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President Biden on Friday drew on the heroism of the U.S. Army Rangers who scaled the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day in 1944, urging Americans to think of their nation's cause as greater than themselves and cautioning against isolationism.
The president spoke against the backdrop of the cliff, a heavily fortified German position captured by the Rangers during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. Mr. Biden drew a connection between the Allied powers' fight for freedom 80 years ago and supporting Ukraine amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's war.
"Does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against Putin's aggression here in Europe today?" Mr. Biden asked his audience. "They stormed the beaches alongside their allies. Does anyone believe these Rangers would want America to go it alone today? They fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the '30s and '40s. Does anyone doubt they wouldn't move heaven and earth to vanquish hateful ideologies of today?" 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 that put the allies on the road to ending World War II.
Biden's speech at Pointe du Hoc
"When we talk about democracy, American democracy, we often talk about the ideals of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness," Mr. Biden said Friday. "What we don't talk about is how hard it is. How many ways we're asked to walk away, how many instincts are to walk away. The most natural instinct is to walk away — to be selfish, to force our will upon others, to seize power, never give it up. 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, begins when one person decides there's something more important than themselves," the president continued. "When they decide the person they're serving alongside of is someone to look after. When they decide the mission matters more than their life. When they decide that their country matters more than they do. That's what the Rangers at Point du Hoc did. That's what they decided. That's what every soldier, every Marine who stormed these beaches decided."
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