On June 6, 1944 — D-Day — 225 U.S. Army Rangers set out to scale the strategically vital cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, overlooking the beaches of Normandy, in France. Their mission was to neutralize Nazi artillery that threatened to thwart the Western Allies’ invasion of Europe. Only 90 were still able to bear arms after two days of fighting. When President Ronald Reagan spoke at the site on the 40th anniversary of the Allied invasion, 62 “Boys of Pointe du Hoc” sat in the audience. But by the 80th anniversary, which fell on Thursday, not one of the heroes who clawed their way up that precipice remained alive.
President Biden summoned “the echoes of their voices” during a moving visit to the cliffs on Friday: “Does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against [Vladimir] Putin’s aggression?” the president asked. “Does anyone believe these Rangers would want America to go it alone? … Does anyone doubt they wouldn’t move heaven and earth to vanquish hateful ideologies of today?”
They were rhetorical questions, but with them Mr. Biden got at the truth that today’s “America First” movement — like its disgraced predecessor from the years before World War II — has found a receptive audience for isolationism. The invasion of France might never have been necessary had the United States and its Allies from World War I not tried to appease Adolf Hitler. Who would have thought so many Americans would seem to forget, or reject, this costly lesson today, much less that they would support former president Donald Trump, even as he raises the discredited banner of “America First”?
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Formed after World War II as a bulwark against future totalitarian attempts to dominate Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization finds itself tested today by a revanchist, autocratic Russia. Mr. Putin’s best weapons in the war he launched against Ukraine might be historical amnesia and myopia. He’s counting on the United States to grow weary of its global commitments and abdicate them. Mr. Biden has staked his legacy on proving Mr. Putin wrong — and showed it by welcoming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the D-Day commemorations. “Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago, and it is not the answer today,” the U.S. president said. “The price of unchecked tyranny is the blood of the young and the brave. … The Allied forces of D-Day did their duty. Now, the question for us is: In our hour of trial, will we do ours?”
The 2024 election will help answer this question. Mr. Trump threatened to pull out of NATO as president and declared recently that he would “encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” against member states that don’t spend enough on defense. He has made clear that, if he wins, he will force Ukraine to accept a negotiated settlement with Russia that requires ceding territory. Mr. Trump represents appeasem*nt in our time. Notably, he campaigned in Phoenix on the D-Day anniversary with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a leading neo-isolationist who has made a cause of abandoning Ukraine and is being vetted by Mr. Trump as a potential running mate.
Mr. Biden didn’t name Mr. Trump in France — and didn’t need to. His message was clear enough. What he could have said, but didn’t, is that a U.S. retreat today would be doubly unforgivable given that protecting American values and interests does not require anywhere near the level of sacrifice made by those who stormed the beaches of Normandy. It does, however, require understanding the national interest, putting it above self-interest — and electing leaders willing to do the same.
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Mr. Biden is, to be sure, an imperfect messenger. His decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan led to foreseeable disaster. He is an old man in a young country, a fact that hampers his candidacy for reelection. The 81-year-old was a toddler on D-Day. First elected to the Senate 52 years ago, the president is eight years older than Reagan was at Pointe du Hoc in 1984. D-Day itself is as far removed from today as World War II was from the Civil War.
And yet moments like the D-Day commemoration remind us that Mr. Biden’s seniority confers valuable perspective. He was not a World War II veteran but grew up surrounded by them, in an America made possible by their sacrifices — and in that sense, he personifies the country’s lasting connection to the spirit of that age. Certainly, the worldview expressed in his words at Pointe du Hoc on Friday does not carry an expiration date.
