Biden links Ukraine fight to World War II on D-Day

President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron at D-Day commemoration

The president met individually with 41 Americans who stormed the beaches of Normandy

(Image credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images)

published 7 June 2024

What happened

President Joe Biden addressed dozens of World War II veterans at the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach on Thursday, using the 80th anniversary of D-Day to highlight current battles against autocracy. Biden met individually with 41 Americans who stormed the beaches of Normandy, many of them over 100 and wheelchair-bound, then gathered with other world leaders at Omaha Beach for a larger D-Day commemoration.

The "last living voices of those who fought and bled on D-Day" will soon be gone, and "we can't let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come," Biden said. Just as the U.S. and its allies joined forces to beat the Nazis 80 years ago, "we will not walk away" from Ukraine as it fights off Russia's invasion, because if we "surrender to bullies" and "bow down to dictators," we'd be "forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches."

Biden "never mentioned his Republican rival by name, but his speech offered an implicit critique of Donald Trump's 'America First' approach," The Associated Press said. While Biden was in France "warning of totalitarian evil and the dangers to democracy," CNN's Stephen Collinson said, Trump was "back home, seeking a favor from Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, mulling revenge and trashing U.S. elections."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.