Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
was born on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His parents
were Catherine Eugenia Biden (née Finnegan) and Joseph Robinette
Biden Sr. The first of four siblings in a Catholic family, he would
have a sister and two brothers. His mother was of Irish descent, with
roots variously attributed to County Louth County Londonderry. His
paternal grandparents, Mary Elizabeth (née Robinette) and Joseph H.
Biden, an oil businessman from Baltimore, Maryland, were of English,
French, and Irish descent.
Biden married Neilia
Hunter in 1966, and they had two sons and a daughter (Naomi
Christina). In December 1972, while Joe Biden was Senator-elect,
Neilia and Naomi were killed in a traffic crash which injured the two
sons, who recovered from their injuries. Joe Biden married his second
wife, Jill, in 1977, and together they had a daughter, Ashley. In May
2015, his son Beau died of brain cancer.
Joe Biden served as the
47th vice
president of the United States from 2009 to 2017 and represented
Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009. A member of the
Democratic Party, Biden is a candidate for president in the 2020
election.
Before becoming vice
president, Biden was one of the most respected U.S. Senate voices on
foreign policy, civil liberties and crime prevention. First elected
to the U.S. Senate in 1972 – at the age of 29 – he went on to
become a seven-term U.S. Democratic senator from Delaware and a
leader on some of the nation’s most important domestic and
international challenges.
"Biden is not an
academic, he's not a theoretical thinker, he's a great street pol. He
comes from a long line of working people in Scranton – auto
salesmen, car dealers, people who know how to make a sale. He has
that great Irish gift."
– Howard
Fineman, political writer
As chairman or ranking
member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years, Biden was
widely recognized for his work on criminal justice issues, including
the landmark 1994 Crime Bill and the Violence Against Women Act,
which contains a broad array of measures to combat domestic violence
and provides federal funds to address gender- based crimes.
As chairman or ranking
member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years, Biden
played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy. He was at the
forefront of issues and legislation related to terrorism, weapons of
mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East and Southwest
Asia.
As the 47th vice president
of the United States (2009 to 2017) Biden continued his leadership on
important issues facing the nation. He represented the United States
abroad, traveling more than 1.2 million miles to more than 50
countries. As vice president, Biden convened sessions of President
Barack Obama’s cabinet, led interagency efforts, and worked with
Congress to raise the living standards of middle class Americans,
reduce gun violence, address violence against women, and end cancer
as we know it.
"He (Joe Biden)
responds to real people – that's been consistent throughout. And
his ability to understand himself and deal with other politicians has
gotten much much better. Biden is the kind of fundamentally happy
person who can be as generous toward others as he is to himself."
– David
S. Broder, political columnist
After leaving the White
House, Biden created the Biden Foundation. He was named the Benjamin
Franklin Presidential Practice Professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, where he created the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy
and Global Engagement. He also founded the Biden Institute for
Domestic Policy at the University of Delaware. Key areas of focus
include protecting children, ensuring LGBTQ equality, shaping foreign
policy, strengthening the middle class, and ending violence against
women through the “It’s On Us” campaign.
Along with his wife, Dr.
Jill Biden, he founded the Biden Cancer Initiative, and they continue
their late son Beau’s work protecting children from abuse with the
Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children. In 2017, he
published Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose,
which became a New York Times bestseller.
Biden has received
honorary degrees from …
The University of
Scranton (1976),
Saint Joseph's
University (LL.D 1981),
Widener University
School of Law (2000),
Emerson College (2003),
His alma mater the
University of Delaware (2004),
Suffolk University Law
School (2005),
And his other alma
mater Syracuse University (LL.D 2009),
University of
Pennsylvania (LL.D 2013),
Miami Dade College
(2014)Trinity College,
Dublin (LL.D 2016),
Colby College (LL.D
2017),
Morgan State University
(DPS 2017),
University of South
Carolina (DPA 2017).
Distinctions
Biden received many
awards and distinctions including the following:
The George Arents
Pioneer Medal (2005) from his alma mater, Syracuse University,
The
Working Mother magazine's Best of Congress Award (2008) for
"improving the American quality of life through family-friendly
work policies,"
The Richard Lugar the
Hilal-i-Pakistan award from the Government of Pakistan (2008) "in
recognition of their consistent support for Pakistan,”
The Golden Medal of
Freedom award (2009) from Kosovo, that region's highest award, for
his vocal support for their independence in the late 1990s,
Induction into the
Delaware Volunteer Firemen's Association Hall of Fame,
Named to the Little
League Hall of Excellence in 2009,
The freedom of County
Louth award (2016) in the Republic of Ireland,
The Chancellor Medal
(1980),
The Presidential Medal
of Freedom with Distinction (2017). It was the first and only time
Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom with the additional honor of
distinction, an honor which his three predecessors had reserved for
only President Ronald Reagan, Colin Powell and Pope John Paul II,
respectively.
The University of
Delaware renamed their School of Public Policy and Administration
after Biden, naming it the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public
Policy and Administration (2018), which also houses the Biden
Institute.
What Biden Supports
Biden has been
characterized as a moderate Democrat. He has supported deficit
spending for fiscal stimulus in the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009; the increased infrastructure spending
proposed by the Obama administration; mass transit, including Amtrak,
bus, and subway subsidies; same-sex marriage; and the reduced
military spending proposed in the Obama Administration's fiscal year
2014 budget.
The American Civil
Liberties Union gives Biden an 80 percent lifetime score, with a 91
percent score for the 110th Congress. Biden opposes drilling for oil
in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and supports governmental
funding to find new energy sources. He believes action must be taken
on global warming. He co-sponsored the Sense of the Senate resolution
calling on the United States to be a part of the United Nations
climate negotiations and the Boxer-Sanders Global Warming Pollution
Reduction Act, the most stringent climate bill in the United States
Senate. Biden was given an 85 percent lifetime approval rating from
the AFL–CIO, and he voted for the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA).
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