By Brad Needham

U.S. President Joe Biden took himself out of the 2024 presidential election against Donald Trump, after weeks of calls to step down. After what many have called a brutal election debate performance, and many Democratic allies calling him out, he finally ended his run for a second term. It’s unprecedented in U.S. history. And it’s a hugely consequential election, in a time when America is deeply divided. So it was a resignation played on newspaper front pages around the world.

Most gave it the gravity is deserved. It’s a huge shakeup in what is probably still the most powerful country in the world (for how long remains to be seen and could depend on the outcome of this election). Some had some fun.

Here are 15 front pages. Most are from the U.S., but it got big play on front pages all over the world. It’s beyond the butterfly effect. What happens in the U.S. will have huge consequences everywhere, even with its closest ally and neighbour, Canada. So I will start with The Globe and Mail, before jumping into American papers.

And here is a selection from the U.S., including some of the biggest, starting with The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which as been all over big political coverage, with some of the finest front pages when there are big stories. AJC and the Star Tribune also used the same photo.

There were a lot of strong photo choices. Here are a few more from the U.S., including The News Journal (Delaware), The Jersey Journal (New Jersey), East Bay Times (California) and Daily News (New York).

But as mentioned, it wasn’t isolated to American newspaper front pages. Here are a number of international papers that gave the story a big splash. De Morgen (Belgium), Dagens Nyheter (Sweden), Daily Mail (U.K.), Het Financieele Dagblad (Netherlands) and Blick (Switzerland).

I can be pretty certain this American election cycle with provide more opportunities for big stories and big splashes on the front page. With U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris being the new likely democratic nominee, there are some big possible stories, with the biggest being the possibility of the U.S.’s first female president. Stay tuned to see how newspapers handle the next few months!