80 Years of D-Day, and the Birth of NATO: A Reminiscence from President Biden to his reelection Campaign
The American people will hear Biden speak from Pointe du Hoc, overlooking the beaches where the Americans landed on June 6, 1944. More than 70,000 American troops joined allied forces for the D-Day operation. Casualties were heavy, with 2,500 Americans killed on D-Day itself and some 29,000 more in the Battle of Normandy that followed.
It’s a pilgrimage that many American presidents have made, but as Biden does it, the lessons of 80 years ago are being debated once again — and hold particular resonance for his reelection bid.
The anniversary is occurring at the same time as World War II fades from people’s memories and into the history books, with Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian raising the stakes.
The National Security Council spokesman said that he would take full advantage of the chance to talk about the importance of American leadership.
The United States was still on the sidelines in the war at that point. But Hitler was on the march in Europe, and American allies were under attack. This is no ordinary time, as argued by Biden.
Biden isn’t a campaign speech, but the undercurrent will be unavoidable. Biden has framed his reelection campaign against former President Donald Trump in stark terms, as he did at a fundraiser in New York earlier this week.
Biden takes pride in marshalling the U.S. allies to back upUkraine after Russia’s invasion and expanding NATO to include two new members.
While at the international commemoration of D-Day on Thursday, Biden is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the leaders will discuss the state of play in the war with Russia, Sullivan said. As the war grinds on, Biden recently authorizedUkraine to use weapons supplied by the U.S. to strike inside Russia.
The ongoing U.S. support for Ukraine has been questioned by Republicans in the Trump wing. Trump toyed with the idea of the U.S. not keeping its commitment to NATO.
In February, Trump stated that the US would not defend allies who did not spend enough money on their own defense. “In fact. “I would encourage them to do what they want,” Trump said.
The NATO alliance was formed due to the experience of World War II. And polling from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs finds the majority of Americans still support that alliance.
“We have understood for so long now since D-Day really, that our security, our prosperity and our freedom depends on the security, prosperity and freedom of our allies around the world,” said Ivo Daalder, who heads the Chicago Council and was the U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration.
“Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today,” Biden said. The heroes fought against dark forces 80 years ago. They are not going to fade, they desire to dominate and control the border by force. These are perennial.
A lot has changed in the last 30 years. The Berlin Wall fell. The Cold War ended. The Soviet Union dissolved, only for Russian President Vladimir Putin to decades later attempt to rebuild it.
The directors of the German Marshall Fund of the United States said that at the end of the Cold War, it was hard to understand what our allies were for.
“The American people have some important questions to ask about what’s important about our security, our level of debt,” said Conley. “These are the right questions to ask. But you have to engage them in a conversation.”
She was a senior official in the State Department of George W. Bush. But she said she wishes he had made this case more forcefully and more often.
World War II Veterans in Normandy. “You came to make a difference, and you won’t walk away,” Biden said
World War II veterans, who were welcomed as returning heroes this week when they arrived in France, were also at the event and were honored for their sacrifice.
“It’s the highest honor to salute you here in Normandy because of the American people and as commander in chief,” Biden told the veterans.
“Here you came, to join our efforts with your own soldiers, and to make France a free nation,” Macron told the former service members. “And you are at home today, if I may say so.”
As the crowd applauded, the veterans were pinned with medals for their Legion of Honor, France’s highest decoration. The cemetery and memorial sit just inland from the Omaha Beach, where tens of thousands of U.S. and Allied troops landed on June 1, 1944 in the largest amphibious assault in history.
The U.S., NATO and its allies stand with Ukraine and won’t “walk away,” Biden said. He warned of a ripple effect of violence and aggression, should Russian succeed in subjugating Ukraine.
“The autocrats of the world are watching closely to see what happens in Ukraine, to see if we let this illegal aggression go unchecked. We cannot let that happen.”
Austin said that they still want a world where aggression is a sin, where human rights are sacred, and where all people can live in freedom. We have to stand firm against aggression and tyranny.
The Allies fought together. Will we do ours? A rejoinder for the Allied wars of D-Day
Biden said that the allies did more on their own than we could have done on our own.
“Together we won the war,” he said. “We rebuilt Europe, including our former enemies. It was an investment in a prosperous future.
Biden said the price of tyranny is the blood of young and brave people. “In their generation, in their hour of trial, the Allied forces of D-Day did their duty. Now the question for us is, in our hour of trial, will we do ours?”