The four living former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden — each shared individual messages remembering the sacrifices and successes of the United States of America on its 250th anniversary.
The most recent former president, Biden, remembered the sacrifices of the American people from “Valley Forge, at Gettysburg, on the beaches of Normandy, in the streets of Selma.”
“We’re the only nation in history built not on ethnicity, or blood, or geography but on an idea,” Biden wrote in a statement. “That’s always been what makes us exceptional. We chose that path 250 years ago but that’s where the work began, not where it ended. Every generation has had to choose it again.”
Obama, the last president to serve eight years in office, wrote of the anniversary: “America is a constant work in progress. Every generation must take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further—protecting what’s right, fixing what’s wrong, and making our union a little more perfect. 250 years later, that’s more important than ever.”
Bush, who served from 2001 to 2008, recorded a video for the anniversary, reacting to several questions.
“I view the freedoms that we cherish, the freedom to worship the way you want to worship, the freedom for the press to hold the powerful to account, the freedom to vote, the freedom to realize dreams as values that can unite us as we head for the next 250 years,” Bush said.
Clinton, who shared the longest message of any former president, was the only one to take not-so-veiled shots at the current administration. He criticized “unleashing masked agents” who “seize people from their homes” and starting an “unconstitutional war on a whim.” He also slammed the Supreme Court and “a compliant Congress” and accused the administration of rewriting “history to ignore and outright deny our past flaws while banning books that say otherwise.”
“Our Founders were wise when they gave us our mission to form a more perfect union,” Clinton wrote in the statement. “They knew America would never be perfect but could always be better. That’s what they meant by ‘more perfect.’ We’ve done that by being courageous enough to acknowledge our flaws and missteps—and then bold enough to leave them behind for brighter tomorrows.”
President Trump, technically both a former and current president, will deliver a speech tonight in Washington, D.C.
