Joe Biden represented Delaware for 36 years in the U.S. Senate before serving as 47th Vice President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. As the Vice President, Joe Biden addressed important issues facing the nation and represented America abroad, traveling over 1.2 million miles to more than 50 countries. He convened sessions of the President’s Cabinet, led interagency efforts, and worked with Congress in his fight to raise the living standards of middle class Americans, reduce gun violence, address violence against women, and end cancer as we know it.Since leaving the White House, Vice President Biden continues his legacy of expanding opportunity for all with the creation of the Biden Foundation, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Biden Domestic Policy Institute at the University of Delaware. He is the author of Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics and the forthcoming memoir Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose (on sale Nov. 14).
U.S. Senator from Delaware, 3 January 1973-15 January 2009. Resigned from office to become US vice president on January 20. He had been reelected senator and elected vice president in November 2008.
Son of a car dealer in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Survived a cerebral aneurysm in 1988.
Third youngest man ever elected Senator in U.S. history (several weeks before his 30th birthday). His wife and small daughter were killed in a car crash around the same time.
Attended Syracuse University.
Sought the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States of America in 1987, but had to drop out in September of that year when it came to light that he had lifted part of a speech given by British politician Neil Kinnock during his campaign. It was an aide to fellow presidential candidate (and eventual Democratic nominee for 1988) Michael Dukakis who leaked videotapes of Biden giving that controversial speech.
Attended the University of Delaware.
Was sworn in as the 47th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2009.
Never drinks alcohol, citing a history of alcoholism in his family. Claims to be dry his entire life.
Father of Beau Biden.
His mother, Jean Finnegan Biden, died on January 8, 2010 at the age of 92.
Father of daughter, Ashley Blazer Biden and father-in-law of Dr. Howard David Brein (born in 1967).
His address at the 2012 Democratic Convention was the most watched speech of either partys convention, including those of the Presidential candidates themselves.
Was awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom by President Obama.[Jan 20217].
One of Time Magazines 100 Most Influential People in the World..
Longtime close friend of John McCain.
As of 2017, has served with 8 US Presidents, four of whom he knew very well.
[observation, January 2013] There is nothing that has pricked the,consciousness of the American people more than the image people have of,little six-year-old kids riddled - not shot, but riddled, riddled -,with bullet holes in their classroom.
[excerpt from his last major speech before leaving office]Under,President Putin, Russia is working with every tool available to them to,whittle away at the edges of the European project, and test the fault,lines of western nations and return to a politics defined by spheres of,influence. [January 2017],[excerpt from his last major speech before leaving office]With many,countries in Europe slated to hold elections this year, we should,expect further attempts by Russia to meddle in the democratic process.
Senator John Stennis:The civil rights movement did more to free the white man that the black man. . . . It freed my soul.
I believe all Americans are born with certain inalienable rights. As a child of God, I believe my rights are not derived from the constitution. My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist. They were given to me and each of my fellow citizens by our creator, and they represent the essence of human dignity. . .
We must have public officials who will stand up and tell the people exactly what they think. . . Our failure in recent years has not been the failure of the people to meet the challenges placed before them, but rather the failure of both our great political parties to place those challenges honestly and courageously before the people, and to trust the willingness of the people to do the things that really need to be done.
1983:To my generation has now come the challenge. In the days to come we will be tested on whether we have the moral courage, the realism, the idealism, the tenacity, and the ability to sacrifice some of the current comfort to invest in the future. . . I believe that this generation will rise to the challenge. . . The experts believe that, like the Democratic Party itself, the less than forty-year-old voters are prepared to sell their souls for some security, real or illusory. They have misjudged us. Just because our political heroes were murdered does not mean that the dream does not still live, buried deep in our broken hearts.
The conservatives could sneer about "social engineering" if they wanted, but I thought that most people believed as I did that government should embody our best hopes and lend a hand to people who were struggling.
There will come a day, I promise you, when the thought of your son, or daughter, or your wife or your husband, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen. My prayer for you is that day will come sooner than later.
My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist.
Our future cannot depend on the government alone. The ultimate solutions lie in the attitudes and the actions of the American people.
Given a fair shot, given a fair chance, Americans have never, ever, ever, ever let their country down. Never. Never. Ordinary people like us. Who do extraordinary things.
For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community.
We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.
