President Biden used a visit to Pointe du Hoc, a pivotal landing point in France for American troops during World War II, to rally the world against Russian President Vladimir Putin and warn against the resurgence of “hateful ideologies” that took hold in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion, under the command of Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder, scaled 100-foot cliffs at the point on June 6, 1944, to seize Nazi weapons firing on U.S. soldiers invading Omaha and Utah beaches.
“They stood against Hitler’s aggression,” Mr. Biden said Friday at the point overlooking the English Channel. “Does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against Putin’s aggression here in Europe today?”
Mr. Biden said the brave rangers put their country before themselves and “fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the ’30s and ’40s.”
“Does anyone doubt they wouldn’t fight to vanquish the hateful ideologies of today?” he added.
Mr. Biden, along with elderly veterans and foreign leaders, visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial on Thursday to mark D-Day before heading 8 miles west to Pointe du Hoc on Friday, with an overnight stay in Paris in between.
“They had only 30 minutes to eliminate the Nazi guns behind these cliffs,” Mr. Biden said. “The Rangers clawed, literally clawed, their way up this mighty precipice until at last they reached the top.”
Mr. Biden spoke amid a steady breeze coming off the rocky coast. He is returning to Paris for a state visit with French President Emmanuel Macron this weekend that will focus on the war in Ukraine and other initiatives.
Mr. Biden faces a tough reelection battle in November against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee.
The incumbent Democrat is using his turn on the world stage to trumpet his unwavering belief in strong international alliances, pitting himself against Mr. Trump’s reciprocal stance.
Also, Mr. Biden is using lessons from World War II to warn against forces that could undermine democracies at home or abroad. It’s an implicit swipe at Mr. Trump, who faces indictments over his efforts to overturn what he calls a rigged 2020 election but likely won’t face trial on those charges until after the Nov. 5 vote.
“When we talk about democracy — American democracy — we often talk about the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What we don’t talk about is how hard it is,” Mr. Biden said. “American democracy asks the hardest of things: to believe that we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves. So democracy begins with each of us.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.