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During his four years as president, and more than 150 years in public life, Joseph R. Biden Jr. expressed an optimistic and ironic belief in the strength of American democracy.
But in the final moments of his administration, Mr. Biden made a rare remark. Minutes before his successor was sworn in, Mr. Biden left five of his family members, condemned the political attacks by Donald J. Trump and his allies, and said: “There is no reason I hope these attacks will end.”
Hours earlier, Mr. Biden pardoned others targeted by Mr. Trump, including General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and former representative Liz Cheney.
“These are exceptional circumstances,” he said in a statement, “and I cannot in good conscience do anything.”
It could not be the coda Mr. Biden had in mind when he decided to make a third White House bid in 2019, telling friends and family he felt compelled by Mr. Trump’s comments about violence. racial violence erupted in Charlottesville, Va.
The decision capped his decades-long presidential quest with a nail-biting victory in 2020 that ousted Mr. Trump from the Oval Office amid the pandemic. worst the country has seen in 100 years. The political confrontation between the two men came to a head on Monday as Mr. Biden sought to avoid retaliating against his own family for Mr. Trump’s fears.
It was a sad end to his long career in federal office, which began when he was elected to the US Senate in 1972 at the age of 29.
Mr. Biden liked to say that America can be summed up in one word: can.
On Monday, when he left Washington, his promise “to end this civil war that pits the red against the blue” has yet to be fulfilled. His efforts to rebuild the economy “from the center” face all the destruction. And he leaves the country in the hands of the man he repeatedly called a threat to the future of democracy.
The lesson, after a single term, may be: You can never be certain what can be done.
Mr. Biden’s legacy includes handling the pandemic, distributing vaccines and lifting the economy from disaster. He has poured money into fighting climate change, repairing aging infrastructure and creating incentives for high-end chip makers in the US. He set drug prices, signed gun control laws and forgave student loans.
But his one term in office was also marred by turmoil caused by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and growing doubts about his ability to govern for a ninth decade, culminating in his party’s decision to oust him. to drop out of the 2024 campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris. .
In his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office last week, Mr. Biden did not dwell on those challenges. He refrained from mentioning Mr. Trump directly, other than to say: “I wish the next administration success, because I want America to succeed.”
But in his address, he invoked the image of the Statue of Liberty, which he said was “built to swing back and forth against the fury of storms, to stand the test of time, because storms will always come.” -wind – it rolls a few inches, but it doesn’t fall in the current.
He called the statue “a symbol of the spirit of our nation, a spirit created by the forces that unite us and the forces that divide us, but, even in difficult and difficult times, we have withstood all this”.
This could be a metaphor for his own work, especially at the end. Battered by criticism from inside and outside his party, Mr. Biden left the White House and the nation’s capital, but pledged a “smooth and orderly transition to ensure we lead by example.”
Before Monday’s inauguration, Mr. Biden hosted Mr. Trump for tea and coffee at the White House, telling his successor to “come home.” After the swearing-in ceremony on Capitol Hill, Mr. Biden climbed aboard the helicopter that served as Marine One during his presidency for the short trip to nearby Joint Base Andrews. Aides said he planned to go to Santa Ynez, Calif., for a vacation when Mr. Trump returned to the Oval Office.
Mr. Biden may return to his home in Wilmington, Del., where he spent the weekend during his political career in Washington.
At the space station, many of Mr. Biden’s White House staff gathered to say goodbye. In a brief note, the former president thanked them for “upholding the core values of honesty, integrity and integrity.”
But he also urged them to stop fighting Mr. Trump and the agenda represented by the MAGA movement.
“We still have things to do,” he told the crowd of supporters and workers. Then, reflecting his Catholic upbringing, he crossed himself and stared at the ceiling as he addressed Mr. Trump: “We heard the inauguration speech today. We still have a lot to do.”
“We’ve always done our best as Americans,” he continued. “We never give up, never give up. We will leave the office. We are not giving up the fight.”
It was the only time in his last speech that Mr. Biden mentioned his successor. Shortly after, he boarded the blue and white 747 that had been called Air Force One for the past four years as president. The plane won’t get that name again until Mr. Trump becomes president. This time it was called Special Air Mission 46.
“I’ve been doing this for 50 years,” Mr. Biden said, looking ahead to how future generations will remember his administration. “History will judge what you did as one of the most important contributions made by all of America.”
