"We are fighting for the soul of America. The time has come to remember who we are." With these words, the paragraph "Joe's Vision" begins on the official website of Joe Biden (77). The US Democratic nominee in the race for the presidency demonstrates an awareness of what is at stake in 2020 and a willingness to "fight" 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 (58)?
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. would be the oldest US President ever sworn in for a first term after a November election win at the swearing in January 2021 – then at 78. He was born in Pennsylvania during the Second World War, on November 20, 1942. Most of his ancestors came from Ireland. After graduating from high school, the son of a car salesman studied history and political science before gaining the title "Juris Doctor" at private Syracuse University in 1968 and pursuing a career as a lawyer.
Wife and daughter died in a car accident
Joe Biden, who was only 29, had to deal with a severe blow early on. Six years after the wedding with 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 misfortune back then.
Three years after the serious 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 daughter Ashley in 1981.
He was 36 years for Delaware in the US Senate
The same year that fate Joe Biden took his first wife and daughter, the political career of the passionate commuter commuter accelerated. As one of the youngest politicians in the history of the United States, Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972 as a representative of the State of Delaware and was re-elected 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 the intention of moving into the White House himself for many years. In 1987 he applied to succeed Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), but got out of the race after six weeks because of allegations of plagiarism against him. The stumbling block: Biden had copied a British politician's speech. In January 2007, the then 64-year-old applied again for the presidential candidacy, but left voluntarily a year later due to disappointing results in the Iowa area code.
"Survived the biggest loss"
Joe Biden is "someone whose trust has survived 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 "biggest 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, prompting Joe Biden to refrain from running for the presidency and instead supported Hillary Clinton (72, "Decisions") in 2016.
All the losses that the former senator and father had to face have made him stronger, according to Barack Obama – "steely", as he says in his video. Even so far, accusations of inappropriate behavior towards women that have existed since last year do not seem to affect him. The worst allegation: Biden is said to have sexually assaulted Tara Reade, a former Senate employee, in 1993. The politician denies the allegations.
Officially, Joe Biden has not yet been confirmed as a Democratic presidential candidate in the fight against Donald Trump. However, his election by the delegates is considered set. The Democratic National Convention was scheduled for mid-July, but was postponed to mid-August due to the coronavirus pandemic.