WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, declaring "democracy has prevailed" and summoning American resilience and unity to confront the deeply divided nation's historic confluence of crises.
Denouncing a national "uncivil war," Biden took the oath at a U.S. Capitol that had been battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks earlier. Then, taking his place in the White House Oval Office, he plunged into a stack of executive actions that began to undo his predecessor's agenda on matters from the pandemic to climate change.
At the Capitol, with America's tradition of peaceful transfers of power never appearing more fragile, the ceremony unfolded within a circle of security forces and devoid of crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, Biden looked out on a cold Washington morning dotted with snow flurries to see more than 200,000 American flags planted on the National Mall to symbolize those who could not attend in person.
"The will of the people has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded. We've learned again that democracy is precious and democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed," Biden declared in his speech. "This is America's day. This is democracy's day. A day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve."
History was made at his side, as Kamala Harris became the first woman to be vice president. The former U.S. senator from California is also the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency and the highest- ranking woman ever to serve in the U.S. government.
Biden never mentioned his predecessor, who defied tradition and left town ahead of the ceremony, but the new president denounced "lies told for power and for profit" and was blunt about the challenges ahead.
Central among them: the surging virus that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States, as well as economic strains and a national reckoning over race.
"We have much to do in this winter of peril, and significant possibilities. Much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain," Biden said. "Few people in our nation's history have been more challenged, or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we're in now."
Biden was eager to go big early, with an ambitious first 100 days including a push to speed up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations to anxious Americans and pass a $1.9 trillion economic relief package. It included a blitz of executive orders on matters that don't require congressional approval. His actions included re-entry into the Paris Climate Accords and a mandate for wearing masks on federal property.
"There's no time to start like today," a masked Biden said in the Oval Office. Then he swore in hundreds of aides - virtually - telling them, "You're my possibilities."
The absence of Biden's predecessor from the inaugural ceremony underscored the national rift to be healed.
However, a bipartisan trio of former presidents - Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama - were there to witness the transfer of power.
Biden, in his third run for the presidency, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. Four years after Trump's "American Carnage" speech painted a dark portrait of national decay, Biden warned the fabric of the nation's democracy was tearing but could be repaired.
"I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart," Biden said. "This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward and we must meet this moment as the United States of America."
Swearing the oath with his hand on a 5-inch-thick Bible that has been in his family for 128 years, Biden came to office with a well of empathy and resolve born by personal tragedy as well as a depth of experience forged from more than four decades in Washington. At 78, he is the oldest president inaugurated.
He, Harris and their spouses walked the last short part of the route to the White House after an abridged parade. Biden then strode into the Oval Office, a room he knew well as vice president, for the first time as commander in chief.
At the Capitol earlier, Biden, like all those in attendance, wore a face mask except when speaking. Tens of thousands of National Guard troops were on the streets to provide security precisely two weeks after a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the building in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden's victory.
"Here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people," Biden said. "To stop the work of our democracy. To drive us from this sacred ground. It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever. Not ever."
The tense atmosphere evoked the 1861 inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, who was secretly transported to Washington to avoid assassins on the eve of the Civil War, or Franklin Roosevelt's inaugural in 1945, when he opted for a small, secure ceremony at the White House in the waning months of World War II.
But Washington, all but deserted downtown and in its federal areas, was quiet. And calm also prevailed outside heavily fortified state capitols across the nation after the FBI had warned of the possibility for armed demonstrations leading up to the inauguration.
The day began with a reach across the political aisle. At Biden's invitation, congressional leaders from both parties bowed their heads in prayer in the socially distanced service a few blocks from the White House.
Biden was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts; and Harris was sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina member of the Supreme Court. Vice President Mike Pence, standing in for Trump, sat nearby as Lady Gaga, holding a golden microphone, sang the National Anthem accompanied by the U.S. Marine Corps band.
Later, Biden, Harris and their spouses were joined by the former presidents to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Ceremony.
In the evening, in lieu of the traditional balls that welcome a new president to Washington, Biden and Harris appeared separately at the Lincoln Memorial to take part in a televised concert that also marked the return of A-list celebrities to the White House orbit after they largely eschewed Trump. Among those in the lineup: Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
This was not an inauguration for the crowds. However, Americans in the capital city nonetheless brought their hopes to the moment.
"I feel so hopeful, so thankful," said Karen Jennings Crooms, a D.C. resident who hoped to catch a glimpse of the presidential motorcade on Pennsylvania Avenue with her husband. "It makes us sad that this is where we are but hopeful that democracy will win out in the end. That's what I'm focusing on."