President Joe Biden’s recent trip to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion has been marred by accusations of plagiarism. During his speech at Pointe du Hoc on Friday, Biden appeared to have lifted passages directly from Ronald Reagan’s famous address delivered at the same location 40 years ago.
The similarities between the two speeches were striking, leading many to question whether Biden’s team had intentionally copied Reagan’s words in an attempt to capture the same oratorical magic and political impact. Just a day before Biden’s speech, Politico reported that the president’s aides were openly studying Reagan’s 1984 trip and looking to “take from Reagan’s playbook” for a breakthrough moment in Normandy.
According to the report, Biden’s team was eager to follow Reagan’s example both oratorically and politically, hoping to capture the attention of a distracted and disillusioned public and remind them of the stakes at hand. The Democratic president’s aides even conceded that they had closely studied Reagan’s trip and aimed to emulate his success in paying homage to the climactic battles for freedom and democracy.
However, what may have been intended as a tribute to Reagan’s iconic speech has instead backfired, drawing criticism and rekindling memories of Biden’s past plagiarism scandals. During his first year in law school, Biden was accused of plagiarizing a law review article, and his 1988 presidential campaign was derailed by multiple accusations of lifting passages from the speeches of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock.