Joe Biden: Biography, Early Life, Family, Education, Career and Achievements

Joe Biden whose birth name is Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr is an American politician and democrat. He is the incumbent and 46th President of the United States of America (USA). Joe Biden was also the 47th Vice President of the United States during the reign of Barack Obama.

Early Life and Family

Joe Biden was born on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania U.S. He is the firstborn among four children of Joseph Robinette Biden, Sr. and Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden.

He has a sister, Valerie and two brothers, James and Frank. The Bidens relocated from Scranton where Joe Biden was born to Claymont, Delaware, in 1953.

He met Neilia Hunter, a Syracuse University student, during his spring break in 1964. They married in 1966 and had three children, Beau (1969), Hunter (1970), and Naomi also known as Amy (1971).

Neilia Hunter and the three children were engaged in a tragic car accident while out shopping for a Christmas tree a week before Christmas in 1972. Neilia and his daughter Naomi were killed in the accident, while his sons Beau and Hunter were critically injured.

In 1977, Joe Biden married his second wife Jill Biden. Ashley, their daughter, was later born in 1981. Biden suffered another personal tragedy on May 30, 2015, when his son Beau died at the age of 46 from brain cancer.

Education

While in Scranton, Joe Biden attended St. Paul’s Elementary School. When he was 13 years old, his family then relocated to Mayfield, Delaware.He battled with stuttering as a child, and kids mocked him by calling him “Dash” and “Joe Impedimenta.” Biden eventually overcame his speech impediment by memorising big passages of poetry and reciting them loudly in front of his reflection in the mirror.

Joe Biden attended the St. Helena School before being admitted to the elite Archmere Academy. 

Biden helped wash school windows and trim the gardens to help his family pay tuition at Archmere Academy. He graduated from there in 1961. Biden was an outstanding student at Archmere and also a brilliant player on the football team.

He then studied history and political science at the adjacent University of Delaware, where he also played football. During these years, Joe Biden developed a keen interest in politics, fueled in part by the inspiring inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.

In 1968, Biden graduated 76th out of 85 students from Syracuse University College of Law.In 1969, he obtained admission to the Delaware bar.

Career and Professional Work Experience

After graduating from law school in 1968, Biden relocated to Wilmington, Delaware, to begin his legal career. He also became a member of the Democratic Party and was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970. In 1971, while still a councillor, Biden established his own law company.

In 1972, the Delaware Democratic Party recruited a 29-year-old Biden to run for the United States Senate against popular Republican incumbent J. Caleb Boggs. 

Despite the fact that few felt he had a chance, Biden launched a diligent campaign, primarily orchestrated by family members. Valerie Biden Owens, his sister, was his campaign manager, and both of his parents campaigned on a regular basis. That November, in a close campaign with a strong turnout, Biden scored an upset victory to become the nation’s sixth youngest senator elected.

He skipped Washington’s inauguration ceremony for new senators and instead took the oath of office from his son’s hospital bedside.

As an adjunct professor at Widener University School of Law from 1991 until 2008, Biden also co-taught a constitutional law program. 

Years in the Senate

Biden was a member of the Senate from 1973 to 2009. During his time in the Senate, Biden established himself as one of the body’s foremost international policy specialists, chairing the Committee on International Relations for numerous years. 

He advocated for strategic weapons limitation with the Soviet Union, promoted peace and stability in the Balkans, expanded NATO to include former Soviet-bloc nations, and opposed the First Gulf War. 

Later in life, he advocated for American intervention to end the slaughter in Darfur and criticized President George W. Bush’s conduct in the Iraq War, notably the 2007 troop surge.In addition to international policy, Biden was a vocal supporter of stricter criminal legislation. 

In 1987, the failure of Supreme Court candidate Robert Bork to be confirmed was generally ascribed to hard questioning by Biden, who was then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Biden sponsored the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, which increased the number of police officers by 100,000 and increased penalties for a variety of offences.

First Presidential Prospects

After establishing himself as one of Washington’s most renowned Democratic politicians, Biden decided to run for President of the United States in 1987. He dropped out of the Democratic primary after it was revealed that he had plagiarized a portion of a speech.

Biden had been suffering from severe migraines during the campaign, and doctors revealed that he had two life-threatening brain aneurysms shortly after he dropped out in 1988. 

Complications from the subsequent brain surgery resulted in blood clots in his lungs, necessitating yet another surgery. Biden, ever the fighter, returned to the Senate after a seven-month rehabilitation break.

Vice President of the United States

Biden chose to run for President of the United States again in 2007, 20 years after his first unsuccessful presidential effort. Despite his years of Senate experience, Biden’s candidacy failed to gain traction in a field dominated by fellow Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

However, after a hard-fought battle against Clinton, Obama won the Democratic nomination and chose Biden as his running mate. With his working-class roots, Biden assisted the Obama campaign in communicating the message of economic recovery to blue-collar voters in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.

On November 2, 2008, Barack Obama and Joe Biden easily defeated Arizona Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s Republican ticket. On January 20, 2009, Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, while Biden was appointed as the 47th Vice President.

While Biden largely acted as a behind-the-scenes counsel to the president, he was especially involved in developing government policy for Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Second Term and Reelection as a Vice President

In 2012, the Obama-Biden ticket faced Republican rival Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and Romney’s vice-presidential running mate, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.In the 2012 election, Obama defeated Romney, receiving a second term as president and Biden a second term as vice president.

Later that year, Biden showed how powerful a vice president he could be. He played a key role in reaching a bipartisan deal on tax increases and spending cuts in order to avert the fiscal cliff issue.

With a deadline approaching, Biden was able to reach an agreement with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. After months of difficult talks, the fiscal cliff bill was enacted by the Senate on January 1, 2013. Around the same time, Biden emerged as a key actor in the national debate over gun control.

After a horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, he was chosen to lead a special task force on the subject. In January 2013, Biden presented proposals to Obama for lowering gun violence across the country.

He assisted in the development of 19 steps that the president may take on the problem via executive order, among other proposals.

2020 Presidential Election Campaign

On April 25, 2019, Biden announced his intention to run for president in 2020.Despite leading most Democratic surveys when he entered the race, Biden’s candidacy quickly became a litmus test for a party with an increasingly progressive base. 

During the first Democratic primary debate in late June, challenger Kamala Harris chastised Biden for his opposition to busing as a technique of integrating schools in the 1970s. He however did better in later discussions, as he proved his command of international policy and linked his achievements to those of President Obama.

Following Trump’s acquittal in his impeachment trial on February 5, 2020, Biden finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses and fifth in the New Hampshire primary. But, near the end of the month, he rallied with a landslide victory in South Carolina, and he maintained his momentum by collecting the majority of delegates from Super Tuesday voting in early March. 

His surge eliminated the majority of his top challengers from the race. Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate on August 11, 2020, and he was formally named the Democratic presidential nominee for 2020 in August.

2020 Elections Victory and Inauguration

Biden was declared the 46th President-elect on November 7, 2020, four days after the election, after winning Pennsylvania. Along with receiving a record 81 million votes, the soon-to-be 78-year-old by then was set to become the country’s oldest president.

On December 14, 2020, all 538 Electoral College electors voted, confirming Biden’s victory over Trump in the presidential election. Donald Trump had received 232 votes, while Joe Biden won with 306 votes. 

On January 6, 2021, just after the commencement of a congressional session to finalize the Electoral College results, a mob of Trump fans stormed the Capitol and overwhelmed police, forcing members to flee for their safety. Biden quickly issued a speech in which he begged Trump to help end the crisis. 

Following the violence, which resulted in over 80 arrests and five deaths, the legislative session resumed and lasted well past midnight, with Vice President Mike Pence formally pronouncing Biden’s presidential victory shortly after 3:40 a.m. on January 7. Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States of America on January 20, 2021.

Achievements and Awards

In a surprise event at the White House on January 12, 2017, Obama presented Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Biden was dubbed “the best vice president America has ever had” and a “lion of American history” by Obama.

Controversies

Biden was considering a presidential candidacy when Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state assemblywoman, wrote an essay in which she recounted Biden aggressively kissing her at a campaign event. 

A former congressional aide called Amy Lappos came forward a few days later with her account of how Biden previously made her uncomfortable at a fundraiser.