Biden’s speech in Normandy, his second in as many days, aimed at strengthening support for Ukraine, but it is also expected to be a rebuke of the isolationist inclinations of Donald Trump, Biden’s rival in the Nov 5 presidential election.
Biden urged Americans to remember the Rangers whose dramatic heroism on D-Day helped make the invasion a success.
“As we gather here today, it’s not just to honour those who showed such remarkable bravery that day, June 6, 1944,” Biden said.
“It’s to listen to the echo of their voices. To hear them … They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs. They’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for.”
On June 6, 1944, the elite Ranger troops scaled the 30m cliffs overlooking Omaha Beach under withering fire and seized German artillery pieces that could have fired on American troops coming ashore at Omaha and nearby Utah Beach.
By setting his speech at Pointe du Hoc, Biden echoed Republican predecessor Ronald Reagan, who marked D-Day’s anniversary there 40 years ago.
Reagan said democracy was “worth dying for” and emphasised an American desire for peace in what turned out to be the waning years of the Cold War.
Biden’s goal was to draw a “through line” from World War II, connecting the Cold War, the establishment of the Nato military alliance and Russia’s current war with Ukraine, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
Biden is in the middle of a five-day trip to France, a rare excursion abroad during an election year in which he faces a tight race against former President Trump, a Republican who has threatened to use a second four-year term to punish political rivals, deport immigrants and upend global alliances.
Trump has criticised the cost of supporting Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, proposed higher tariffs as part of an “America First” policy and questioned America’s decades-long commitment to Nato, saying European members are not paying their fair share.
Yesterday, Biden made an impassioned call for the defence of freedom and urged western powers to stand by Ukraine in its fight with Russia.
The D-Day anniversary on June 6 and surrounding events are part of Biden’s presidential duties, not a campaign event.
But they gave him a chance to contrast himself with Trump.
Biden, at 81 the oldest to serve in the office, has sought to rebut concerns about his age by focusing on the potential impact Trump, 77, could have during a second term.
The Democratic incumbent has characterised Trump, whose supporters raided the US Capitol after the Republican declined to accept his 2020 election loss, as a threat to US democracy.
Meanwhile, hard-right parties are gaining ground in Europe, and Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the US and its allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range western weapons.
“This will hit the core messages that Biden is wanting to highlight during his re-election campaign but also has real resonance still in Europe as well,” said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia programme at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Biden met with World War II veterans in Normandy yesterday and plans to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky today.