Guard general convention at Huntington Place in Detroit.

Although both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris were invited, only Trump came.

After listening to his speech, Puerto Rico National Guard member Hector Ocasio told 7 News Detroit, "For me personally, his message was a message of encouragement for the military forces and their families."

Tanairi Ochoamartinez who is a wife to a National Guard member said, "It was a little bit disappointing to see NAGAUS becoming so politicized, an event where soldiers are supposed to only see red which is their blood."

Trump's speech began with an introduction from Kid Rock who said, "A huge military salute and welcome to our 45th, and soon to be 47th, president of the United States, President Donald J. Trump."

Once on stage Trump immediately dove into how he would support the National Guard if he is elected in November.

Part 1: Donald Trump speaks at National Guard conference in Detroit

He said, "When I’m back in the White House I’ll get you the support, funding, training, and equipment you need. And I will get you the pay raises that you really deserve."

In reaction, Ocasio told 7 News Detroit, "For real I do feel encouraged, his message inspired me."

Trump also focused on his recent endorsement from RFK Jr., his experience working with the military during his term as president, and what he sees as looming danger with international relations.

He said he believes we've never been closer to World War III, and continued on to talk about potential conflict.

Part 2: Donald Trump speaks at National Guard conference in Detroit

"We do a lot of reports that are stupid reports. Like a report that came out a couple weeks ago that we would lose in a war with China, you saw that report?" questioned Trump. "You don’t do reports that we are going to lose to China in a war. Stupid people do that, like the people that are in office right now."

In response to statements like this Ochoamartinez said, "The message was very divided, he never mentioned unity, he never mentioned working together as one, it set the tone for separation."

In the past the military vote has leaned Republican, however, some question if that is beginning to change.

"November 5th will be the most important day, in my opinion, in the history of the country," said Trump.

The former president is scheduled to be back in Michigan Thursday to visit Potterville and talk enconomy and manufacturing.

Sign up for the Morning Newsletter and receive up to date information.

Now signed up to receive the morning newsletter..

Shout out your favorite teacher or best friend!

news analysis

‘I Am the Only Person Stupid Enough to Speak After Michelle Obama’

So said former President Barack Obama after his wife electrified the Democratic National Convention. The delegates loved him, but they really loved her.

Former President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Known as one of the most eloquent orators of the modern era, he had never before faced the challenge he confronted Tuesday night. Credit... Kent Nishimura for The New York Times

Supported by

• Share full article

By Peter Baker

Reporting from inside the United Center in Chicago

• Aug. 21, 2024

Whoever set the schedule for the second night of the Democratic National Convention certainly did Barack Obama no favors. As the former president admitted when he took the stage on Tuesday night, “I am the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama.”

Not to say that the Democrats gathered in the United Center in Chicago were unappreciative of their onetime favorite son. Mr. Obama delivered the kind of rousing yes-we-can speech that 20 years ago vaulted him from obscurity toward the White House. But following Mrs. Obama? He has demonstrated better judgment.

The his-and-hers marquee convention speeches by the 44th president of the United States and the former first lady fired up the partisan crowd. Speaking back-to-back over the course of an hour, the Obamas reminded Democrats of a past era of hope and change while electrifying a convention after a ceremonial roll call nominated Vice President Kamala Harris for president and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota for vice president.

But while the delegates loved Mr. Obama, they really loved Mrs. Obama . From the minute she entered to Stevie Wonder to the end when she introduced her husband, she had the hall wrapped in her hand. No wonder Mr. Obama did not want to go next. No wonder former President Donald J. Trump over the years has repeatedly expressed a feverish worry that the Democrats would turn to Mrs. Obama as their next nominee in some kind of bizarre conspiratorial plot.

From the stage at the United Center on Tuesday, Mrs. Obama eviscerated Mr. Trump as a product of “the affirmative action of generational wealth” who nonetheless enjoyed the “grace of failing forward” while moaning that he was somehow a victim. She described him as a racist and misogynist who exploited fears and lies, a huckster and a hatemonger still playing “the same old con game” on America.

“If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third or fourth chance,” she said. “If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No. We don’t get to change the rules so we always win. If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top.”

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Advertisement

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

10 Modern Presidential Speeches Every American Should Know

By: Allison McNearney

Updated: October 18, 2023 | Original: February 16, 2018

Presidential speeches reveal the United States’ challenges, hopes, dreams and temperature of the nation, as much as they do the wisdom and perspective of the leader speaking them. Even in the age of Twitter, the formal, spoken word from the White House carries great weight and can move, anger or inspire at home and around the world.

Here are the 10 most important modern presidential speeches selected by scholars at the Miller Center —a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship—and professors from other universities, as well.

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address

When: 1933, during the Great Depression

What Roosevelt Said: “This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself… Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war.”

Why It Was Important: Roosevelt is embarking on something audacious, proposing that the national government has an obligation to provide an economic safety net for its citizens to protect them from the unpredictability of the market. In making a case for bold intervention in markets, he’s also making a case for a stronger executive at the top. But for all the disruptive talk in this speech, Roosevelt delivers reassurance. I think a hallmark of the speeches that we remember the most by presidents from both parties are ones that not only address the circumstances at hand, but also give people some hope.

— Margaret O’Mara, professor of history, University of Washington

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Fireside Chat 'On Banking'

When: March 1933

What Roosevelt Said: “My friends, I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking…confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith. You must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system, and it is up to you to support and make it work. It is your problem, my friends. Your problem no less than it is mine. Together, we cannot fail.”

Why It Was Important: Beginning with the simple phrase, “My friends,” the stage was set for the personalization of the presidency that continued throughout FDR’s administration. Roosevelt received an outpouring of support from the public and used the power of media to connect with his constituents. Recognizing publicity as essential to policymaking, he crafted a very intricate public relations plan for all of his New Deal legislation. The media allowed him to present a very carefully crafted message that was unfiltered and unchallenged by the press. Many newspapers were critical of his New Deal programs, so turning to radio and motion pictures allowed him to present his version of a particular policy directly to the people. Today, we see parallels in the use of Twitter to bypass opponents and critics of the administration to appeal directly to the American people. And that all started with FDR and his first fireside chat.

— Kathryn Cramer Brownell, Assistant Professor of History, Purdue University

3. Dwight Eisenhower’s 'Atoms for Peace' Speech to the United Nations

What Eisenhower Said: “I feel impelled to speak today in a language that, in a sense, is new. One which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use: That new language is the language of atomic warfare…Against the dark background of the atomic bomb, the United States does not wish merely to present strength, but also the desire and the hope for peace. To the makers of these fateful decisions, the United States pledges before you, and therefore before the world, its determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma. To devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life.”

Why It Was Important: Eisenhower believed in the political power of nuclear weapons, but in this speech, he talks about their dangers. He speaks about the importance of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and proposes that the U.S. and Soviet Union cooperate to reduce their nuclear stockpiles. Keep in mind that there were just 1,300 nuclear weapons in the world in 1953 compared with more than seven times that number today. But Eisenhower is also a realist. He understands the importance of nuclear deterrence and he reminds his audience that his proposal comes from a position of American strength, not weakness.

— Todd Sechser, Professor of Politics, University of Virginia and Senior Fellow, Miller Center

4. Dwight Eisenhower’s Farewell Address

What Eisenhower Said: “Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportion…In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic process.”

Why It Was Important: That speech gave a name to our modern era. Eisenhower was telling us that we now live in a time when government, the military and the corporate world all have joined together into a powerful alliance that shapes the basic democratic functioning of the country. Eisenhower understood that Americans wanted both security and liberty, and it’s a fundamental paradox of the American experiment. In order to have security, we need to have a large defense establishment. But he asks, who is going to be the guardian of our freedoms in a world where we have to have a permanent arms industry? What he was saying in the speech is that we have to learn how to live with it, and control it, rather than having it control us.

— Will Hitchcock, Randolph P. Compton Professor at the Miller Center and professor of history, University of Virginia

5. Lyndon B. Johnson’s 'Great Society' Speech at the University of Michigan

When: May 22, 1964

What Johnson Said: “For a century, we labored to settle and to subdue a continent. For half a century, we called upon unbounded invention and untiring industry to create an order of plenty for all of our people. The challenge of the next half-century is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our American civilization. Your imagination and your initiative and your indignation will determine whether we build a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled growth. For, in your time, we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society. “

Why It Was Important: LBJ called on all Americans to move upward to a Great Society in which wealth is used for more than personal enrichment and is instead used to improve communities, protect the natural world, and allow all Americans, regardless of race or class, to fully develop their innate talents and abilities. The message of Johnson’s speech resonates today because we have lost not only that self-confidence and that idealism but also the vision to recognize that prosperity can be used for something greater than the self.

— Guian McKee, Associate Professor of Presidential Studies, the Miller Center

6. John F. Kennedy’s Address on the Space Effort

When: September 1962

What Kennedy Said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the Industrial Revolution, the first waves of modern invention and the first wave of nuclear power. And this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space, we mean to be a part of it, we mean to lead it.”

Why It Was Important: We were in a new age of technology and space exploration. President Kennedy made Americans feel that there was nothing that we couldn’t do, no challenge we couldn’t conquer. It was before Vietnam, before Watergate, before the deaths of our heroes like Jack and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King —when we had a sense in this country that if we all joined together we could fulfill our loftiest goals.

— Barbara Perry, Director of Presidential Studies, the Miller Center

7. Ronald Reagan’s Speech Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of D-Day

When: June 6, 1984

What Reagan Said: “The rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades, and the American rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs they began to seize back the continent of Europe… (to veterans) You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and Democracy is worth dying for because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

Why It’s Important: That day in June of 1984, before  Band of Brothers  and  Saving Private Ryan  ever came to be, President Reagan paid tribute to the heroism of those we now call the Greatest Generation, the men and women who liberated Europe and ensured freedom for generations to come.  But for the first time, he also tied resistance to totalitarianism in World War II to opposition to the Soviet Union during the Cold War . President Reagan’s words at the end of that speech, again in the second person, to our Allies that “we were with you then, and we are with you now,” when he called upon the West to “renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it” kept the coalition in place that later defeated the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War. The “boys of Pointe du Hoc” saved the world, and, in many ways, they did so more than once.

— Mary Kate Cary, Senior Fellow, the Miller Center

8. Ronald Reagan’s Address on the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

When: January 1986

What Reagan Said: “The future doesn’t belong to the faint-hearted but to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them…The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.”

Why It Was Important: In our current era of political divisiveness, we tend to think of presidents as partisan leaders. But the president’s role as “comforter in chief” is one of the most important functions. The great presidents are distinguished by their ability to set aside partisanship in times of tragedy to speak words that comfort a nation and remind us that, despite our differences, we are all, in the end, Americans.

— Chris Lu, Senior Fellow, the Miller Center

9. George W. Bush’s 'Get On Board' Speech

When: After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks

What Bush Said: “When they struck they wanted to create an atmosphere of fear, and one of the great goals of this war is…to tell the traveling public: Get on board. Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America’s great destination spots. Get down to Disney World in Florida. Take your families and enjoy life the way we want it to be enjoyed.”

Why It Was Important: In short, Bush was saying don’t let the terrorists deter you from spending—the economy needs you. More specifically, Bush’s remarks demonstrated the importance that consumption had come to play in the economy by the twenty-first century. He was carrying out what had become an essential responsibility of the 21st-century president. Even as Bush modeled what it meant to be a strong commander in chief, he juggled another role that had become almost as important: “consumer in chief.”

— Brian Balogh, Dorothy Compton Professor of History, the Miller Center

10. Barack Obama’s 'A More Perfect Union' Speech

What Obama Said: “Contrary to the claim of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve to think as to believe we can get beyond our racial divisions on a single election cycle or with a single candidate, particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own. But I have asserted a firm conviction, a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people, that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice. We have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union…What we know, what we have seen, is that America can change. That is the true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope, the audacity to hope, for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.”

Why It Was Important: Conventional wisdom wouldn’t recommend a speech on race. But Obama ran to the challenge, not away from it. Uniquely positioned to do so, he welcomed listeners to places many have never experienced—a predominantly black church, a cringe-worthy conversation with a beloved relative of a different race, the kitchen tables of white Americans who feel resentful and left behind—and he recounted Americans often divergent perspectives. He asked us to be honest about our past while connecting it to the structural barriers faced by African Americans and other people of color today…Direct, honest, but nuanced, Obama believed that most Americans were ready to hear the truth and make a choice, to move beyond racial stalemate, face our challenges, and act accordingly.

 — Melody Barnes, a Senior Fellow, the Miller Center

The American Presidency with Bill Clinton

Explore the history of the U.S. presidency across six themed episodes: race, extremism, the struggle for rights, presidential vision and global power. 

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

trending now in US News

96-year-old Calif. woman facing eviction from seniors home unless...

Tim Walz's brother is '100% opposed to all his ideology,'...

Daughter writes scathing obit for 'terrorizing' mom

Mark Cuban polls followers on which 2024 presidential candidate...

Homeless couple filmed having sex in parking lot under NYC's FDR...

Man kicked off Delta flight for wearing Donald Trump tee with...

Killer mom' ex-prison guard lover thinks she should not be...

Donald Trump warns Mark Zuckerberg could 'spend the rest of his...

Joe rogan calls out oprah, michelle obama dnc speech hypocrisy on wealth: ‘hey, lady, you’re rich as f—‘.

Podcaster Joe Rogan accused TV personality Oprah Winfrey and former first lady Michelle Obama of brazen hypocrisy in their DNC speeches Thursday.

Oprah slammed former President Trump at the convention while saying the work of maintaining a democracy “requires standing up to life’s bullies” and describing how she has seen and sometimes been on the receiving end of “racism and sexism and income inequality and division.” 

Shortly after, the Trump campaign posted a thank-you letter Winfrey wrote in 2000 suggesting that he would be a good president. “Too bad we’re not running for office,” Winfrey wrote. “What a team!”

Likewise, the former first lady spoke about how her mother showed her “the meaning of hard work and humility and decency,” and added, “She and my father didn’t aspire to be wealthy. In fact, they were suspicious of folks who took more than they needed. They understood that it wasn’t enough for their kids to thrive if everyone else around us was drowning.”

But on Thursday, amid a conversation recalling how prominent public figures turned against Trump in recent years, Rogan mocked how both of these women have become fabulously wealthy in their own right. 

“How about Oprah?” Rogan said. “Oprah was talking about her and Trump running together, and now she’s speaking to the DNC that he’s a threat to democracy and she’s up there talking about income inequality, like, ‘Hey lady… you’re rich as f—.’ I’m like, ‘How is that equal?’”

The podcaster then added, “And also when Michelle Obama was saying, you know, I think she was saying her mother or grandmother was always suspicious of people who took more than they needed, like, you are worth so much money. That’s so crazy. You did it on a civil servant’s salary which is insane.”

Rogan was not the only public figure to call out Oprah’s hypocrisy. The major media mogul’s denunciation of income inequality rang hollow to people who pointed out her current enormous net worth, which Forbes estimated is $3 billion. 

Conservative radio host Dana Loesch wrote, “Kinda weird for Oprah, with her Hawaiian estate and multiple homes, expensive wardrobes, frequent luxury vacations, etc., to talk about income inequality.”

Meanwhile, Trump War Room, the official account of former President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, shared a clip of Michelle Obama’s speech and commented, “Michelle Obama says her parents ‘were suspicious of folks who took more than they needed.’ She has a net worth of $70 million and lives in a mansion in Martha’s Vineyard.”

Advertisement