President Biden referred to the Marine One presidential helicopter as “Air Force One Helicopter” on Monday — claiming that Ronald Reagan sent the helicopter to take him from Delaware to the DC-area Walter Reed military hospital when Biden suffered a brain aneurysm in the 1980s.
The 81-year-old’s anecdote, like other biographical details he has shared in public statements, is not supported by his own autobiography — or by Reagan’s daily presidential diary.
“President Reagan was nice enough to send Air Force One Helicopter to take me down, but it couldn’t fly,” Biden told firefighters during a day trip to Philadelphia, using the wrong name for the plane.
“So my fire department came, put me in the back and took me up in the deep snow the day I went down to Walter Reed,” added the president, whose story has often faced withering fact-checking amid criticism of his campaign trail. mental acuity.
The final part of the story involving the local fire department was described in Biden’s 2007 book “A Promise to Keep,” but Reagan offering or sending the president a helicopter was not mentioned.
A review of records posted online by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library showed no supporting evidence.
Press reports indicate that then-Sen. Biden was admitted to Walter Reed on February 12, 1988 — and Reagan’s diary, which includes detailed accounts of his meetings and phone calls, shows no discussion of sending the helicopter to help Democrats.
President Biden walks to the Oval Office after arriving on Marine One at the White House on August 14, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
In fact, Reagan himself was unable to board Marine One on the morning of February 12 because bad weather, according to a handwritten annotation, forced him to take a motorcade to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to board Air Force One for the flight to Los Angeles.
The term “Marine One” is used for any helicopter the president rides in, rather than a specific vehicle — as is the case with the term “Air Force One” — and it is usually accompanied by two identical decoys. It is not clear how many times the president may have tried to lend one of the military helicopters in aid.
Biden’s autobiography provides a detailed account of his journey to Walter Reed, sparked by what he says was his brother James Biden’s determination that the facility have the best specialists to treat him.
Ronald and Nancy Reagan board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in 1987. Greg Mathieson/MAI/DMI
“Weather conditions make medevac helicopter flights too dangerous,” Biden wrote. “I don’t know what time it is, but I found myself on a gurney, my test results strapped to my chest, being led out the door of Saint Francis. [hospital in Wilmington, Del.] towards the waiting ambulance.”
Biden wrote that the ambulance was “operated by my friends at the local volunteer fire department” and escorted through the snow by Delaware and then Maryland state police.
“The medical staff didn’t seem to be comfortable with the situation. If the aneurysm bursts, there’s nothing they can do for me on the open road,” Biden wrote.
“We were in the car for about half an hour… while the ambulance driver picked his way through the blizzard until suddenly we noticed we weren’t moving anymore. It’s snowing harder, and we’re not going anywhere.
Then Sen. Joseph Biden poses for a photo at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington with his wife, Jill Biden, after he was discharged to recover from aneurysm repair surgery, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1988. AP
“‘Why are we stopped?’ Jill continued to say. ‘Why are we stopped?’ Finally he started hitting the partition that separated us from the driver’s cab.
“’Maryland State Police not sure where to go,’ came the reply. ‘Move!’ Jill screamed. ‘We can’t.’ ‘Shit,’ he said. “move this ambulance!’ The next thing I know, we’re moving again.”
Reagan is featured later in the book version of the story.
Biden wrote that he was discharged from Walter Reed after 10 days, but then had to be taken back to the hospital for another 10 days and “President Reagan even sent his own doctor to check on me.”
“When I got home, Jill and the staff decided to keep me completely isolated,” she said. “There will be no work, no phone calls, nothing. President Reagan has called twice. Jill thanked the president, but she made no exception to his rule.”
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on whether evidence exists to support the updated version of Biden’s story.
Biden has made a series of incorrect public statements about his own biography, including telling a debunked story involving an Amtrak conductor 13 times as president — and claiming last year that his uncle Frank Biden had been awarded a Purple Heart, though chronological details make the story the truth. impossible
A New York Times poll released last month found that 71% of swing state voters said Biden was “too old to be an effective president,” while only 39% said the same about former President Donald Trump, 77, who is seeking a rematch against Biden next year.
Biden’s defenders say he’s prone to cheating exacerbated by a lifelong stutter.
He ended his first presidential campaign in 1987 – shortly before his aneurysm – after revelations that he had plagiarized campaign speeches and law school papers, and that he had exaggerated his academic record.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
