Former senator and vice president Joe Biden was inaugurated Wednesday as the 46th president of the US, Kallanish reports. 

President Biden’s inauguration marks the end of the troubled presidency of Donald Trump. Prior to his inauguration, President Biden vowed to overturn a number of the former president’s policies via executive order (see related story). 

Vice President Kamala Harris makes history as the first female vice president of the US. Harris previously served as a US senator and California state attorney general.

In his inaugural speech, President Biden stressed the importance of unity moving forward. While details of his upcoming administration’s policies were scant, the grand themes revolve around recovery and hope. 

“This is a great nation. We are good people. And over the centuries, through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we've come so far. But we still have far to go. We'll press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibilities, much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build, and much to gain,” President Biden says. “Look, I understand that many of my fellow Americans view the future with fear and trepidation. I understand they worry about their jobs...But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don't look like you or worship the way you do, or don't get their news from the same sources you do. We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.”