A National Guard stands at a road block near the Supreme Court ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Gerald Herbert/AP)
Soldiers from the North Carolina Army National Guard patrol the Rosslyn Metro station on the morning of the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, in Arlington, Va. (Luke Sharrett/Getty Images)
Members of the National Guard stand at a road block near the Supreme Court ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (John Minchillo/AP)
Left to right: Doug Emhoff, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, incoming first lady Jill Biden, President-elect Joe Biden, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar arrive for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president on Jan. 20, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
President-elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden arrive to Biden's inauguration on the West Front of the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush arrive before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president on Jan. 20, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool, AFP via Getty Images)
Former President Bill Clinton arrives with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool, AFP via Getty Images)
Former President Barack Obama, left, bumps fists with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as they arrive for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool, AFP via Getty Images)
Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Jill Biden holds the Bible during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
President Joe Biden speaks during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021.(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)
President-elect Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff arrive at the steps of the U.S. Capitol for the start of the official inauguration ceremonies, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley arrives for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president on Jan. 20, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)
Members of the National Guard salute as they stand near the U.S. Capitol while the national anthem is sung during the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Members of the National Guard salute as they stand near the Capitol while the national anthem is sung during the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Members of the National Guard stand on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
National Guard troops look on during the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on the West Front of the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden, first lady Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Harris, attend a Pass-in-Review ceremony, hosted by the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol after the 59th Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021 in Washington. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Outgoing President Donald Trump addresses guests at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Jan. 20, 2021. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. Trump is en route to his Mar-a-Lago Florida Resort. (Alex Brandon/AP)
Outgoing President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump descend Marine One as they arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Jan. 20, 2021. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)
Outgoing President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump step out of Marine One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Jan. 20, 2021. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)
From left to right: first lady Dr. Jill Biden, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Doug Emhoffl, Harris' husband, watch a military pass-in-review during the inauguration on the West Front of the Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden, center, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Maj. Gen. Omar J. Jones salute at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arlington National Cemetery on Jan. 20, 2021, in Arlington, Va. (Joshua Roberts-Pool/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony at the Capitol Jan. 20, 2021, in Arlington, Va. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Members of the military march on 15th Street towards the White House during a presidential escort to the White House following President Joe Biden taking the oath of office in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana/Pool, AFP via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk up Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White House in Washington after Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in at the Capitol on Jan. 20, 202. (Doug Mills/Pool, AFP via Getty Images)
Military bands parade past President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as they prepare to depart the Capitol following their taking the Oath of Office as the 46th president and 49th vice president of the United States in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021. (Rod Lamkey/Pool, AFP via Getty Images)
An honor guard deploys to line up along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
A military band parades on the street near the White House after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn in at the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
President-elect Joe Biden bumps fists with former President Barack Obama during Biden's inauguration, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Pool Photo via AP)
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden wave as they arrive at the North Portico of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/Pool via AP)
Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Jill Biden holds the Bible during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, as their children Ashley and Hunter watch. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via AP)
President Joe Biden waits to sign his first executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP)
In his first speech as president, Biden vowed to unify the country and combat internal threats that imperiled his own presidency earlier in the month.
“Here we stand, across the Potomac from Arlington Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace,” Biden said.
“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, to drive us from this sacred ground. It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.”
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took their oaths of office on the Capitol’s west front, the same spot where two weeks ago pro-Donald Trump rioters stormed the building in an effort to stop the certification of last November’s presidential election results.
Five people were killed in the violence, including Capitol Hill Police officer Brian Sicknick, a New Jersey Air National Guard veteran.
US National Guard troops patrol the vicinity of the US Capitol hours before the Inauguration of US President-Elect Joe Biden in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2021. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
In response, 25,000 National Guard troops were deployed to Washington in advance of the inauguration, resulting in a show of military force not seen in the halls of Congress in the last 200 years.
On the Capitol steps, the only military presence that could be seen around Biden was ceremonial, including traditional honor guards and the Marine Corps Band.
But just yards away from the assembled dignitaries, thousands of guardsmen stood watch over the ceremony. Service members with riot shields and rifles were stationed at every entrance to the Capitol grounds. Inside, uniformed troops filled hallways and hearing rooms, awaiting orders.
The behind-the-scenes tension contrasted with the new president’s message of calm and unity.
Biden — the father of a National Guard soldier Beau, who deployed to Iraq with the Delaware Guard in 2008 before dying of brain cancer in 2015 — did not acknowledge the military presence in his speech, but he said he called for an end to the “uncivil war” dividing American along political lines today.
“We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility,” he said.
He called on Americans to “step up” in the midst of multiple national crises that he said require “boldness” to overcome.
“We face an attack on our democracy and on truth, a raging virus, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism and a climate in crisis; America’s role in the world. Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways.”
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: Members of the National Guard gather near the U.S. Capitol before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Biden and Harris were scheduled to visit Arlington National Cemetery later in the day with several other former presidents and their families to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in a show of bipartisan unity.
Unlike his recent predecessors, Biden did not devote a significant portion of his first speech as president to overseas military conflicts.
But he did reiterate his campaign promise to restore America’s relationships with overseas allies, and restore America’s standing in the international community after years of strains under Trump.
“America has been tested and we’ve come out stronger for it,” he said.
“We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to bear yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. And we’ll lead, not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.”
“We’ll be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security.”
Among Biden’s top priorities in the coming days will be the confirmation of his national security team, including defense secretary nominee Lloyd Austin. A vote on Austin, a retired Army four-star who needs a waiver from Congress to serve, could come as early as next week.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
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