On Monday, September 12, 2022, President Joe Biden visited the Boston, including the University of Massachusetts Boston Campus and JFK Library. During the trip Biden made a handful of appearances where he covered topics including improving city infrastructure across the country, introducing his ‘Cancer Moonshot’ plan to combat cancer deaths in the country and even stopped in at a private fundraising event before heading back to Washington.
Since public safety is a primary concern during Presidential visits, Special Agents from the Secret Service, Troopers from the Massachusetts State Police and Boston Police officers worked to close off streets, secure areas and provide protection throughout his travel. Additionally, the Boston and State Police also tweeted out warnings about traffic delays throughout the city for Boston for residents a few the days in advance.
Upon arriving in Boston, President Biden made short remarks at the Boston Logan Airport at approximately 12:45 hours. He highlighted infrastructure investments made as a part of the recent federal infrastructure law, including millions for Logan International Airport. “Through the infrastructure law, we’re investing $62 million here at Logan. It’s the largest grant for airport terminals in the country thus far. And one of the largest federal investments and airports ever,” said Biden.
Before his speech, the United States Secret Service safely transported the President in normal motorcade fashion to the John F. Kennedy Library located on the UMass campus. He spoke about The Cancer Moonshot Initiative, the goal being to fight cancer. “This cancer moonshot is one of the reasons why I ran for president,” Biden said. “Cancer does not discriminate red and blue. It doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. Beating cancer is something we can do together.”
Ahead of the speech, the White House announced that Dr. Renee Wegrzyn would be appointed the head of a new agency, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, the first ever person in the role. The agency was established by Biden in February to improve the U.S. government’s ability to drive health and biomedical research. “ARPA-H will have the singular purpose to drive breakthroughs to prevent, detect and treat diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other diseases and enable us to live healthier lives,” Biden said.
The President ended his day at a Democratic National Convention reception. Little is known about the private fundraiser, besides it was held behind closed doors at a residence at 300 Boylston Street. Fortunately, there were no public safety issues, and the President was able to depart the city with no issues. Both Boston Police officers and State Police Troopers along with their federal partners reported that the visit was a complete success.
