September 7, 2024
BELLEAU, France (AP) — President Joe Biden closed out his trip to France by paying his respects at an American military cemetery.
Before returning to the United States, Biden honored America’s war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery about an hour outside Paris. He placed a wreath at the cemetery chapel before an expanse of white headstones marking the final resting place of more than 2,200 U.S. soldiers who fought in World War I.
“It’s the same story," Biden said. "America showed up. America showed up to stop the Germans. America showed up to make sure that they did not prevail. And America shows up when we’re needed just like our allies show for us.”
“These soldiers were heroes, just as every American who has served this nation,” Biden said.
Biden’s trip was full of emotional moments, and the president grew heavy-eyed after meeting with World War II veterans. A 21-gun salute cast eerie smoke over 9,388 white marble headstones at the Normandy American Cemetery.
“This has been the most remarkable trip that I’ve ever made,” Biden said on Saturday night, his last in Paris before returning to the U.S.
At Aisne-Marne, Biden said the trip “surprised me how much it awakened my sense of why it’s so valuable to have these alliances. Why it’s so critical. That’s the way you stop wars, not start wars.”
On Thursday at Normandy anniversary ceremonies, Biden said D-Day served a reminder that alliances make the United States stronger, calling it “a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget.” He also highlighted how the war effort drew on immigrants, women and people of color who were too often overlooked by history.
Then on Friday, he went to Pointe du Hoc, a spot on the coast where Army Rangers scaled cliffs to overcome Nazi defenses on D-Day that was also the site in 1984 of one of President Ronald Reagan's most memorable speeches about the struggles between the West and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Biden issued a call for Americans to protect democracy like the Rangers who scaled the cliffs.
Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian who wrote a book about Pointe du Hoc and Reagan’s speech, said Biden “had big shoes to step into” by choosing the same location.
Biden's speech “didn’t equal Reagan’s in grandeur, nor could it,” Brinkley said. Still, he said Biden “said the right words about why democracy matters.”
Biden's trip was also punctuated by the pomp of a state visit in Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron arranged a ceremony at the Arc du Triomphe, where four fighter jets flew overhead, and hosted a banquet at the Elysee presidential palace.
“United we stand, divided we fall,” Macron said in toasting Biden. “Allied we are, and allied we will stay.”
Overall, Biden’s visit had a slower pace than other foreign trips. The 81-year-old president had no public events on his first day in Paris after arriving on an overnight flight, and didn't hold a press conference with reporters, as is customary. John Kirby, a national security spokesman, said that was necessary to prepare “in advance of the weighty engagements” during subsequent days.
“There's a lot on the calendar,” he said.
Still, it was a contrast to Macron’s tendency to offer prestigious guests an intense schedule with a mix of official meetings, business talks, cultural events and private dinners at fancy restaurants.
When the 46-year-old French leader hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, the two-day agenda was crammed with activities including a trip to the Pyrenees Mountains near the border with Spain where Macron spent time as a child.
