After the election thriller, there is a change of power in Washington. Joe Biden becomes the 46th US President. This is how the man who inherits Donald Trump ticks.
"We are fighting for the soul of America. The time has come to remember who we are." With these words began the paragraph "Joe's Vision" on the official website of Joe Biden (77). The 46th President-elect of the United States of America thus demonstrated in the election campaign an awareness of what was at stake in 2020 and a willingness to go into "combat" – against the consequences of the corona pandemic, the division of the population and Donald Trump (74). Who is the man who became known across America's borders as Vice President alongside Barack Obama (59)?
If everything goes as planned, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. will be the oldest US president ever to be sworn in for a first term when he is "inaugurated" in January 2021, at the age of 78. He was born in Pennsylvania on November 20, 1942, during World War II. Most of his ancestors came from Ireland. After graduating from high school, the son of a car salesman studied history and political science before attaining the title "Juris Doctor" at the private Syracuse University in 1968 and embarking on a career as a lawyer.
Wife and daughter died in a car accident
The 29-year-old Joe Biden had to deal with a severe stroke of fate at an early age. Six years after marrying his childhood sweetheart Neilia Hunter in 1966, she and their one-year-old daughter Naomi Christina died in a serious car accident in 1972. The couple's two sons, Joseph "Beau" Robinette III. and Robert Hunter, survived the disaster then.
Three years after the heavy loss, Biden fell in love again – with the then student Jill Tracy Jacobs. In 1977 he married the English teacher who today has two master's degrees and a doctorate. Joe and Jill Biden's personal happiness was crowned with the birth of their daughter Ashley in 1981.
He sat for Delaware in the US Senate for 36 years
In the same year that Joe Biden's fate took his first wife and daughter, the passionate rail commuter's political career picked up speed. As one of the youngest politicians in the history of the United States, Biden was elected to the Senate as a representative of the State of Delaware in 1972 and was re-elected a total of five times in the following years. He took his oath at the bedside of his sons. The lawyer held the office for 36 years, from 1973 to 2009 – the year in which he became Vice President alongside US President Barack Obama.
Joe Biden has had plans to move into the White House for many years. In 1987 he applied to succeed Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), but dropped out of the race after six weeks because allegations of plagiarism were raised against him. The stumbling block: Biden had copied a British politician's speech. In January 2007, the then 64-year-old ran again for the presidential candidacy, but dropped out a year later due to disappointing results in the Iowa primary.
"Survived the greatest loss"
Joe Biden is "someone whose trust has come through the greatest loss there is". This is how Barack Obama describes his former "running mate" in a video message with which he expressed his support for candidate Biden in mid-April. With this "greatest loss" Obama means the second terrible stroke of fate that the 77-year-old had to cope with – the death of his eldest son "Beau". In 2015 the lawyer died of a malignant brain tumor, whereupon Joe Biden refused to run again for the presidency and instead supported Hillary Clinton (73, "Decisions") in 2016.
According to Barack Obama, all the losses that the former senator and family man have already suffered have made him stronger – "steely", as he says in his video. Ultimately, accusations of inappropriate behavior towards women that have existed since last year could not harm the future president. Worst allegation: Biden allegedly sexually assaulted Tara Reade, a former Senate employee, in 1993. The politician denies the allegations.
Home state Pennsylvania helped Joe Biden to victory
After the presidential election last Tuesday (November 3), Joe Biden initially fought head-to-head with incumbent Donald Trump. As the count progressed, however, a clear lead became apparent for the Democrats, especially through the votes of the postal vote after several days in the remaining states. Biden passed the threshold of 270 electoral votes required to win the election on Saturday (November 8th) when his home state of Pennsylvania – one of the contested "swing states" – went to him.