Joe Biden, with his wife Jill and three children, being sworn in as Vice President in 2009
This Wednesday at 12:00pm, Joe Biden will take the oath of office and be sworn in as the 46th (maybe 47th?) President of the United States. This is a long time coming for Biden, as he has spent the majority of his life working towards this moment.
On November 20, 1942, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was raised by a blue-collar, Irish Catholic family. In the early 1950s, Joe's father lost his job in Scranton, so the Biden family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where Joe Sr. would find work as a car salesman.
As Joe got older, he attended Archmere Academy in Wilmington, where he thrived as a football and baseball athlete. Despite this, Joe received mediocre grades, and struggled with a stutter. After graduating from high school in 1961, Biden went on to attend the University of Delaware. In 1963, Joe met Neilia Hunter, on a spring break trip in the Bahamas. Joe instantly fell in love with Neilia, who was a sophomore at Syracuse University at the time. This prompted Joe to attend Syracuse Law School to earn a degree in law after he graduated from Delaware in 1965. In 1966, just two years before Joe would graduate from Syracuse Law School, he and Neilia would get married, and would later go on to have three children.
Two years after graduating from Syracuse, Joe won his first election, which landed him a seat on the New Castle County Council in Delaware. Just two years after that at the age of 29, Joe Biden pulled off a shocking victory over incumbent Republican, Caleb Boggs, to win one of Delaware's two seats in the United States Senate.
When Joe was younger, his father would always tell him, "champ, when you get knocked down, you get back up." This statement would prove to be extremely influential on Joe's life, starting just before he was set to be sworn in as a Senator. In December of 1970, just a week before Christmas, Neilia, and their three kids, Naomi, Hunter and Beau, were all involved in a car accident while out Christmas shopping. Neilia and Naomi were killed in the crash, but Hunter and Beau survived. Hunter and Beau would have to spend the next few weeks in the hospital, and Joe never left their side. In fact, Joe was sworn in as a senator in the boys' hospital room.
Instead of moving to Washington D.C. after becoming a Senator, Joe decided to continue living in Wilmington, which prompted him to commute by train to and from D.C. every day. Joe would make sure that every morning he was there to make his kids breakfast and send them to school, and then be home in time at night to tuck them into bed at night. Joe was only on his own with the kids for five years, as in 1975, Joe met Jill Jacobs, whom he would marry two years later. In 1981, Jill gave birth to their daughter, Ashley, who would be Joe's last child.
Like Joe, Jill was a hard-worker herself. She spent her early years as a Biden earning two master's degrees, as well as her doctorate from the University of Delaware. After she obtained her doctorate, Dr. Biden went on to be a college professor at multiple institutions.
Joe would go on to win reelection in 1978, and would remain a senator until 2009, spending 38 years in total representing the state of Delaware in D.C.. As a senator, Biden served eight years as the chair of the Judiciary Committee, as well as four years as chair of Foreign Relations Committee. Biden also worked on preserving Delaware's favorable corporate climate, which legislated against domestic violence and crafted an anti-crime bill that banned assault rifles, and mandated tougher sentences for drug dealers.
In June of 1987, Biden announced his bid for President of the United States, but his campaign didn't last very long. Biden was caught plagiarizing a speech from Robert F. Kennedy and former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and was also caught exaggerating his academic credentials. This caused major backlash towards him and his campaign, so in September of 1987, Biden dropped out of the race.
In February of 1988, Biden would face another hardship, as he collapsed due to a life-threatening brain aneurysm, and underwent two surgeries which narrowly saved his life. This caused Biden to take a seven month hiatus from his duties as senator, which would be the only time he would take off in his 38 years of being a senator.
In 2008, Biden decided to take another stab at the Presidency, and announced his bid for the office in 2007. Similar to 1988, Biden didn't last very long, as he only received one percent of the delegates in the Iowa caucus, which prompted him to drop out of the race. Although it seemed like Joe would never make it to the White House, he was tapped by Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, to be his running mate in the 2008 election.
Barack Obama would go on to defeat John McCain in the Presidential election, making Joe Biden the 47th Vice President of the United States. Obama and Biden would also go on to defeat Republican challengers Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in the 2012 election, which won them a second term.
As Vice President, Biden oversaw a $787 billion economic stimulus package, which helped revive the economy after the 2008 recession. Biden also played a strong role in easing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which had been going on since 9/11.
Unfortunately for Joe, tragedy would strike his family once again. In 2015, Joe's son, Beau, passed away due to a brain tumor. Beau had served as Delaware Attorney Delaware, and was gearing up to run for Governor of Delaware in 2016, which he likely would have won. Beau was also considered by many, including Joe, to have a high chance of becoming President one day. Beau's death affected Joe greatly, but it didn't stop him from finishing out his duties as Vice President.
In 2016, it was rumored that Biden would run for President, as it was one of Beau's dying wishes. However, Joe decided against it, and decided to end his career in public service.
This changed in 2017 after the Charlottesville riots, when Biden was disgusted by President Trump's reaction to the situation, which prompted him to consider a 2020 bid.
In an interview with PBS, Biden's granddaughters said that Joe was hesitant to run, because he didn't want his family to be negatively affected by getting back into the public spotlight. However, Joe's grandkids came together, and reached a decision on the matter. This prompted his granddaughter, Naomi, to call a family meeting, where they told Joe that not only were they ok with him running, but that he needed to. Not too long after this family meeting, Biden officially announced his candidacy for President of the United States.
Early on in the campaign, Biden was struggling to gain momentum, and his poll numbers were very low. Things weren't looking good for Biden, especially after the Iowa caucus, where he finished fourth. It was looking like Biden was going to drop out immediately following the
Iowa caucus, but his family urged him to stay in the race. Biden then had a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire primary, but continued to fight, as he knew he had a good shot of doing well in South Carolina.
Biden went on to win the South Carolina primary, which completely revived his campaign. He then went on to win primary elections in multiple states, which prompted many of his opponents to drop out of the race and endorse him. Once Super Tuesday came and went, it was pretty clear that Biden was going to win the nomination.
In April of 2020, Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race, which made Biden the presumptive nominee. Just before officially accepting the democratic nomination, he selected California Senator, Kamala Harris, to be his running mate.
Around 11:30am on Saturday, November 7, 2020, Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, pulling off a rare incumbent defeat, beating Republican President, Donald Trump. Biden received 306 electoral votes in his win, most notably picking up states like Georgia and Arizona, which were known for voting for Republicans in Presidential elections.
Despite multiple tragedies, a near-death experience, and political failures, Joe Biden was able to persevere through all of it. Biden has spent 46 out of his 78 years on this earth serving the public, and now, he will go on to serve for at least four more years.