Joe Biden said he will undertake only limited promotion of his forthcoming White House memoir because of advancing cancer, announcing the decision in a social media post on Sunday night.
The book, Promise Me America, is scheduled for publication on November 17. It is Biden’s account of a one-term presidency that began in 2021 under the shadow of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump who were seeking to overturn the outgoing Republican president’s defeat by Biden in the 2020 election.
In the post on X, Biden said the number of speaking engagements he can manage to support the book’s release will be limited. “Some days are better than others,” he said. “It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down. What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped.”
Biden added: “I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves.” He said he and his wife, Jill, were touched and grateful for the support of the American people since his condition became known.
Biden was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer in May 2025, four months after leaving office.
The memoir takes an extensive look at the deadly violence in Washington, D.C., fomented by Trump supporters, who were seeking to keep Trump in office after his 2020 defeat. Congress was due to meet to certify Biden’s victory when the Capitol was invaded, following a rally near the White House where Trump urged his supporters to go to Congress and “fight” for him. Biden describes the attack as a historic shame and writes of the current president that it “should follow him to his grave.”
Separately, Trump sought to cast doubt on Democrats’ midterm election victory, questioning early vote numbers and ballot machines.