COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Joe Biden fell on stage at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation Thursday and the White House said he was “fine” after tripping over a sandbag.
Biden had been greeting the graduates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the front of the stage with salutes and handshakes, and turned to jog back toward his seat when he fell. He was helped up by an Air Force officer as well as two members of his U.S. Secret Service detail.
Onlookers, including some members of the official delegation on stage, watched in concern before Biden, who at age 80 is the oldest president in U.S. history, returned to his seat to view the end of the ceremony.
“He’s fine,” tweeted White House communications director Ben LaBolt. “There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands.” Two small black sandbags were on stage supporting the teleprompter used by Biden and other speakers.
Biden has been dogged by questions about his age and his fitness to serve, and his missteps have become fodder for political rivals as he campaigns for a second term in 2024. He has stumbled before going up the stairs and onto Air Force One and he once got caught up in his bike pedals while stopping to talk to reporters near his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Biden’s personal doctor said after the president’s most recent physical exam in February that Biden “remains a healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.” Dr. Kevin O’Connor also documented the president's stiffened gait, which O'Connor said was the result of spinal arthritis, a previously broken foot and neuropathy in the Biden's feet.
Biden is far from the first national political figure to stumble in public.
President Gerald Ford fell down while walking off Air Force One in 1975. GOP Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the GOP presidential nominee at the time, fell off the stage at a campaign rally in 1996. President Barack Obama tripped walking up the stairs to a stage at a 2012 event. “I was so fired up, I missed a stair” he told the crowd.
President Donald Trump's gingerly walk down a ramp at the 2020 West Point commencement also sparked concerns about his health.
Trump, 76, was campaigning in Iowa when he heard about Biden's stumble and alluded to his own episode.
“He actually fell down? Well I hope he wasn’t hurt,” Trump said after an audience member told him about what had happened to Biden. “The whole thing is crazy. You gotta be careful about that ... 'cause you don’t want that, even if you have to tiptoe down a ramp.”
The audience laughed as Trump recounted slowly inching his way down what he said had been a slippery ramp at the U.S. Military Academy graduation.
“If he fell, it’s too bad,” the former president said. “We gotta just get this thing back on track. That’s a bad place to fall when you’re making, I think it was the Air Force Academy, right? That’s not inspiring.”
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday thanked U.S. Air Force Academy graduates for choosing “service over self” but said they now have the “great privilege” of leading in a world that will only get more confusing in the years to come. His appearance was punctuated by a stumble onstage after handing out diplomas to graduates.
“Graduates, you made a noble choice to lead a life of service,” Biden told more than 900 cadets in remarks on the sun-splashed field at Falcon Stadium in Colorado. “Now you also shoulder a great privilege and a mighty responsibility. Leadership, yeah leadership.”
“In the years ahead, your airmen and guardians are going to look to you for guidance and inspiration because the world is going to get more confusing," he added. “They'll put their trust in you. You, in turn, must strive to always be worthy of their confidence.”
Near the end of the ceremony, the 80-year-old president turned to walk across the stage and tripped. He was helped up by an Air Force officer as well as two members of his U.S. Secret Service detail. Onlookers, including some members of the official delegation on stage, looked over in concern before Biden returned to his seat.
As he got back on his feet, Biden pointed to the place on stage where he lost his balance. “He’s fine,” tweeted Ben LaBolt, the White House communications director. “There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands.”
During his speech, the president talked about how the U.S. had rallied Western nations to stand behind Ukraine against Russia and efforts to enhance deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region.
He also expressed confidence that Sweden will become a NATO member.
Sweden and Finland, both historically unaligned militarily, sought NATO membership after being rattled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But Turkey, a NATO member, blocked both countries from joining the military alliance before agreeing to membership for Finland while continuing to object to Sweden.
But Biden said Sweden's NATO membership “will happen. I promise you.”
The academy graduates will become second lieutenants in either the Air Force or Space Force. Biden said they made up the most diverse graduating class in the academy's history and he called on them to “root out the scourge of sexual assault and harassment in the military.”
Biden also said they will need the qualities of resilience, creativity, endurance and commitment that they learned during four years of training at the academy — learning that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic — to deal with a range of global challenges. He said the challenges ranged from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and America’s rivalry with China “to a whole hell of a lot in between.”
He also cited the threat of climate change and the growing use of artificial intelligence.
“Never forget the sacred oath you swear, and the mission you serve is something far, far greater than any person or president,” Biden said. “It’s our Constitution, it’s our country and it’s our enduring American values.”
After speaking, Biden participated in the presentation of diplomas, exchanging salutes and handshakes with each graduate as they were called to the stage and their loved ones cheered from the stands.
The ceremony was capped by an aerial salute to the graduates by the world-renowned U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds, flying over Falcon Stadium. Biden met with some of the pilots Wednesday after he arrived at Peterson Space Force Base.