Biden will give a farewell speech that caps a political career of 5 decades

President Biden plans to deliver a prime-time farewell address to the nation on Wednesday, capping his five-decade political career, just days before leaving an office he has long revered and leaves only reluctantly.

The White House will not reveal what Mr. Biden plans to say in his speech, set for 6 p.m. 8 p.m. Eastern. But in his final months, he has sought to cement a legacy as a transformative president who stabilized domestic policy while strengthening America’s leadership abroad, one who led the nation out of a pandemic, made historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy, and worked to strengthen democratic institutions both nationally and globally.

In one letter published early Wednesday Before his speech, Mr. Biden that the country was “stronger, more prosperous and more secure” than it was four years ago.

“It has been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years,” wrote Mr. Biden. “Nowhere else on earth could a child from humble beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States. I have given my heart and soul to our nation . And I’ve been blessed a million times over with the love and support of the American people.”

“History is in your hands,” he added.

Whatever image the president seeks to project Wednesday night is set against the backdrop of where he leaves office deeply unpopular and hand the reins to a successor, Donald J. Trump, whom he despises and has repeatedly said is unfit for power.

Even the location of the speech, behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, is a reminder that Mr. Biden is not traveling as he might have wanted. His last prime-time speech was the 11 minutes he spent in July explaining why he dropped out of the presidential race under pressure from his own party as questions arose about his age and fitness for another term.

Since Mr. Biden left the race and especially since Mr. Trump’s election victory in November, the president has struggled to retain the limelight.

“Farewell speeches are challenging because they aim to cap an era at a time when most of the country has already moved on to the next,” said Robert Schlesinger, author of the book “White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their” Speechwriters.”

The valedictory address, a tradition dating back to George Washington, is one of a series of speeches that Mr. Biden is in his final days in office. In turn, he has highlighted domestic achievements, such as his conservation record. In a speech focusing on foreign policy at the State Department on Monday, Mr. Biden that he had cemented America’s place as a global leader and left it in a stronger position with allies and enemies than it was four years ago.

A few hours before his speech, Mr. Biden his foreign policy legacy by announcing that Israel and Hamas had accepted a deal he proposed last spring for a cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages the terrorist group took when it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

The agreement, once ratified, will end a 15-month conflict that has clouded the last year of Mr. Biden’s tenure — he was protested across the country as “Genocide Joe” for supporting Israel’s war that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians — and isolated the United States globally.

He will give at least two more speeches this week, where he is expected to continue building the case that as a one-term president he made generational progress.

And in remarks as recently as last week, he has been defiant about the presidential race, saying he believed he could have beaten Mr. Trump, and that his decision to drop out was motivated by his desire to unify the Democratic Party.

“I think I would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump, and I think Kamala could have beaten Trump,” Mr. Biden, adding, “I thought it was important to unify the party. Even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to bring the party together.”

Mr. Biden has told donors that he intends to remain involved in the party after he leaves office. Last week, when asked what role he planned to take on after the presidency, he replied: “I don’t want to be out of sight or out of mind.”

Past presidents have used their farewell speeches to both reflect on their records and warn of challenges ahead.

In 2001, President Bill Clinton used his farewell address to warn his successor not to diminish the nation’s economic prosperity and global presence. In 2009, President George W. Bush gave a somber speech in which he acknowledged “setbacks” during his eight years in office, but said he hoped Americans understood he was doing what he believed was right. Before he handed over the reins in 2017 to Mr. Trump, warned President Barack Obama that economic inequality, racism and closed-mindedness threatened democracy and unity.

In his farewell speech in 2021, Mr. Trump, politically isolated and facing impeachment after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters, to supporters gathered to watch him take off from the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews: “Goodbye. We love you. We’ll be back in one form or another.”

Historians said that Mr. Biden’s speech could recall that of Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose farewell is considered among the most memorable since George Washington’s, and like Mr. Biden’s, was held after half a century of public service.

William Hitchcock, Mr. Eisenhower’s biographer, said he would expect Mr. Biden would make veiled references to the dangers to democracy and an “ethos of service,” painting a contrast to Mr. Trump, if not explicitly.

“It would be fair for him to give a personal farewell, focused on a life of public service – he literally gave his life and indeed the lives of his family members to this country,” Mr. Hitchcock. “And I think that’s something he’s comfortable doing, presenting sacrifices and serving. The contrast with his successor will be clear to his listeners. It’s not something he has to do.”

Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Eisenhower left after their handpicked successors—their vice presidents—lost their elections. But Mr. Eisenhower, then the oldest serving president, did not explicitly criticize his young successor, John F. Kennedy, although he did not think much of him.

But the seriousness of the moment will be palpable, he said.

“It’s a bittersweet moment of transition,” added Mr. Hitchcock, “just as it was for Eisenhower.”