Fact check: Biden’s ‘new world order’ reference tied to Ukraine, not conspiracy theory

The claim: President Joe Biden said there is a ‘new world order’

References to a “new world order” have spread on social media amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the term gained significant traction after it was used by President Joe Biden in a speech in March.

“Now is a time when things are shifting,” Biden told a crowd of CEOs at the Business Roundtable’s quarterly meeting on March 21. “There’s going to be a new world order out there, and we’ve got to lead it.  And we’ve got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it.”

Within hours of his remarks, #NewWorldOrder was trending on Twitter. A flurry of posts suggested Biden’s usage of the phrase confirms the existence of a decades-old conspiracy theory that global elites will take over the world and establish an authoritarian one-world government.

“Them: ‘New world order is just an alt right conspiracy theory.’ Biden: ‘We’re coming into a new world order,’” reads a March 22 Facebook post that generated more than 1,000 interactions in a day. “Some a y’all need to start listening.”

A number of social media postsseized on Biden’s comments, claiming Biden “said the quiet part out loud.” Posts containing the term “new world order” generated more than 278,000 reactions on March 22 on Facebook, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool.

On Twitter, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., wrote, “Reject the New World Order. Embrace America First.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., tweeted, “There is no new world order coming on my watch.”

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This flurry of references ignores the longstanding historical meaning of this phrase, however, giving a misleading impression of Biden’s remarks.

Biden did mention a “new world order,” but he was describing international changes from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, not confirming a world domination conspiracy theory. Historians say politicians have used the term in speeches for decades.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook pages that shared the posts for comment.

Biden used term in reference to Russian invasion of Ukraine

While “new world order” is connected to a long-standing anti-government conspiracy theory, experts say it’s common for politicians to use the term during global conflict and times of change, as Biden was doing.

Biden invoked the phrase while discussing international changes in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Biden said the world’s response to the Russian invasion presents “significant opportunities to make some real changes,” and the world is at an “inflection point” that occurs every three to four generations.

Then he said this: “And now is a time when things are shifting. We’re going to – there’s going to be a new world order out there, and we’ve got to lead it.  And we’ve got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it.”

Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said mentions of a new world order go back at least a century. It is typically used to describe a global situation after major events such as World Wars I and II.

However, he said each time the phrase is used by a prominent figure, right-wing extremists have seized on the comments to suggest that they don’t want a peaceful nation but rather “a socialist one-world government” that would eliminate national borders, freedoms and liberty.

He pointed to instances where the phrase was used decades ago by President George H.W. Bush after the end of the Cold War. In a March 1991 address to Congress on the Gulf War, Bush mentioned a new world order while directly quoting former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

“Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order,” Bush said. “In the words of Winston Churchill, a world order in which ‘the principles of justice and fair play protect the weak against the strong.’”

Kathryn Olmsted, a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, said in an email that both Bush and Biden used the term in line with its historical meaning.

“Both Biden and Bush used the term in essentially the same way: to indicate that the international community needed or needs to cooperate to stop aggression,” Olmsted said.

Landon Firm, a professor of philosophy and religious studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, noted how Biden’s speech mentioned the “world order” created after the end of World War II, which is often called the “liberal international order”

“This was marked by the decline of traditional, overseas empires, especially in the British Empire, and the rise of the United States as a global superpower,” Firm said via email. He added, “‘International order’ is nothing more than the general patterns which describe international relations during a given time period.”

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Our rating: Missing context

Based on our research, we rate MISSING CONTEXT the claim that Biden said there is a “new world order,” because without additional details it could be misleading. Biden’s full speech shows he was discussing global changes in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He was not confirming a one-world government conspiracy theory. Historians and experts say the term “new world order” has been used by politicians for decades to describe international changes during a new period of history.

Our fact-check sources:

• Anti-Defamation League, accessed March 24, New World Order 
• The White House, March 21, Remarks by President Biden Before Business Roundtable’s CEO Quarterly Meeting
• Landon Firm, March 22, Email exchange with USA TODAY
• Mark Pitcavage, March 22, Phone interview with USA TODAY
• The New York Times, Feb. 17, 1991, On Language; The New, New World Order
• C-SPAN, April 13, 1991, Commencement Address on New World Order
• USA TODAY, Sept. 30, 2021, Fact check: Out-of-context clip wrongly suggests Chicago mayor supports ‘new world order’
• News.com.au, Sept. 11, 2021, Three words that sent Dr Kerry Chant global
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, March 6, 1991, Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Cessation of the Persian Gulf Conflict
• Kathryn Olmsted, March 22, Email exchange with USA TODAY

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