President Joe Biden joked about his age and said he’s optimistic about the United States’s future during the 2024 White House Easter Egg Roll.
Biden quipped that he was a classmate of Rutherford B. Hayes, who began the tradition, during the event, which has been held every Easter Monday since 1878.
Hayes offered the White House grounds after Congress banned egg-rolling at the Capitol, and it has been held on the grounds of the executive mansion ever since.
“This is the people’s house, and over 40,000 people will be here, the largest ever,” Biden told NBC’s Al Roker. “We just like opening up the place and letting people see. This is their place, and it always makes me feel good to look out there and see average Americans just walking around, looking at what’s going on, because they own it.”
Both during the Roker interview and in his public remarks from a White House balcony, Biden said he’s optimistic for America’s future.
“It’s time [to] pray for one another, to cherish the blessings we have in one another,” the president said. “I’ve never been more optimistic about America than I am today.”
First lady Jill Biden promoted the egg roll’s theme of “EGGucation,” with the South Lawn and Ellipse transformed into an outdoor classroom with science projects, a physical education class, a reading nook, a dinosaur exhibit, and information about the solar eclipse happening on April 8.
“I’m a teacher, so I love any time we can turn the White House into a classroom. And that’s what we’re doing today,” Jill Biden said. “The South Lawn is transforming into our learning playground and school community. And there’s so much to discover. Listen to a story in the reading nook. Explore space. … I’m hoping you all learn something new today. But most importantly, I hope you all have fun.”
Decorations around the Truman Balcony were arranged to resemble hot air balloons and read “science,” “technology,” “engineering,” “art,” “math,” and “2024.”
Following his remarks, the president officiated a few egg races and helped a little girl push her egg to the finish line after she started crying midway through.