Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as president and vice president, respectively, on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Biden has become the oldest U.S. president, and only the second Catholic president. Harris is the first woman vice president, and first vice president of Indian and Jamaican heritage.
The unprecedented inauguration took place amid a raging pandemic and under threat of violence from pro-Trump extremists. Trump did not attend the ceremony, opting to leave D.C. early Wednesday morning. The National Mall, where a crowd typically gathers to watch the ceremony, was instead filled instead with flags, representing the more than 400,000 Americans killed by coronavirus.
Here's a look at Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C.:
President Joe Biden signs a series of executive orders in the Oval Office on Wednesday night. (Evan Vucci/AP)President Joe Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and family walk the abbreviated parade route after the inauguration ceremony. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden watch a military pass in review ceremony on the East Front of the Capitol at the conclusion of the inauguration ceremonies. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)Members of the National Guard wait to depart Union Station as the city remains under tight security. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman delivers her poem, "The Hill We Climb." (Alex Wong/Getty Images)Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th U.S. president. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)Kamala Harris is sworn as Vice President by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor as her husband Doug Emhoff looks on. (Tasos Katopodis/Pool Photo via AP)Guests space out on Capitol Hill. (Susan Walsh, Pool/AP)Jennifer Lopez is escorted to the inauguration to perform ahead of Biden's swearing in. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)Lady Gaga sings the National Anthem. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)Former President Barack Obama greets Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)President-elect Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff arrive at the steps of the U.S. Capitol for the start of the official inauguration ceremonies. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)The Bidens attend Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on Wednesday morning ahead of the inauguration ceremony. Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff are at left. (Evan Vucci/AP)Leslie Lopez, 18, from California, shows off her pins of President Biden and Vice President Harris outside a restaurant in Washington, D.C. (Claire Harbage/NPR)Jack Curtz, who lives in Boston, walks through downtown D.C. holding a Black Lives Matter flag. (Tyrone Turner/WAMU)Marine One with Donald Trump aboard flies past the Washington Monument en route to Trump's Mar-a-Lago Florida Resort. (Evan Vucci/AP)President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump wave to a crowd as they board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday morning. Breaking with long-standing tradition, Trump is not attending the inauguration. (Luis M. Alvarez/AP)Flags line the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol in place of members of the public who could not attend because of the pandemic. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)National Guard members patrol checkpoints in downtown Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day. (Tyrone Turner/WAMU)The sun rises behind the U.S. Capitol as preparations are made for the 59th inaugural ceremony for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday morning. (Caroline Brehman/Pool Photo via AP)
