President Joe Biden addressed NATO leaders and their spouses at a dinner he hosted at the White House Wednesday night, toasting the alliance and the shared ties between the alliance’s members.
“Jill and I are honored to have so many close allies and close friends all in the same room,” the president said, adding that “75 years ago, when our nations created NATO, former President Truman said and I quote, ‘What we’re about to do here is a neighborly act.’”
Biden was reading off a teleprompter but stumbled on his words slightly, saying “the allies in this room, not only share a common language, don’t share a common language, we do – not share common border, but we are neighbors. We’re neighbors, because we all share common beliefs.”
“We’re all neighbors because we’re there for one another,” Biden said. “The neighborhood I grew up in, that’s what you do … when the bullies threatened the block you stepped up.”
“We knew that our own house was safer when the entire neighborhood was as well,” he said.
“This simple yet profound idea lies at the heart of our alliance,” Biden said. “It’s allowed our nations to meet any threat with strength and resolve, and above all, allowed women and men, generations, to know the lives of freedom, security and democracy.”
He toasted NATO and “our neighborhood of nations. May we continue to grow stronger and closer.”
