President Biden will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings on the beaches of Normandy on Thursday, arguing that the Allied effort to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine is a direct extension of the fight for freedom that raged across Europe during World War II.
Biden, 81, who was just a toddler when American troops landed on these shores in 1944, is almost certain to be the last U.S. president alive when Allied forces began driving Adolf Hitler from Europe to speak at the Normandy commemoration.
Eight decades later, Mr. Biden is leading a coalition of European and other nations in a very different war on the continent, but with a very similar objective: to counter an attempt by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin to invade Ukraine.
In his speech at the Normandy American Cemetery, the President will directly link the two sides with his defense of the rules-based international order.
“Today, 80 years later, in 2024, dictators are once again challenging the order and invading Europe,” said the president’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who told reporters that Biden would argue that “freedom-loving nations need to come together to push back against this, as we have done.”
Biden’s speech at the cemetery, where 9,388 U.S. troops are buried, kicks off a four-day visit to France that includes a second speech on Friday and a dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday. Biden is due to return to Europe in a few days to attend the Group of Seven summit in Puglia, Italy.
After speaking at the cemetery, Biden will join Macron and others at Omaha Beach, the site of some of the fiercest and deadliest fighting between U.S. troops and German occupying forces in France.
U.S. officials said the somber backdrop of Normandy, where the Allies helped turn the tide of a war that lasted more than four years, was intended to highlight the dangers to Europe and the world if the United States and other countries lose resolve and allow Putin to win.
Biden said Congress’s failure to approve financial aid for Ukraine for months slowed the war effort there, giving Russian forces an opportunity to advance along the northern and eastern fronts of the country.
Sullivan said the president will deliver a speech in which he will talk about “the sacrifices made by our heroes and veterans 80 years ago, against the backdrop of today’s war in Europe, and how it is our duty to continue their mission of fighting for freedom.”
On Friday, aides said Biden would return to the beaches of Normandy to deliver a second speech, this time at Pointe du Hoc, where Army Rangers scaled massive cliffs to secure a key military post held by German forces.
Officials said the president will use that backdrop to make a broad case for the dangers of isolationism and the need to protect and nurture democracy. John F. Kirby, a retired Navy admiral and White House national security spokesman, said the speech will be different from previous speeches by Biden on the theme of protecting democracy.
“I can point to real lives that were affected at Pointe du Hoc,” he said, “I can point to real blood that was shed in pursuit of that lofty goal. And I can tell the stories of real men who climbed real cliffs and braved real bullets and real dangers in pursuit of something much bigger than themselves.”
