On January 20, 2021, America diligently watched as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as the 46th president and Vice President of the United States. Harris made history being the first female, first black, and first South Asian vice president.

Past presidents and cabinet officials such as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Mike Pence all gathered together in Washington D.C. for Biden’s inauguration, everyone except outgoing president, Donald Trump. Following the horrific Capital breach and record second impeachment during his four-year term, Trump quietly exited the White House, skipping out on his successor’s ceremony. He is the first president in 150 years to boycott the inauguration.

After Trump’s turbulent reign, Biden solemnly vows to be a president “for all Americans” — even those who voted against him. Promising to be a beacon of unity, he forcefully states in his inaugural speech, “My whole soul is in putting America back together again.”

The main theme of Biden’s speech is recovery, promoting a healing America. Being that this has been the most chaotic transition in American history, Biden tries to ease the whiplash people have experienced, making a gentle plea that the country become one again. “We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal,” he said. “We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.”

Biden also formally addressed the people that don’t like him, trying to table the hard feelings and work towards erasing the harsh political division, although that might be hard to come by. “To all those who did not support us,” Biden said, “let me say this: Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart. If you still disagree, so be it. That’s democracy. That’s America. The right to dissent peaceably within the guardrails of our republic is perhaps our nation’s greatest strength. Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.”

As Biden moves into the Oval Office, his first course of action is getting the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan underway, and deliver 100 million vaccine shots in 100 days. Wasting no time at all, POTUS is already signing executive orders on matters concerning immigration, racial justice, and climate change.

As we begin the next four years, America desperately seeks peace. “To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America, requires so much more than words,” Biden says. “It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity.”