President Biden plans to deliver a prime-time farewell address to the nation on Wednesday, putting a capstone on his five-decade political career just days before he leaves an office he has long revered and is leaving only reluctantly.
The White House would not disclose what Mr. Biden plans to say in his speech, set for 8 p.m. Eastern. But in his final months he has been seeking to cement a legacy as a transformative president that stabilized domestic politics while bolstering America’s leadership abroad, one who ushered the nation out of a pandemic, made historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy, and worked to strengthen democratic institutions both nationally and globally.
In a letter published early Wednesday before his address, Mr. Biden said the country was “stronger, more prosperous and more secure” than it was four years ago.
“It has been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years,” Mr. Biden wrote. “Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States. I have given my heart and my soul to our nation. And I have been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people.”
“History is in your hands,” he added.
Whatever image the president seeks to project on Wednesday evening, it is set against a backdrop in which he is leaving office deeply unpopular and handing the reins to a successor, Donald J. Trump, whom he disdains and has repeatedly said is unfit to hold power.
Even the location of the speech, from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, is a reminder that Mr. Biden is not departing as he may have wanted. His last prime-time address delivered there was the 11 minutes he spent in July explaining why he dropped out of the presidential race under pressure from his own party as questions mounted about his age and fitness for another term.