Biden was sworn in by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. A few minutes before, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the 49th Vice-President of the United States, becoming the first woman and the first woman of color to serve in such a position.
In his inauguration speech, US President Biden said that his goal is to bring the American people together. "This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge," he said on the Capitol steps, shortly after being sworn in.
"And unity is the path forward. And we must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we do that, I guarantee you we will not fail," he added.
President Biden said he is focused on "bringing America together," uniting the country and called on everyone to join him. Americans can make their country "again the leading force in the world."
"Together we shall write an American story of hope, not fear, of unity, not division, of light, not darkness," the US president said. "A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness. May this be the story that guides, the story that inspires us, and the story that tells age is yet to come," he stated.
President Joe Biden won last November's particularly tense election with the promise of uniting and reconciling an America that is more polarized than ever and facing a severe coronavirus pandemic, an economic downturn, and high social and racial tensions.
Biden served as Barack Obama's former vice president for eight years and as senator from Delaware for nearly three decades. He succeeds former US President Donald Trump, who has left for his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday morning and became the first president skipping his successor's inauguration since 1879 when Andrew Johnson did not attend the ceremony for Ulysses S. Grant.