President Joe Biden closed out the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a nearly hour-long speech—amid chants of “thank you, Joe” and “we love Joe” from the crowd—that had been built up as a farewell address from the longtime politician who recently withdrew from the 2024 presidential election and passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris to carry his legacy forward.
Read More: ‘America, I Gave My Best To You:’ The Biggest Moments From Joe Biden’s 2024 DNC Speech
The following transcript was prepared and provided to TIME by Rev, using AI-powered software, and it was reviewed and edited for accuracy by TIME staff.
To my dearest daughter, Ashley, God love you, you’re incredible. Thanks for the introduction, and for being my courageous heart, along with Hunter and our entire family. And especially our rock, Jill, who is, those of you who know us, she still leaves me both breathless and speechless. Everybody knows her. I love her more than she loves me. She walks down the stairs and I still get that going “boom, boom, boom.” You all who know me know I’m not kidding. Let’s give a special round of applause to our First Lady Jill Biden.
My dad used to have an expression for real. He’d say, “Joey, family is the beginning, the middle, and the end.” And I love you all. Folks—and America, I love you.
Folks, let me ask you. Let me ask you: Are you ready to vote for freedom? Are you ready to vote for democracy and for America? Let me ask you: Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz President and Vice President of the United States?
My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, nearly four years ago in winter on the steps of the Capitol, on a cold January day, I raised my right hand and I swore an oath to you and to God, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and to faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States. In front of me was a city surrounded by the National Guard. Behind me, a Capitol just two weeks before had been overrun by a violent mob. But I knew then, from the bottom of my heart that I knew now, there is no place in America for political violence. None.
You cannot say you love your country only when you win. In that moment, I wasn’t looking to the past, I was looking to the future. I spoke to the work at hand, the moment we had to meet. It was, as I told you then, a winter of peril and possibility. Of peril and possibility. We’re in the grip of a once in a century pandemic, historic joblessness, a call for racial justice long overdue, clear and present threats to our very democracy.
(Crowd chants: “We love Joe!”) Thank you.
Yet, I believed then, and I believe now, that progress was and is possible. Justice is achievable, and our best days are not behind us, they’re before us. Now it’s summer. The winter has passed, and with a grateful heart I stand before you now on this August night to report that democracy has prevailed, democracy has delivered, and now democracy must be preserved.
You’ve heard me say it before, we’re facing an inflection point, one of those rare moments in history when the decisions we make now will determine the fate of our nation and the world for decades to come. That’s not hyperbole, I mean it literally. We’re in a battle for the very soul of America.
I ran for President in 2020 because of what I saw in Charlottesville in August of 2017. Extremists coming out of the woods, carrying torches, their veins bulging from their necks, carrying Nazi swastikas and chanting the same exact antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany in the early ’30s. Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the Ku Klux Klan, so emboldened by a President then in the White House that they saw as an ally. They didn’t even bother to wear their hoods.
Hate was on the march in America. Old ghosts in new garments, stirring up the oldest divisions, stoking the oldest fears, giving oxygen to the oldest forces that they long sought to tear apart America. In the process, a young woman was killed. When I contacted her mother, I asked about what happened. She told me. When the President was asked what he thought had happened, Donald Trump said, and I quote, “There are very fine people on both sides.” My God, that’s what he said. That is what he said and what he meant.
That’s when I realized—had to listen to the admonition of my dead son—I could not stay on the sidelines. So I ran.
Because I had no intention of running again. I’d just lost part of my soul. But I ran with a deep conviction in America. I know and believe in an America where honesty, dignity, decency, still matter. An America where everyone has a fair shot and hate has no safe harbor. An America where the fundamental creed of this nation that all of us are created equal is still very much alive. And a broad coalition of Americans joined with me. Eighty-one million voters voted for us, more than any time in all of history. Because of all of you in this room and others, we came together in 2020 to save democracy.
As your President, I’ve been determined to keep America moving forward, not going back. To stand against hate and violence in all its forms. To be a nation where we not only live with but thrive on diversity, demonizing no one, leaving no one behind, and becoming a nation that we profess to be.
I also ran to rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class. I made a commitment to you that I’d be a President for all Americans, whether you voted for me or not. We have done that. Studies show the major bills we have passed actually delivered more to red states than blue, because the job of the President is to deliver to all of America.
And because of you—and I’m not exaggerating, because of you—we’ve had one of the most extraordinary four years of progress ever. Period. When I say we, I mean Kamala and me.
Just think about it. COVID no longer controls our lives. We got from economic crisis to the strongest economy in the entire world. Record 16 million new jobs. Record small business growth. Record high stock market. Record high 401(k)s. Wages up and inflation down, way down and continuing to go down. The smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years. And yes, we both know we have more to do, but we’re moving in the right direction. More Americans have peace of mind that comes from having health insurance. More Americans have health insurance today than ever before in American history.
And after—as a young senator beginning to fight, beginning to fight for 50 years, to give Medicare the power to negotiate low prescription drug prices, we finally beat big Pharma. And guess who cast the tie breaking vote? Vice President soon-to-be President Kamala Harris. And now it’s the law of the land. Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes will pay $35 a month. The law we passed already includes, starting in January, every senior’s total prescription costs can be capped at $2,000 no matter how expensive the drugs they have. And what we don’t focus on, and our Republican friends don’t seem to understand, our reforms don’t just save seniors money, they save the American taxpayers money. You know what we just passed saved? It saved $160 billion over the next decade. That’s not hyperbole. It’s because Medicare no longer has to pay those exorbitant prices to the Big Pharma.
But look.
(Crowd chants: “Thank you, Joe!”) Thank you, Kamala, too.
Look. Folks, how can we have the strongest economy in the world without the best infrastructure in the world? Donald Trump promised Infrastructure Week, every week for four years, and he never built a damn thing.
And now because of what Kamala and I have done—remember, we were told we couldn’t get it done? Remember, when we came into office, we couldn’t get anything passed?—but right now, we’re giving America an infrastructure decade not week. We’re modernizing our roads, our bridges, our ports, our airports, our trains, our buses, removing every lead pipe from schools and homes so every child could drink clean water. We’re providing affordable high speed internet for every American no matter where they live, unlike, not unlike what Roosevelt did with electricity. And so much more. We are uniting the country, we’re growing our economy, we’re improving our quality of life, and we’re building a better America. Because that’s who we are.
How can we be the strongest nation in the world without leading the world in science and technology? After years of importing 90% of our semiconductor chips from abroad, which America invented those chips, our CHIPS and Science Act meant that private companies from around the world are now investing literally tens of billions of dollars to build new chip factories right here in America. And over that period, they’ll create tens of thousands of jobs. And many of those jobs in the so-called Fabs, the buildings that make the chips that are being constructed now. And guess what? The average salary in those fabs, size of a football field, will be over $100,000 a year, and you don’t need a college degree.
Because of you and so many electeds out there, American manufacturing is back. Where the hell does it say we wouldn’t lead the world in manufacturing. Eight-hundred-thousand new manufacturing jobs.
Our Republican friends and others made sure they’d go abroad to get the cheapest labor. We used to import products and export jobs. Now we export American products and create American jobs, right here in America, where jobs belong. With every new job, with every new factory, pride and hope is being brought back to communities throughout the country that were left behind. You know you’re from it, many of you. You know what it’s like when that factory closed where your mother, your father, your grandmother, grandfather worked. And now you’re back, providing once again, proving that Wall Street didn’t build America, the middle class built America, and unions—unions—built the middle class.
It’s been my view since I came to the Senate and that’s why I’m proud to have been the first President to walk a picket line and be labeled the most pro-union President in history. And I accept it. That’s a fact. Because when unions do well, we all do well.
(Crowd chants: “Union Joe!”) You got it man. You got it. I agree. I’m proud.
Look, remember when we were told we couldn’t get anything done, we couldn’t get anything done in the Congress? Well, with your support, we passed the most significant climate law in the history of mankind. Over $370 billion. Cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030. Launching a Climate Corps similar to AmeriCorps and Peace Corps, creating tens of thousands of jobs for young people in the future who are gonna make sure this continues. Creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in clean energy for American workers, including the IBEW installing 500,000—500,000—charging stations all across America. And in the process, reducing carbon emissions. And we’re seeing it, we’re seeing to it that the first beneficiaries of environmental initiatives are those fenceline communities that have been smothered by the legacy of pollution. Louisiana and Delaware, Route 9, all the factories, all those chemical factors are right next to the poorest neighborhoods. They’re the ones we’re going to bring back.
And how, how can we be the greatest nation in the world without the best education system in the world? Donald Trump and the Republican friends—they not only can’t think, they can’t read very well. Seriously, think about it. Look at their Project 2025. They want to do away with the Department of Education.
Well, during the pandemic, Kamala and I helped states and cities get back their schools back open. And we gave public school teachers a raise. We created apprenticeships with businesses in the communities, putting students on a path to a good paying job whether or not they go to college. And by the way, we’re making college a hell of a lot more affordable. Increasing Pell grants by $900. Over $15 billion dollars to HBCUs, minority-serving institutions including Hispanic institutions and tribal colleges. We kept our commitment to provide more student relief than ever by lifting the burden of helping millions of families so they could get married, start a family, buy a home, and begin to build family wealth and contribute to the community and grow our economy. It’s not costing us, it’s creating more wealth.
We fundamentally transformed how our economy grows, from the middle-out and the bottom-up instead of the top-down. You know, my dad used to say there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot to drop down on my kitchen table at the end of the month. I come from a basic middle-class family—three bedroom house, four kids, a grandpop living with us, decent neighborhood, but never a penny to spare—and look, that top-down notion never worked. A lot of Democrats thought it worked, but it doesn’t. And when we did all that, what we’ve done, everybody can do well. Everybody.
Donald Trump calls America a failing nation. No, I’m saying, but think about this. Think about this. He publicly says to the whole world—I’m going to say something outrageous. I know more foreign leaders by their first names and know them well than anybody alive just because I’m so damn old. Well, I’m not joking—think of the message he sends around the world when he talks about America being a failing nation.
He says, we’re losing. He’s the loser. He’s dead wrong. Many of you are very successful people who travel the world. Name me a country in the world that doesn’t think we’re the leading nation in the world. Without America—not a joke, think about it, I’m being literal—who can lead the world other than the United States of America?
Well, guess what? America’s winning and the world’s better off for it. America’s more prosperous and America is safer today than under Donald Trump. Trump continues to lie about crime in America like everything else. Guess what? On his watch, the murder rate went up 30%, the biggest increase in history. Meanwhile, we made the largest investment, Kamala and I, in public safety ever. Now, the murder rate is falling faster than any time in history. Violent crime has dropped to the lowest level of more than 50 years. And crime will keep coming down when we put a prosecutor in the Oval Office instead of a convicted felon.
And folks, the distinguished Senator from California and I passed the first ban on assault weapons. And guess what? It worked. If we care about public safety, we need to prevent gun violence. And what makes me ashamed when I've traveled the world, which I do, more children in America are killed by a gunshot than any other cause in the United States. More die from a bullet than cancer, accidents, or anything else in the United States of America. My God. That's why Kamala and I are proud. We beat the NRA when we passed the first major bipartisan gun safety law in 30 years. I am serious. That comes from here. (Biden points to his heart.) And now it’s time to ban assault weapons again and demand universal background checks.
It’s hard. I never thought I’d stand before a crowd of Democrats and refer to a President as a liar so many times. No, I’m not trying to be funny. It’s sad.
Trump continues to lie about the border. Here’s what he won’t tell you. Trump killed the strongest bipartisan border deal in the history of the United States that we negotiated with the Senate Republican took four weeks. Once it passed, and then we acknowledged those expansive border change in American history, he called senators to say, “Don’t support the bipartisan bill” because he said it would help me politically and hurt him politically. My God. No, I’m serious. Think about it. Not a joke. Ask even the press who doesn’t like me, they’ll tell you that’s true. Typically Trump, once again, putting himself first and America last.
Then I had to take executive action. The result of the executive action I took: border encounters have dropped over 50%. In fact, there are fewer border crossings today than when Donald Trump left office. And unlike Trump, we will not demonize immigrants, saying they’re the poison of the blood of America, poison the blood of our country. Kamala and I are committed to strengthening legal immigration, including protecting Dreamers and more.
And here’s what else I believe in: protecting your freedom. Your freedom to vote, your freedom to love who you love, and your freedom to choose. In its decision overturning Roe v. Wade, as you heard earlier tonight, the United States Supreme Court majority wrote the following, “Women are not without electoral or political power.” No kidding. MAGA Republicans found out the power of women in 2022. And Donald Trump is going to find out the power of women in 2024. Watch.
And where Trump and his MAGA Republican right wingers seek to erase history, we Democrats continue to write history and make more history. I’m proud. I’m proud to have kept my commitment to appoint the first Black woman in the United States Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, a symbol for every young woman in America that you can do anything. I’m proud that I’ve kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like America and that taps into the full talent of our nation. The most diverse cabinet in history, including the first Black woman and South Asian descent to serve as Vice President—and will soon serve as the 47th President of the United States.
She’s good. Look.
(Crowd chants: “Thank you, Joe!”) Thank you, Kamala.
Folks, I’ve long said, we have many obligations as a nation. But I got in trouble years ago for saying I’d make no apologies. We have only one truly sacred obligation: to prepare and equip those we send to war and care for them and their families when they come home and when they don’t. That’s why I was so proud to have written and signed the PACT Act, one of the most significant laws ever, helping veterans and their families exposed to toxic materials like burn pits and Agent Orange.
I was around during the Vietnam War. It’s hard. Nobody's able to prove that their illness is a consequence of Agent Orange. And no one was able to prove initially that because they lived in burn pits—like my son lived next to in Iraq for a year—that it was the cause of their illness. But because of the PACT Act, a surviving spouse to two children, is now eligible for a stipend of about $3,000 a month. And those children who lost a parent are eligible for tuition benefits to go to college and to get job training. It’s already helping over one million veterans and their families just so far. Well, I love them and I’m so proud of my son’s service.
We get it. But guess who doesn’t get it—and doesn’t respect our veterans. We know from his own chief of staff, the four-star general John Kelly, that Trump when in Europe would not go to the grave sites, the one of—in France—the brave service members who gave their lives to this country. He called them suckers and losers. Who in the hell does he think he is? Who does he think he is? There’s no words for a person. They are not the words of a person—not worthy of being a commander-in-chief, period. Not then. Not now. And not ever. I mean that. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Just as no commander-in-chief should ever bow down to a dictator, the way Trump bows down to Putin. I never have, and I promise you, Kamala Harris will never do it, will never bow down.
When Trump left office, Europe and NATO was in tatters. Not a joke. “America First” doctrine changed our whole image in the world. Well, I spent—they gave the hours, about 190 hours, sum total—[inaudible] with my counterparts or heads of state in Europe to strengthen NATO. We did. We united Europe like it hadn’t been united for years, adding Finland and Sweden to NATO.
Ten days before he died, Henry Kissinger called and said, “Not since, not since Napoleon has Europe not looked over their shoulder at Russia with dread, until now. Until now.” Well, guess what? Putin thought he’d take Kyiv in three days. Three years later, Ukraine is still free.
When I came to office, the conventional wisdom was that China would inevitably surpass the United States. They haven’t noticed: No one’s saying that now.
And we’ll keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East. As you know, I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza. A few days ago, I put forward a proposal that brought us closer to doing that than we’ve done since October 7th. We’re working around the clock, my Secretary of State, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now, to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war.
Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.
Just as we worked around the clock to bring home wrongfully detained Americans and others from Russia, in one of the most complicated swaps in history—but they’re home—Kamala and I are going to keep working to bring all Americans wrongfully detained around the world home. I mean it.
Folks, I’ve got five months left in my presidency. I’ve got a lot to do. I intend to get it done.
It’s been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your President. I love the job, but I love my country more. I love my country more.
And all this talk about how I’m angry with all those people who said I should step down—that’s not true.
(Crowd chants: “We love Joe.”)
I love my country more, and we need to preserve our democracy. In 2024, we need you to vote. We need you to keep the Senate. We need you to win back the House of Representatives. And above all, we need you to beat Donald Trump and elect Kamala and Tim President and Vice President of the United States of America.
Look, they’ll continue to lead America forward, creating more jobs, standing up for workers, growing the economy, lowering the cost of American families so they just have a little more breathing room. We made incredible progress, and we have more work to do. And Kamala and Tim will continue to take on corporate greed and bring down cost of food. They’ll keep taking on Big Pharma, making insulin $35 a month, not just for seniors but for everyone in America. And capping prescription drug cost to a total of $2,000, not just for seniors but for everyone. And folks, that’s going to save America again tens of billions of dollars. Folks, they’ll make housing more affordable, building 3 million new homes, providing $25,000 down payment assistance for the first-time home buyer, more than the 10 we approved.
Donald Trump wants a new tax on imported goods, food, gas, clothing, more. You know what that would cost the average family, according to the experts? $3,900 a year in tax. No, it’s a fact. Kamala and Tim will make the childcare tax credit permanent, lifting millions of children out of poverty and helping millions of families get ahead.
But you know what Trump has? He created the largest debt any President had in four years with his $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy. Well, Trump has a new plan. He wants to provide a $5 billion tax cut for corporations that are very wealthy—read it—put us further in debt. And folks, you know we have a thousand billionaires in America. You know what their average tax rate they pay? 8.2%. If we just increased their taxes—we proposed to 25%, which isn’t the highest tax rate even—it would raise 500 billion new dollars over 10 years, and they’d still be very wealthy. Look, Kamala and Tim are going to make them pay their fair share. They’ll protect social security and Medicare. Trump wants to cut social security and Medicare. Kamala and Tim will protect your freedom. They’ll protect your right to vote. They’ll protect your civil rights.
And you know Trump will do everything to ban abortion nationwide. Oh, he will. You know, Kamala and Tim will do everything they possibly can. That’s why you have to elect a Senate and a House to restore Roe v. Wade.
The ancient Greeks taught us that character is destiny. Character is destiny. For me and Jill, we know Kamala and Doug are people of character. It’s been our honor to serve alongside them. And we know that Tim and Gwen Walz are also people of great character.
Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made when I became our nominee. And it was the best decision I made my whole career. We’ve not only gotten to know each other, we’ve become close friends. She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity. Enormous integrity. Her story represents the best American story.
And like many of our best Presidents, she was also Vice President. That’s a joke.
But she’ll be a President our children could look up to. She'll be a President respected by world leaders because she already is. She’ll be a President we can all be proud of. And she will be an historic President who puts her stamp on America’s future.
This will be the first presidential election since January 6th. On that day, we almost lost everything about who we are as a country. And that threat—this is not hyperbole—that threat is still very much alive. Donald Trump says he will refuse to accept the election result if he loses again. Think about that. He means it. Think about that. He’s promising a “bloodbath” if he loses, in his words, and that he’ll be a dictator on “day one,” in his own words. By the way, this sucker means it. No, I’m not joking. Think about it. Anybody else said that in the past, you’d think he was crazy—he is crazy—but you’d think it was an exaggeration. But he means it. We can’t let that happen.
Folks, all of us carry a special obligation. Independents, Republicans, Democrats. We saved democracy in 2020, and now we must save it again in 2024. The vote that each of us cast this year will determine whether democracy and freedom will prevail. It’s that simple. It’s that serious. And the power is literally in your hands. History’s in your hands. Not hyperbole. It’s in your hands. America’s future’s in your hands.
Let me close with this: Nowhere else in the world could a kid with a stutter and modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, grow up to sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. That’s because America is and always has been a nation of possibilities. Possibilities. We must never lose that. Never.
Kamala and Tim understand that this nation must continue to be a place of possibilities. Not just for the few of us, but for all of us. Join me in promising your whole heart to this effort. And where my heart will be, I promise I’ll be the best volunteer Harris and Walz’s camp have ever seen.
Each of us has a part in the American story. For me and my family, there’s a song that means a lot to us, that captures the best of who we are as a nation. The song is called American Anthem. There’s one verse that stands out—and I can’t sing worth a damn so I’m not gonna try, I’ll just quote it—“The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day. What shall our legacy be? What will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through. America, America, I gave my best to you.”
(Crowd chants: “Thank you, Joe!”)
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you. For 50 years, like many of you, I’ve given my heart and soul to our nation. And I’ve been blessed a million times in return with the support of the American people.
I’ve either been too young to be in the Senate because I wasn’t 30 yet and too old to stay as President. But I hope you know how grateful I am to all of you.
I can honestly say, and I mean this from the bottom—I’ll give you my word as a Biden—I can honestly say I’m more optimistic about the future than I was when I was elected as a 29-year-old United States Senator. I mean it.
Folks, we just have to remember who we are. We’re the United States of America. And there's nothing we cannot do when we do it together. God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you.
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