The inauguration theme, “America United,” is a particularly heavy undertaking for a nation rocked by a year of turmoil. Uniting and healing the country has been a core focus for Biden, and a successful inaugural address will aim to assure Americans that the country will make it through this challenging period, said Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History with Southern Methodist University.

“It takes two things to be a truly great president. The first is the ability and the second is you have to govern during a moment of great crisis,” Engel said, citing the legacies of George Washington as the first president, Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.