By using the word genocide — which Turkey has demanded its allies never utter in connection with 1 million to 1.5 million Armenians killed from 1915 to 1923 — Biden stepped across a line in the sand. No U.S. president except Ronald Reagan has taken that step. Martha Jamgochian, vice chairman of the Armenian Historical Association of Rhode Island, said she was outdoors when Biden recognized as genocide the atrocities perpetrated on the Armenians a century ago. "I was probably gardening," Jamgochian said. "I had heard, it was in the newspapers for a couple of days that he was going to do this, and he did." Her group issued a statement, but she expressed a personal view on Thursday.