On June 6, 1944, the day of the Normandy landings, 225 U.S. Army Rangers braved the strategic cliffs of Pointe du Hoc overlooking the coast of Normandy, France. Their mission was to neutralize Nazi artillery fire that threatened to halt the Western Allied invasion of Europe. After two days of fighting, only 90 were able to bear arms. When President Ronald Reagan spoke here to mark the 40th anniversary of the Allied invasion, 62 “Boys from Pointe du Hoc” sat in the audience. But by the 80th anniversary on Thursday, not a single heroic scaler of the cliffs was left alive.
President Biden evoked “an echo of their voices” during an emotional cliffhanger visit on Friday: “Does anyone doubt that America wants to stand up? [Vladimir] “Who would condone Putin's aggression?” the president asked. “Does anyone believe the Rangers want America to act alone? … Does anyone doubt that they will stop at nothing to defeat today's hateful ideology?”
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These were rhetorical questions, but Biden used them to hammer home the truth that today's “America First” movement has found a receptive audience for isolationism, just as its disgraced predecessor did before World War II. If America and its allies in World War I had not tried to appease Adolf Hitler, the invasion of France might not have been necessary. Who would have imagined that so many Americans today would forget or reject this costly lesson, much less support former President Donald Trump, who flies the discredited “America First” banner?
NATO, established after the Second World War as a bulwark against future totalitarian attempts to dominate Europe, is today being tested by a vengeful and authoritarian Russia. Putin's greatest weapon in the war he launched against Ukraine may be historical amnesia and shortsightedness. He hopes the United States will tire and abandon its global responsibilities. Biden has staked his legacy on proving Putin wrong, and he demonstrated it by welcoming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Normandy landings anniversary ceremony. “Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago, and it is not the answer today,” the US president said. “The price of unchecked tyranny is the blood of young people and brave men. … The Allied forces of the Normandy landings did their duty. The question for us now is, will we do our duty now that we have reached our testing hour?”
The 2024 elections will help answer this question. As president, Trump has threatened to withdraw from NATO and recently declared that he would “encourage Russia to do whatever it wants” to member states that do not spend enough on defense. Trump has made it clear that if he wins, he will force Ukraine to accept a settlement with Russia that would involve the transfer of territory. Trump represents the modern era of appeasement. Notably, he campaigned in Phoenix on the D-Day anniversary with Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a neo-isolationist leader who has advocated abandoning Ukraine and who is being vetted by Trump as a running mate.
Biden did not mention Trump by name in France, and he did not need to. His message was clear enough. What he could have said, but did not, was that it is doubly unacceptable for the United States to withdraw today, given that the sacrifices made to defend American values and interests are nowhere near those made by those who landed on the beaches of Normandy. But we need to elect leaders who understand the national interest, put it above personal interests, and are willing to do the same.
To be sure, Biden is an imperfect messenger. His decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan caused a foreseeable disaster. He is an old man in a young country, which hampers his bid for reelection. At 81, he was a toddler on D-Day. A president first elected to the Senate 52 years ago, he is eight years older than Reagan was at Pointe du Hoc in 1984. D-Day itself is as remote from today as World War II is from the Civil War.
But moments like the anniversary of the Normandy landings remind us that Biden's elder status gives him a valuable perspective. He's not a World War II veteran, but he grew up surrounded by them, in an America built on their sacrifice. In that sense, he embodies that zeitgeist and the country's enduring connection. Indeed, the worldview expressed in his words on Friday at Pont-du-Hoc has no expiration date.
