By President Biden is delivering a speech on freedom and democracy Friday at Pointe du Hoc, which during World War II was a heavily fortified German position captured by U.S. Army Rangers during the invasion of Normandy.
In his remarks, the president will be drawing a connection between the Allied powers’ fight for freedom on D-Day decades ago and supporting sovereignty in Ukraine and elsewhere now. He will also talk about how it’s critical to preserve freedom and liberty from domestic threats at home in the United States.
“When we talk about democracy — American democracy — we often talk big ideas like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” the president is expected to say, according to excerpts from his prepared remarks. “What we don’t talk about enough is how hard it is. … American democracy asks the hardest of things: to believe that we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves. So democracy begins with each of us.”
Warning against isolationism and emphasizing the cost of not standing up to dictators has been a recurring theme this week for Mr. Biden. He’s in France to observe the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the massive seaborne invasion helped put the allies on the road to ending World War II.
Evan Vucci / AP
During the U.S. assault on the Omaha and Utah beaches on D-Day, U.S. Army Rangers scaled 100-foot cliffs and seized German artillery that could have targeted American troops as they landed. The operation’s success came at a high cost — out of the 225 Rangers deployed on the mission, fewer than 75 were still in fighting condition by its end — but the assault resulted in a successful defense against Germany’s counterattacks.
“All they could hear was the crack of bullets hitting ships, sand, rocks, hitting everything,” the president said Friday. “All they knew was time was of the essence. They had only 30 minutes, 30 minutes to eliminate the Nazi guns high on this cliff, guns that could halt the allied invasion before it even began.”
The World War II Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument was built to honor those men.
“I’ve long said that history has shown that ordinary Americans can do the most extraordinary things,” Mr. Biden is expected to say. “And there’s no better example of that in the entire world than right here at Pointe du Hoc. Rangers from farms, from cities, from every part of America. … As we gather here today, it’s not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery that day June 6, 1944. It’s to listen to the echo of their voices. To hear them. Because they are summoning us. They’re asking us what will we do. They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs. They’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for.”
David Vincent / AP
Ukraine is a key focus for Mr. Biden, both in his speech and as he meets with world leaders in France.
“The price of unchecked tyranny is the blood of the young and the brave,” Mr. Biden said in a speech at Normandy on Thursday. “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?”
Mr. Biden met Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was at Omaha Beach for an international event commemorating D-Day.
Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
“The unity that defines history,” Zelenskyy tweeted Thursday. “Today in France, alongside our allies, we honored the bravery of the Allied forces who landed in Normandy 80 years ago. We remember. We thank them. We uphold the values of the defenders of life.”
As they met Friday, Mr. Biden issued his first public apology to the Ukrainian people for the months of uncertainty over whether $61 billion in additional U.S. assistance for Ukraine’s war effort would actually come. That aid was held up by conservative Republican members of the U.S. Congress attaching domestic border issues to the foreign assistance package, which finally passed at the end of April and was quickly signed by Mr. Biden.
The U.S. president also announced a new $225 million assistance package for Ukraine, which the State Department said in a statement would including “urgently needed weapons and equipment” to help Zelenskyy’s forces repel Russia’s offensive around the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
The State Department said the package would include “air defense interceptors, artillery systems and munitions, armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, and other capabilities.”
“We will move this new assistance as quickly as possible to bolster Ukraine’s defense of its territory and its people,” the State Department said.
Mr. Biden assured Zelenskyy Friday that the American people were committed to standing with Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression for the long haul, telling him: “We’re still in. Completely. Thoroughly.”
“It’s very important that in this unity, United States of America, all American people stay with Ukraine like it was during World War II,” Zelenskyy told the U.S. leader. “How the United States helped to save human lives, to save Europe. And we count on your continuing support in standing with us, shoulder to shoulder.”
Mr. Biden was expected to discuss the future of support for Ukraine with French President Emmanuel Macron later during his state visit to France.
