Joe Biden sworn in as the 46th president of the United States

Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th US president, becoming the oldest US president in history.

The 78-year-old Democrat took the oath of office at the US Capitol at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington due both to the coronavirus and security concerns following the Jan 6 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

With his left hand on a family Bible, Biden took the oath of office administered by US Chief Justice John Roberts that binds the president to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”. During his inaugural address, he calls on Americans to reject efforts to sow division and pledged to work for the voters who did not support him to give him a chance to be their president as well.

Biden declared, “Democracy has prevailed.”

Biden’s running mate, Kamala Devi Harris was sworn moments by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina member. She becomes the nation’s first female, Black and South Asian American vice president.

Biden takes office at a time of deep national unease, with the country facing what his advisers have described as four compounding crises: The pandemic, the economic downtown, climate change and racial inequality. He has promised immediate action, including a raft of executive orders on his first day in office.

“To overcome these challenges to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: Unity,” the US President said. “We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this – if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.”

US President Joe Biden signed 15 executive actions shortly after being sworn, undoing policies put in place by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, making his first moves on the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. According to his aides, Biden ordered a halt to the construction of Trump’s US-Mexico border wall, ended the ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries, declared his intent to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization and revoked the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

In the Oval office, Biden signed an order requiring masks and social distancing on federal property, followed by an order to provide support to underserved communities. As part of the third order he signed, the president rejoined the Paris Agreement on climate change, a treaty the United States formally exited in November after Trump withdrew in 2017.

The 15 executive actions amount to an attempt to rewind the last four years of federal policies.