After nearly six months in office, grappling with a pandemic every step of that way, President Joe Biden was determined to party. "Today, all across this nation, we can say with confidence: America is coming back together," Biden declared Sunday as he hosted more than 1,000 guests for a July Fourth celebration on the South Lawn of the White House. Biden wanted all Americans to celebrate, too, after enduring 16 months of disruption in the pandemic and more than 605,000 deaths. The White House encouraged gatherings and fireworks displays all around the country to mark, as though ripped from a Hollywood script, the nation's "independence" from the virus.