Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaPennsylvania (officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States; its capital is Harrisburg, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are its two great metropolitan areas. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787, the second state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 13,002,700.Open the full entry, the first of four children of Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Finnegan Biden and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr.⁠[1][2]

He has a sister, Valerie, and two brothers, James and Frank.⁠[1]

In 1953 his father found a job selling cars in Wilmington, Delaware, and moved the family into an apartment in the suburb of Claymont.⁠[1][2]

He attended high school at Archmere Academy, a private Catholic school for boys, where he played halfback on the football team.⁠[1]

He entered the University of Delaware in 1961 and received a bachelor’s degree in 1965; in 1968 he graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law with a law degree.⁠[1][3][4]

After law school he took a job with a corporate law firm that defended big businesses and then became a public defender; he began practicing law in Wilmington in 1969.⁠[1][4]

In 1970 he was elected to the New Castle County Council, where he served until 1972.⁠[1][4]

In 1972, at the age of 29, he won the Democratic nomination to challenge the two-term Republican senator J. Caleb Boggs and was elected; his sister Valerie served as campaign manager. This made him one of the youngest Americans ever elected to the United States Senate.⁠[1][4][2]

Just weeks after his Senate election, on December 18, 1972, his wife Neilia and daughter Naomi were killed, and his sons Hunter and Beau were critically injured, in a car accident.⁠[5][2][1]

When he entered the Senate in 1973 he was 30, the constitutional minimum age for a senator.⁠[4][3]

He represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate for 36 years, winning six reelections between 1978 and 2008.⁠[2][4]

In the Senate he was chairman or ranking member of the Judiciary Committee for 17 years and chairman or ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee for 11 years.⁠[1]

Throughout his Senate career he commuted daily by train between Wilmington and Washington, D.C.⁠[4][2]

From 1991 to 2008 he was also an adjunct professor at the Wilmington branch of the Widener University School of Law.⁠[3]

From 1987 to 1995 he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. During his Senate career he chaired the confirmation hearings of five justices of the Supreme Court of the United StatesSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court of the U.S. federal judiciary. Established under the Constitution and the Judiciary Act of 1789, it has consisted since 1869 of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices and sits in Washington, D.C.Open the full entry.⁠[4][1]

In 1987 he presided over the confirmation hearings for Robert Bork, which began on September 15; the Senate rejected the nomination by a vote of 58 to 42.⁠[6][1]

In 1991 he presided over the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas.⁠[1]

In 1990 he introduced the Violence Against Women Act, which Congress did not pass until 1994; in that same year he was a leading advocate of the federal crime bill.⁠[1]

On June 9, 1987, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination; he withdrew from the race on September 23 of that year.⁠[6][4]

He chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee twice, from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2009.⁠[4][3]

In 1991 he voted against authorizing President George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush (1924–2018) was an American politician who served as a Navy pilot in World War II and worked in the oil business before holding posts including U.S. representative, ambassador to the United Nations and director of the Central Intelligence Agency; he was vice president from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993.Open the full entry to wage war against Iraq; in 2002 he voted to authorize the Iraq War, a vote he later acknowledged was a “mistake”; he also opposed the U.S. troop surge in Iraq in 2007.⁠[1][4]

On January 31, 2007, he launched a campaign for the 2008 presidential election; on January 3, 2008, he finished fifth in the IowaIowaIowa is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital and largest city is Des Moines. It was admitted to the Union on December 28, 1846, as the 29th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 3,190,369.Open the full entry caucuses and withdrew.⁠[6][4]

In August 2008 the Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, selected him as his running mate; on August 27 the two secured the Democratic Party’s nomination.⁠[1][3]

In the election of November 4, 2008, Obama and Biden received 365 electoral votes to 173 for the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin. On the same day he was also reelected to the Senate; he resigned his Senate seat before taking office as vice president.⁠[7][3][4]

On January 20, 2009, he took the oath of office as the 47th vice president of the United States.⁠[3][2]

In February 2009 he spoke to a gathering of heads of state and ministers at the Munich Conference on Security Policy.⁠[1]

Obama charged him with overseeing implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and assigned him responsibility for winding down the war in Iraq. During Obama’s deliberations on Afghanistan in the fall of 2009, he favored fewer troops and a narrower mission.⁠[4]

He helped secure the votes in Congress needed to pass the Affordable Care Act, and in the lame-duck session of 2010 he brokered the compromise with Republican leaders that extended the George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge W. Bush (born 1946) is an American politician and Republican who worked in the energy business and was a part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team before becoming the 46th governor of Texas in 1995 and serving as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009.Open the full entry-era tax cuts.⁠[1][4]

On May 6, 2012, he endorsed same-sex marriage; on October 11 he met the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, in the vice-presidential debate.⁠[4]

In November 2012 Obama and Biden were reelected to a second term, with 332 electoral votes to 206 for the Republican ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.⁠[3][8]

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of December 14, 2012, Obama named him to fast-track the development of legislative proposals on gun control, but Congress did not enact any of them.⁠[4]

On October 21, 2015, he announced that he would not run in the 2016 presidential election. In the final part of his vice presidency he led the federal cancer initiative known as the Cancer Moonshot.⁠[1][4][5]

On January 12, 2017, Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction.⁠[3]

After his vice presidency ended in 2017, he and Jill Biden created the Biden Foundation, a charitable organization, and the Biden Cancer Initiative; both suspended operations after he announced in 2019 that he would run for president.⁠[3][4][1]

In 2017 he published the memoir Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.⁠[3]

On April 25, 2019, he announced his candidacy for the 2020 presidential election.⁠[9][6]

In the 2020 Democratic primaries he finished fourth in Iowa, fifth in New HampshireNew HampshireNew Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by Quebec, Canada, to the north, Vermont across the Connecticut River to the west, Massachusetts to the south, and Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east; its capital is Concord. One of the original 13 colonies, it became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on June 21, 1788, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,377,529.Open the full entry and second in NevadaNevadaNevada is a state in the western United States bordered by Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and California; its capital is Carson City. It was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864, as the 36th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 3,104,614.Open the full entry; after an endorsement from Representative James E. Clyburn he won the South CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth Carolina (officially the State of South Carolina) is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Ocean bordering Georgia and North Carolina; its capital is Columbia and its most populous city is Charleston. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788, the eighth state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 5,118,425.Open the full entry primary and then carried 10 of the 14 states voting on “Super Tuesday.” Bernie Sanders withdrew on April 8.⁠[6]

Just before the Democratic National Convention in August 2020 he selected Senator Kamala HarrisKamala HarrisKamala Harris (born 1964) is an American politician and lawyer who served as Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017, as a U.S. senator from 2017 to 2021, and as the 49th Vice President of the United States from 2021 to 2025.Open the full entry as his running mate. The convention, held from August 17 to 20, was a mostly virtual event because of the COVID-19 pandemic; on August 20 he accepted the party’s presidential nomination in an address from Wilmington.⁠[10][6][9]

The presidential election was held on November 3, 2020; on November 7 the major television networks and the Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is a cooperative news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it is the oldest and largest news agency in the United States.Open the full entry declared him the winner.⁠[6]

The Electoral College voted on December 14, giving Biden and Kamala Harris 306 electoral votes to 232 for the Republican ticket of Donald TrumpDonald TrumpDonald Trump (born 1946) is an American politician and businessman, a Republican who ran the real estate company the Trump Organization and starred in the television series The Apprentice. He served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 and has been the 47th president since 2025.Open the full entry and Mike PenceMike PenceMike Pence (born 1959) is an American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013, as Governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017, and as the 48th Vice President of the United States from 2017 to 2021.Open the full entry.⁠[11][6]

On January 6, 2021, while Congress was certifying the election results, a crowd stormed the U.S. Capitol; five people died.⁠[6][3]

Kamala Harris thereby became the first woman to serve as vice president, as well as the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to hold the office.⁠[6][5]

On January 20, 2021, he was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.⁠[2][9]

On his first day in office he announced U.S. acceptance of the Paris Agreement on climate change, revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline through Executive Order 13990, revoked the Trump administration’s entry restrictions through Proclamation 10141, and halted funding for the wall on the U.S.–Mexico border through Proclamation 10142.⁠[9][12]

He named Antony Blinken secretary of state, Janet Yellen secretary of the treasury, Lloyd Austin secretary of defense and Merrick GarlandMerrick GarlandMerrick Garland (born 1952) is an American lawyer and judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1997 to 2021 and as the 86th Attorney General of the United States from 2021 to 2025.Open the full entry attorney general. Yellen was the first woman to lead the Treasury Department, Austin the first Black secretary of defense, Interior Secretary Deb HaalandDeb HaalandDeb Haaland is an American Democratic politician and a member of the Pueblo of Laguna who served as U.S. secretary of the interior from 2021 to 2025, after representing New Mexico’s 1st congressional district in the U.S. House; she was elected governor of New Mexico in November 2026.Open the full entry the first Native American to serve in a cabinet position, and Avril Haines the first woman to serve as director of national intelligence.⁠[12][13]

By the time he took office the coronavirus pandemic had killed more than 400,000 Americans; controlling the pandemic and restoring the economy were his two priorities at the outset.⁠[13]

On March 11, 2021, he signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which provided $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 relief for the economy, public health, and state and local governments.⁠[9][14]

On the same day he announced that all Americans would be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination by May 1, 2021; on March 18 he announced that the administration would meet its goal of 100 million vaccinations weeks ahead of its 100-day target.⁠[9]

On September 9, 2021, he ordered COVID-19 vaccination for federal employees through Executive Order 14043, and on November 4 he announced a vaccination requirement for companies with one hundred or more employees. On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in National Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration lacked authority to enforce the requirement on private companies.⁠[9][9]

The Trump administration had reached a peace agreement with the Taliban in February 2020. On April 14, 2021, Biden announced the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021; the deadline was later moved up to August 31.⁠[12][9][3]

On August 15, 2021, U.S. Embassy personnel in Kabul were evacuated; the Taliban captured Kabul and took power as the Afghan government collapsed. On August 16 he delivered remarks on the situation in Afghanistan.⁠[9][12]

On August 26 a suicide bombing at Kabul International Airport killed 13 American service members and 169 Afghan civilians.⁠[9][12]

On August 31 he delivered remarks on the completion of the withdrawal and the end of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, which closed 20 years of war; more than 124,000 people had been evacuated.⁠[9]

On September 15, 2021, he announced AUKUS, a military technology partnership with the United Kingdom and Australia to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.⁠[9]

On November 14, 2022, while attending the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, he held his first in-person meeting as president with Chinese President Xi Jinping. On November 15, 2023, the two met again in Woodside, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast; its capital is Sacramento and its largest city is Los Angeles. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 39,538,223, the largest of any state.Open the full entry, and agreed to restore military communications and to cooperate on fentanyl control.⁠[9][9]

On February 4, 2023, he ordered a Chinese high-altitude balloon that had crossed the United States shot down off the coast of South Carolina. On August 9, 2023, through Executive Order 14105, he declared a national emergency to restrict U.S. outbound investment in sensitive technologies in “countries of concern,” including China.⁠[9][12]

On November 15, 2021, he signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which provided $1.2 trillion for public transportation, clean water, transportation infrastructure, environmental projects, electric vehicles and renewable energy.⁠[9][14]

In 2021 he also signed a bill making June 19, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, a federal holiday.⁠[14]

On February 22, 2022, he delivered remarks condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and announced sanctions on Russian financial institutions and elites; on February 25 he issued a memorandum providing immediate military assistance to Ukraine; and on March 8 he announced a ban on imports of Russian oil and natural gas.⁠[9][12]

The United States led more than 50 allies in coordinating assistance to Ukraine but did not place American troops on the ground there; by early 2025 the administration had supplied nearly $70 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.⁠[12]

On August 9, 2022, he signed the U.S. instruments of ratification for the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATONATONATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is an alliance founded on the North Atlantic Treaty signed in 1949, with collective defence as its core principle. Its political and administrative centre is in Brussels, Belgium.Open the full entry. On February 20, 2023, he made an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.⁠[9][9]

On February 25, 2022, he nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, the first Black woman ever nominated to the Court; the Senate confirmed her in April 2022 by a vote of 53 to 47.⁠[9][14]

During his four years in office he appointed more than 200 federal judges.⁠[5]

Earlier, on April 9, 2021, he had established the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States through Executive Order 14023 to analyze the Court’s role and evaluate potential reforms; the commission disbanded on December 8, 2021, after a final report that did not recommend major changes to the Court’s operations.⁠[9]

On March 15, 2022, he signed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022; on March 29 he signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which made lynching a federal hate crime.⁠[9]

On June 25 he signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first significant federal gun safety legislation in nearly thirty years.⁠[9]

On August 9 he signed the CHIPS and Science Act, investing $52 billion in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research and supply-chain security; on August 10 he signed the PACT Act, which expanded veterans’ eligibility for health care and disability compensation tied to toxic exposures.⁠[9]

On August 16 he signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a $740 billion package to lower prescription-drug costs, fund clean-energy programs and reduce the deficit.⁠[9]

On December 13 he signed the Respect for Marriage Act, strengthening protections for same-sex and interracial marriages; on December 29 he signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which included the Electoral Count Reform Act.⁠[9]

On August 24, 2022, he announced a student loan relief plan canceling up to $10,000 in debt for low- and middle-income borrowers and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients; the Supreme Court struck the plan down on June 30, 2023.⁠[9]

On October 6, 2022, through Proclamation 10467, he granted pardons for simple possession of marijuana under federal law.⁠[9]

In the 2022 midterm elections Republicans retook the House. On March 20, 2023, he issued the first veto of his presidency, of H.J. Res. 30; later that year he and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a deal to raise the debt ceiling.⁠[14][9]

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that killed at least 1,200 Israeli and foreign citizens, including 46 Americans, and seized some 250 hostages.⁠[12]

On October 18 he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv; he also ordered two aircraft carrier battle groups to the region.⁠[9][12]

On November 24, 2023, he delivered remarks on a hostage-release deal and humanitarian pause in Gaza. In the spring of 2024 he signed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, of which $17 billion was for Israel.⁠[9][14][12]

On November 26, 2024, he announced a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon; on January 15, 2025, he delivered remarks on the cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel.⁠[9][9]

After classified documents were found at Biden’s home, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as special counsel. In February 2024 Hur concluded his investigation and declined to bring criminal charges against Biden over the handling of classified documents.⁠[14][9]

On December 13, 2023, the House voted 221 to 212 to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry into him. In a statement after the vote Biden called it a “baseless political stunt.”⁠[15]

On August 19, 2024, the three House committees leading the inquiry—Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means—released their report; at the time of its release the House had not voted to impeach him.⁠[16]

On April 25, 2023, he announced his candidacy for reelection in video remarks, and in 2024 he won the Democratic primaries.⁠[9][5]

On June 27, 2024, he met Donald Trump in a presidential debate.⁠[9]

On July 21, 2024, he issued a letter to the nation announcing that he would not seek reelection and was withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race, and he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris; on July 24 he addressed the nation on the decision.⁠[9][14]

In the election of November 5, 2024, the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and JD VanceJD VanceJD Vance (born 1984) is an American politician and author, a Republican who served as a U.S. senator from Ohio and has been the 50th vice president of the United States since 2025.Open the full entry won 312 electoral votes to 226 for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Biden afterward hosted President-elect Trump at the White House to discuss the transition of power.⁠[17][9][14]

On January 5, 2025, he signed the Social Security Fairness Act; on January 9 he delivered a eulogy at the memorial service for former President Jimmy CarterJimmy CarterJimmy Carter (1924–2024) was an American politician and Democrat who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. His administration brokered the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, signed the Panama Canal treaties and established relations with the People’s Republic of China, but he lost his reelection bid amid the energy crisis, inflation and the Iran hostage crisis; after leaving office he founded The Carter Center to work on mediation, election observation and disease control, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.Open the full entry; and on January 15 he gave his farewell address to the nation.⁠[9]

January 20, 2025, was his last day in office. That day he issued preemptive pardons to Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley and members of the congressional committee that investigated the events of January 6, among others.⁠[9][14]

On the same day the National Archives and Records AdministrationNational Archives and Records AdministrationThe National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government whose mission is to provide public access to the federal government records in its custody and control. It was established in 1934 and has borne its present name since 1985.Open the full entry assumed custody of the administration’s records and artifacts. The Joseph R. Biden Jr. Presidential Library is the 16th presidential library the agency administers; the records are housed at National Archives facilities in the National Capital Region and will become subject to Freedom of Information Act requests on January 20, 2030.⁠[18][19]

By early September 2025 he had decided to build his presidential library in Delaware, and the Joe and Jill Biden Foundation had approved a 13-person governance board for the library, chaired by Rufus Gifford.⁠[20]

On August 27, 1966, he married Neilia Hunter; they had three children, Beau (born 1969), Hunter (born 1970) and Naomi (born 1971).⁠[3][1]

On June 17, 1977, he married Jill Jacobs at the United Nations Chapel in New York City; their daughter, Ashley, was born in 1981.⁠[3][21][1]

Jill Biden was born on June 3, 1951, in Hammonton, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the eastern United States on the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by New York State, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with the Hudson River forming its northeastern boundary and the Delaware River its western boundary; its capital is Trenton and its largest city is Newark. One of the original 13 colonies, it became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 18, 1787, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 9,288,994.Open the full entry, and received a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Delaware in 2007. She began teaching in 1976 and continued to teach at Northern Virginia Community College during her husband’s vice presidency and presidency.⁠[21]

Joseph R. Biden Jr. Presidential Library: Official website: https://www.bidenlibrary.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[22]