--- title: Joe Biden’s TIME Person of the Year Interview: Read Excerpts description: Joe Biden on his plans to unify a united nation and fight COVID-19. Read the President-elect’s 2020 Person of the Year interview. canonical: https://time.com/5919491/joe-biden-person-of-the-year-interview/ author: Madeleine Carlisle article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-12-11T03:52:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:08:42.807Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Biden on Vaccines, Pardons and Uniting America og:description: Read the 2020 TIME Person of the Year interview og:url: https://time.com/5919491/joe-biden-person-of-the-year-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt463dbd1806d2caa9/698a151e8fd2ee46103620e3/time-person-of-the-year-joe-biden-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2057 og:image:height: 1157 og:image:alt: time-person-of-the-year-joe-biden-portrait og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden on Vaccines, Pardons and Uniting America twitter:description: Read the 2020 TIME Person of the Year interview twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt463dbd1806d2caa9/698a151e8fd2ee46103620e3/time-person-of-the-year-joe-biden-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden on Vaccines, Pardons and Uniting America: The 2020 TIME Person of the Year Interview > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f32bcfa1-12bc-4514-8aac-1f0374ee3cb3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 2020 Person of the Year: Joe Biden on Unifying the Country [Watch (HLS stream): 2020 Person of the Year: Joe Biden on Unifying the Country](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tDtrNKzW.m3u8) (4:43)  _Published 2020-12-11. Time's 2020 Person of the Year is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris_  by [Madeleine Carlisle](https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Dec 11, 2020 3:52 AM UTC  by [Madeleine Carlisle](https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Dec 11, 2020 3:52 AM UTC Where does America go from here? That’s the colossal question before [President-elect Joe Biden](http://time.com/person-of-the-year-2020-joe-biden-kamala-harris), who was named TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year along with [Vice President-elect Kamala Harris](https://time.com/5919490/kamala-harris-person-of-the-year-interview/). He’s not the first Person of the Year to be tasked with the future of America. [Almost every U.S. President](https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-president-elect-history) since the franchise began in 1928 has been named Person of the Year at least once (excluding Calvin Coolige, Herbert Hoover and Gerald Ford.) But Biden is likely the first in a generation to inherit such a crescendo of catastrophes: a worsening pandemic that’s brought a staggering loss of life; widespread unemployment and an economic crisis; a global climate crisis; a reckoning over the continued pervasiveness of systemic racism; and growing misinformation blurring fact and fiction. During an interview with TIME Editor-in-Chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal at Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del., the President-elect discussed his partnership with Harris, the coming COVID-19 vaccine rollout, his thoughts on pardons and more.  President-elect Joe Biden photographed in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 7 Camila Falquez for TIME Here are excerpts from Biden’s interview, edited for clarity. ## **On restoring America’s middle class** If my plan is able to be implemented—my whole economic plan—I think it’s going to go down as one of the most progressive Administrations in American history. We’ve lost the idea that when ordinary people do well, everybody does better. It’s important that we focus on the things that provide opportunity. ## **Pardoning Donald Trump** My Justice Department will make decisions based on the facts. They’re the people’s lawyers; they’re not my lawyers. I’m never going to pick up the phone and say, “Pardon so-and-so,” or “Go out and prosecute so-and-so.” But I lived through Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon. I think that the law and the circumstance should take its effect. I’m not suggesting \[Trump\] be prosecuted or not. But I would not be engaged in that prematurely. ## **How the pandemic has changed him, and us** What’s been reinforced is my absolute commitment that everyone is entitled to health care. It’s not about whether or not it’s a privilege. It’s a right. We’re the only country in the world that has come out of every crisis stronger than we went into the crisis. I predict we will come out of this crisis stronger than when we went in. ## **Fighting vaccine hesitancy** The words of a President matter. Whether they’re good Presidents or bad, they matter. I joined the three Presidents who said they would \[be publicly vaccinated\] because I think people will realize we have to reinstate confidence that science is real. If someone with the reputation of \[Anthony\] Fauci and the leading scientists of the country said this vaccine works, they should take it. ## **Choosing Kamala Harris** She is straight as an arrow. She is really, really bright. She is tough. But yet she has a heart that understands what it’s like to be on the other side of prejudice. She also was an immigrant’s daughter who was raised, in a strange way, like I was. We were taught that we could be anything. Don’t give up, just move, keep pushing. And I just found her to be someone who if, in fact, something happened to me, I knew they could take over. That’s Kamala. ## **Uniting a divided nation** I got widely criticized when I first announced my candidacy \[for\] saying that we had to not greet Trump with a clenched fist, but with more of an open hand. That we weren’t going to respond to hate with hate. And when George Floyd \[was killed\], I was cautioned by some really smart people. You know, “Don’t go out and talk about racial inequity; don’t mention it because you’re gonna lose the suburbs.” My argument all along is that the American people aren’t there. The American people are not mean-spirited. They do want to see justice. They want to be united. They want to bring the country together. This is a matter of letting the air out of the balloon a little bit. I think you’re going to see a lot more cooperation than anybody thinks. ## **What he’d like people to say of him in four years** That America was better off and average Americans are better off the day we left than the day we arrived. That’s my objective. _—With reporting by_ Edward Felsenthal _and_ Simmone Shah. _This article is part of TIME’s_ [_2020 Person of the Year_](https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2020-joe-biden-kamala-harris-choice) _issue._ [_Read more_](https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2020-joe-biden-kamala-harris) _and sign up for the_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=poy-article) _to be among the first to see our cover every week._ ## Transcript Kind: captions Language: en-US The first president to be Person of the Year was FDR in 1932. TIME called his victory, "a feat of political mountain climbing." Here we are in 2020, how does it feel at the top of the mountain? Well it, uh, it's not kinda how I look at it. It feels as though that there's an opportunity to right a lot of wrongs, and make some real progress. I think that there are some parallels, not to me and Roosevelt, but to 32 and now, in that we're in a time when democracy was really at stake. What do you say to Black Americans, immigrants, others who feel victimized by the Trump administration and have no interest in uniting with Trump supporters? When George Floyd occurred, I was cautioned by some really smart people, you know, don't go out and talk about racial inequities and don't mention it because you could lose the suburbs. The suburbs. And my argument all along was the American people aren't there. The American people are better and more decent than that. And I think they want to be united, they want to bring the country together. This is not 1950. Walk me through the moment when you decided that Kamala Harris was the right choice for vice president? Well there are a number of really, I committed that my administration, if I were elected president, would look like America. And that I was determined I would pick a woman as vice president. It's long past time. Look, she is straight as an arrow, she is really really bright, she is tough, but yet she has a heart that understands what it's like to be on the other side of prejudice. She also was an immigrant's daughter who has just, was raised in a strange way like I was. That we're taught that we can be anything. Just you have to reach, you don't give up, just move, keep pushing. As Barack said when I was watching that program about vice presidents and presidents, the one that was on lately, He said "What do you look for in a vice president?" I look for someone who, if in fact, something happened to me, I knew they could take over. That's Kamala. You told a voter who asked you in a television appearance this spring that you would not consider a pardon for Donald Trump if that issue came up. Given the reports that he's looking at pardons for associates, possibly even himself, do you still feel that way? If I'm president, my Justice Department will make decisions based on the facts. Not on mine, they're not my Justice Department, they're the people's lawyer. They're not my lawyers. I watched and I sat through, and I lived through Gerald Ford's pardoning of Richard Nixon. I think that the law and the circumstance should take its effect. And I'm not suggesting anything, I'm not suggesting we prosecute it or not, but I would not be engaged in that prematurely. Are you concerned in this environment of misinformation that people will resist the recommendations to get vaccinated the way they've resisted the strong, clear, scientifically-based recommendations to wear masks? If in fact there was a vaccine available, and Dr. Fauci said it was worth taking, he'd stand before the world and publicly have it done. And I said I would as well. So I'd join the three presidents who said they would do that, because I think people will realize, we have to reinstate confidence that science is real. And that if in fact, someone with the reputation of Fauci and the leading scientists in the country said, "this vaccine works," they should take it. And I will stand before the public and take it. We're the only country in the world, I would posit, that has come out of every crisis stronger than we went into the crisis. Literally, not figuratively. You started off with a question about Roosevelt. We came out of that dire, dark period stronger than when we went in. Stronger. 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