Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (/ˈbaɪdən/ BY-dən; born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 47th vice president of the United States in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as United States Senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009. He is the Democratic presidential nominee for the 2020 election, running against the incumbent, Donald Trump.
Joe Biden | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2013 | |
| 47th Vice President of the United States | |
| In office January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Dick Cheney |
| Succeeded by | Mike Pence |
| United States Senator from Delaware | |
| In office January 3, 1973 – January 15, 2009 | |
| Preceded by | J. Caleb Boggs |
| Succeeded by | Ted Kaufman |
| Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Lugar |
| Succeeded by | John Kerry |
| In office June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Jesse Helms |
| Succeeded by | Richard Lugar |
| In office January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Jesse Helms |
| Succeeded by | Jesse Helms |
| Chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus | |
| In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Chuck Grassley |
| Succeeded by | Dianne Feinstein |
| Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee | |
| In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Strom Thurmond |
| Succeeded by | Orrin Hatch |
| Member of the New Castle County Council from the 4th district | |
| In office November 4, 1970 – November 8, 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Folsom |
| Succeeded by | Francis Swift |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. November 20, 1942 Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Edward Francis Blewitt (great-grandfather) |
| Education | University of Delaware (BA) Syracuse University (JD) |
| Occupation |
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| Awards | Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction (2017) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Campaign website |
Raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and New Castle County, Delaware, Biden studied at the University of Delaware before earning his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968. He was elected a New Castle County Councillor in 1970, and became the sixth-youngest senator in American history when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware in 1972. Biden was a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and eventually its chairman. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991, but supported expanding the NATO alliance into Eastern Europe and its intervention in the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. He supported the resolution authorizing the Iraq War in 2002, but opposed the surge of U.S. troops in 2007. He also chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1987 to 1995, dealing with drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties issues; he led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act, and oversaw six U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including the contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and again in 2008.
Biden was reelected to the Senate six times, and was the fourth-most senior senator when he resigned to serve as Barack Obama's vice president after they won the 2008 presidential election; Obama and Biden were reelected in 2012. As vice president, Biden oversaw infrastructure spending in 2009 to counteract the Great Recession. His negotiations with congressional Republicans helped pass legislation including the 2010 Tax Relief Act, which resolved a taxation deadlock; the Budget Control Act of 2011, which resolved a debt ceiling crisis; and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which addressed the impending "fiscal cliff". He also led efforts to pass the United States–Russia New START treaty, supported military intervention in Libya, and helped formulate U.S. policy toward Iraq through the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011. Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting he led the Gun Violence Task Force. In January 2017, Obama awarded Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction.
In April 2019, Biden announced his candidacy in the 2020 presidential election, and he reached the delegate threshold needed to secure the Democratic nomination in June 2020.[1] On August 11, he announced U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born November 20, 1942, at St. Mary's Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania,to Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden (née Finnegan) (1917–2010) and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. (1915–2002).The oldest child in a Catholic family, he had a sister and two brothers. Jean was of Irish descent, with roots traced variously to County Louth[5] and County Londonderry.[6][2]:8 Joseph Sr.'s parents, Mary Elizabeth (née Robinette) and Joseph H. Biden, an oil businessman from Baltimore, Maryland, were of English, French, and Irish descent.[7][2]:8
Biden's father was initially wealthy but had suffered several financial setbacks by the time Biden was born; for several years the family lived with Biden's maternal grandparents.[8] Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Biden's father could not find steady work.[9] Beginning in 1953, the family lived for several years in an apartment in Claymont, Delaware, then moved to a house in Wilmington, Delaware.[8] Joe Biden Sr. later became a successful used car salesman, maintaining the family a middle-class lifestyle.[8][9][10]
At the Archmere Academy in Claymont, Biden was a standout halfback and wide receiver on the high school football team; he also played baseball. A poor student but a natural leader, he was class president in his junior and senior years. He graduated in 1961.
At the University of Delaware in Newark, Biden briefly played freshman football and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 with a double major in history and political science, and a minor in English. He had a C average and was ranked 506th in his class of 688.
Biden has a stutter, which has improved since his early twenties. He says he has reduced it by reciting poetry before a mirror, but it has been suggested that it affected his performance in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential debates.
Biden does not drink alcohol because, he has said, "There are enough alcoholics in my family.
Electoral history
| Election results | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Office | Party | Votes for Biden | % | Opponent | Party | Votes | % | |||
| 1970 | County councilor |  Democratic | 10,573 | 55% | Lawrence T. Messick | Republican | 8,192 | 43% | |||
| 1972 | U.S. senator | Democratic | 116,006 | 50% | J. Caleb Boggs | Republican | 112,844 | 49% | |||
| 1978 | Democratic | 93,930 | 58% | James H. Baxter Jr. | Republican | 66,479 | 41% | ||||
| 1984 | Democratic | 147,831 | 60% | John M. Burris | Republican | 98,101 | 40% | ||||
| 1990 | Democratic | 112,918 | 63% | M. Jane Brady | Republican | 64,554 | 36% | ||||
| 1996 | Democratic | 165,465 | 60% | Raymond J. Clatworthy | Republican | 105,088 | 38% | ||||
| 2002 | Democratic | 135,253 | 58% | Raymond J. Clatworthy | Republican | 94,793 | 41% | ||||
| 2008 | Democratic | 257,484 | 65% | Christine O'Donnell | Republican | 140,584 | 35% | ||||
| 2008 | Vice president | Democratic | 69,498,516 365 electoral votes (270 needed) | 53% | Sarah Palin | Republican | 59,948,323 173 electoral votes | 46% | |||
| 2012 | Democratic | 65,915,795 332 electoral votes (270 needed) | 51% | Paul Ryan | Republican | 60,933,504 206 electoral votes | 47% | ||||
| 2020 | President | Democratic | Donald Trump | Republican | |||||||
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