Joe Biden -- Understanding the Candidate

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 47^th 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).