By GILLIAN BROCKELL | The Washington Post | Published: January 21, 2021 The National Mall was nearly empty Wednesday as President Biden was sworn into office. The city was under tight security after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the coronavirus pandemic makes any large gatherings risky. But perhaps the emptiness allowed those speaking at the ceremony a clearer view of the huge figure at the other end of that expanse: The statue of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, who guided the nation through the Civil War, received an extraordinary number of shout-outs during the inauguration. And his portrait now hangs in the Biden Oval Office alongside George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.