To mark D-Day, Biden will deliver a defense of democracy that hits on campaign themes
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Biden is in France today to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day when tens of thousands of U.S. troops landed on the beaches at Normandy. It ultimately turned the tide in World War II. Many American presidents have marked this anniversary, but as Biden does it, the lessons of 80 years ago are being debated once again. Here's NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith.
TAMARA KEITH: To get a sense of how President Biden sees this current moment in this sweep of history, look no further than his most recent State of the Union address. He started with the image of President Franklin Roosevelt in early 1941.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: President Roosevelt's purpose was to wake up Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary time. Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world.
KEITH: The U.S. was still on the sidelines in the war, but Hitler was on the march in Europe. American allies were under attack. Like then, Biden argued, this is no ordinary time.
BIDEN: What makes our moment rare is the freedom of democracy under attack both at home and overseas at the very same time.
KEITH: Expect Biden to expand on those themes in an address to the American people he's set to deliver Friday in Normandy. The undercurrent is clear. Biden has framed his re-election campaign against former President Donald Trump, saying freedom and democracy are on the line. Trump has been skeptical of America's alliances. Ivo Daalder was the U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration.
IVO DAALDER: And we have understood for so long now, since D-Day, really, that our security, our prosperity, and our freedom depends on the security, prosperity, and freedom of our friends and allies around the world.
KEITH: The NATO Alliance and its commitment to mutual defense grew out of the experience of World War II. Polling from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs finds the majority of Americans still support that alliance, but Daalder says isolationist views are growing.
DAALDER: NATO is becoming politicized in a way it never was until this point, in part because the isolationist, nationalist views that have always been a part of the American political scene are consolidating within one political party.
KEITH: Trump adopted America First as a slogan and has repeatedly toyed with the idea of the U.S. not keeping its commitment to NATO. Take this from a campaign speech in February.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: One of the presidents of a big country stood up said, well, sir, if we don't pay, and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us? I said, you didn't pay? You're delinquent? He said, yes, let's say that happened. No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay.
KEITH: There's a massive gulf between Trump's message today and the one then-President Ronald Reagan delivered 40 years ago at a D-Day ceremony in Normandy.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RONALD REAGAN: It is better to be here ready to protect the peace than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be, an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.
KEITH: There are echoes in the way Biden describes Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine. But many people aren't buying that argument. Heather Conley is director of the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. She's been touring the country to make the case for continued military aid to Ukraine. And she's getting an earful.
HEATHER CONLEY: The American people have some important questions to ask about what's important about our security, our level of debt. These are the right questions to ask, but you have to engage them in a conversation.
KEITH: Conley is glad Biden is giving the speech this week, but wishes he had made this case more often. Next month, he will get another chance. NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary with a summit in Washington, D. C.
Tamara Keith, NPR News.
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.