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UNITED NATIONS – President Joe Biden has seen brutal wars and devastating famines in his five decades of public service. He has also seen reconciliation between bitter enemies and the birth of new alliances.
Those vast changes have left Biden hopeful as he exits the world stage, despite ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, which have killed and displaced thousands of people, and emerging global challenges posed by climate change and artificial intelligence, the president said in his final speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
“Maybe because of all I’ve seen, and all we have done together over the decades, I have hope,” Biden told world leaders on Tuesday. “I know there is a way forward.”
As the president addressed world leaders in Manhattan, his legacy as a statesman was on the line amid a new phase of violence in the Middle East and a close race for the White House between Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, and his handpicked successor, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden, 81, reflected on the “remarkable sweep of history” he’s seen since he was first elected to the Senate in 1972. He was just 29. America was mired in conflict in Vietnam and locked in a Cold War with the Soviet Union. Egypt and Israel were permanent enemies.
“Our country was divided and angry, and there were questions about our staying power and our future,” Biden said of the U.S.
Those conflicts and others have since ended.
The U.S. and Vietnam elevated their relationship last year to the highest level, he pointed out. “It’s a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and the capacity for reconciliation,” Biden said Tuesday.
“I know many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair. But I do not. I won’t. As leaders, we don’t have the luxury.”
A new generation of leadership
Biden’s decision to leave office after a half-century career − which saw him serve as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Barack Obama’s vice president before his 2020 election to the White House − is among the changes that could reshape the international landscape.
From the General Assembly podium, he spoke of his decision to drop his race for reelection, admitting it was “difficult.” Biden stepped aside in July and endorsed Harris as his successor.
“As much as I love the job, I love my country more. I decided after 50 years of public service, it’s time for new generation of leadership to take my nation forward,” he said Tuesday. “My fellow leaders, let us never forget: Some things are more important than staying in power.”
Weaving world events through the arc of his career, Biden reflected on the 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S. that has influenced global affairs ever since, telling the assembly, “We need to end the era of war that began on 9/11.”
Biden spoke of his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. He said he thinks every day about the Americans who lost their lives fighting in Afghanistan.
“I was determined to end it, and I did,” Biden said. “It was a hard decision. But the right decision. Four American presidents had faced that decision, but I was determined not to leave it to the fifth.”
On Israel and Gaza: ‘Going through hell’
Biden’s speech also touched on the Middle East less than two weeks before the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, when militants killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took approximately 250 hostages. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 40,000 Palestinians have died in the ensuing war.
“I’ve met with the families of those hostages. I’ve grieved with them,” Biden said.
Using the same language to describe the suffering of the Palestinians, he said, “innocent civilians in Gaza are also going through hell.”
“Too many families dislocated, crowding in the tents, facing a dire humanitarian situation,” he said, touting a troubled cease-fire and hostage deal endorsed by the U.N. Security Council that the U.S., Qatar and Egypt are working to broker.
“Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms,” he said.
Biden urged a diplomatic solution amid Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, an answer to Hezbollah’s rocket attacks, that have killed more than 500 people this week.
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest. Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible,” he said.
Biden also underscored the need for a two-state solution, “where Israel enjoys security and peace, full recognition and normalized relations with all its neighbors and where Palestinians live in security, dignity and self-determination in a state of their own.”
Putin set out to ‘destroy Ukraine’ and failed: Biden
Biden sought to rally the international community behind Ukraine, telling nations that the body’s charter commanded the U.S. to stand up to Russian aggression.
“I ask the people of this chamber to stand up for them,” Biden said.
As Biden spoke, a diplomat with the Russian delegation was shown on a livestream typing on his phone. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was shown several moments later listening to Biden’s speech intently.
“Will we sustain our support to help Ukraine win this war and preserve its freedom? Or walk away and let aggression be renewed and a nation be destroyed?” asked Biden, who sped to Ukraine’s defense when Russian tanks rolled across the border in 2022.
More: Ukraine destroys Russian arsenal as Kremlin troops grind toward key rail hub
“I know my answer. We can not grow weary, we can not look away, and we will not let up in support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace in the U.N. charter,” Biden said to applause.
Biden also took the opportunity to take a dig at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The good news is Putin’s war has failed at his, at his core aim. He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free,” Biden said. “He set out to weaken NATO. But NATO is bigger, stronger, more united than ever before with two new members, Finland and Sweden.”
US will be ‘unabashed’ in pushing back on China
Biden talked about resuming cooperation with China and working on stopping the flow of deadly synthetic narcotics.
“I appreciate the collaboration. It matters for the people in my country,” he said.
At the same time, he said, the U.S. is “unabashed” in resisting unfair economic competition and against military coercion of smaller nations in the South China Sea and defending Taiwan.
Biden talked about continuing to strengthen Washington’s alliances across the Pacific. (He didn’t mention the Quad, a grouping of the U.S. and Australia, India and Japan, whose leaders he met with over the weekend.)
“These partnerships are not against any nation,” he said. “They’re building blocks for free, open, secure, a peaceful Indo-Pacific.”
‘Stop arming the generals’ in Sudan, Biden says
The civil war in Sudan, which started in April 2023 between two rival factions of the military government, is plunging the country into famine, said Biden.
He appealed to other nations to stop supplying weapons, without naming the suppliers. The United Arab Emirates, whose president Biden met this week, is a key supporter of the Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, which is trying to topple the government, human rights organizations say.
“The world needs to stop arming the generals,” he said. “Stop blocking aid to the Sudanese people. End this war now.”
Biden ended his speech by invoking Nelson Mandela, the first black head of state in South Africa.
Impossible is “just an illusion,” Biden said. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
Ending the speech on his own terms, Biden said, “There’s nothing that is beyond our capacity if we work together.”
Francesca Chambers and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy are White House Correspondents for USA TODAY. You can follow them on twitter at @fran_chambers and @SwapnaVenugopal