Forty Years Later, Biden Seeks to Echo Reagan’s Legacy of American Leadership

The aging American president facing a re-election campaign came to the Normandy coast of France to pay tribute to the daring Army Rangers who scaled the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, offer a paean to democracy for which they sacrificed and perhaps even wrap himself a little bit in their reflected glory.

That was 1984, and the president was Ronald Reagan, who delivered an ode to heroism and patriotism that would become one of the most iconic moments of his presidency. Forty years later, another aging president facing re-election plans to return to the same spot Friday to honor the same heroes and effectively align himself with Mr. Reagan’s legacy of leadership against tyranny.

President Biden will not be the first president to try to walk in Mr. Reagan’s footsteps in Normandy, and it is a risky gamble. To many in both parties, Mr. Reagan’s speech remains the gold standard of presidential oratory and none have matched it at Normandy since. But like Mr. Reagan, Mr. Biden wants to use the inspiring story of the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc to make a case for American alliances in the face of Russian aggression — and, implicitly, for himself.

If there is something audacious about Mr. Biden, a staunch Democrat who was no friend of Mr. Reagan’s in the 1980s, summoning the spirit of the Republican legend, it speaks to the up-is-down, black-is-white nature of politics in today’s America. When it comes to international relations, the 46th president essentially is arguing that he has more in common with the 40th president than the current head of the Republican Party does.

He will not name former President Donald J. Trump, but the contrast will be clear. While Mr. Biden leads an international alliance against Russian aggression in Europe, as Mr. Reagan did, Mr. Trump as president came close to pulling out of NATO and was friendlier toward President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia than to America’s traditional European allies.

Since leaving office, Mr. Trump has not been a supporter of providing military aid for Ukraine to defend itself against Russian invaders. The former president even publicly declared that he would “encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” against NATO members that do not spend enough on their militaries.