Forty years later, another aging president facing re-election plans to return to the same spot Friday to honor the same heroes and effectively align himself with Mr. Reagan’s legacy of leadership against tyranny.
President Biden will not be the first president to try to walk in Mr. Reagan’s footsteps in Normandy, and it is a risky gamble.
To many in both parties, Mr. Reagan’s speech remains the gold standard of presidential oratory and none have matched it at Normandy since.
But like Mr. Reagan, Mr. Biden wants to use the inspiring story of the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc to make a case for American alliances in the face of Russian aggression — and, implicitly, for himself.
If there is something audacious about Mr. Biden, a staunch Democrat who was no friend of Mr. Reagan’s in the 1980s, summoning the spirit of the Republican legend, it speaks to the up-is-down, black-is-white nature of politics in today’s America.
Persons:
Ronald Reagan, Biden, Reagan, Mr, Reagan’s
Organizations:
Army Rangers, Rangers, Republican Party
Locations:
Normandy, France, Pointe du Hoc, today’s America