Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 46th President of the United States from January 20, 2021 to January 20, 2025, and as the 47th Vice President of the United States under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. Biden was the first president from Delaware and the second Roman Catholic president in United States history. Though born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden's identity is inseparably tied to the First State: in 1953, the Biden family moved to Claymont, Delaware, where Joe Biden and his siblings attended local Catholic schools. From his youth in the Brandywine Valley to his decades of daily Amtrak commutes and a Senate career spanning 36 years, Biden became Delaware's most prominent political figure of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Early Life and Education in Delaware

President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the first of four children of Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden and Joseph Robinette Biden, Sr. In 1953, the Biden family moved to Claymont, Delaware. After settling in the state, the family eventually relocated to Mayfield, a neighborhood in Wilmington. In 1953, the Biden family moved into an apartment in Claymont, Delaware. The next year, the Bidens relocated to the Village of Arden, an art colony. The year after that, they moved to Mayfield, a neighborhood in Wilmington, Delaware.

Biden attended and graduated from Archmere Academy in 1961 and the University of Delaware in 1965. At Archmere, a private preparatory school in Claymont, Biden was active in both academics and athletics. Biden attended Archmere Academy in Claymont where he was a standout halfback/wide receiver on the high school football team. Scoring ten touchdowns, he helped lead a perennially losing team to an undefeated season in his senior year. Biden also served as class president during his junior and senior years at Archmere and was noted for his efforts to overcome a childhood stutter, which he later credited the school with helping him address.

At the University of Delaware in Newark, Biden briefly played freshman football and received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in history and political science in 1965. He went on to earn his law degree elsewhere: Biden earned a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1969. From the outset, Delaware had shaped not just his formative years but his professional foundations.

Entry into Delaware Politics

Joseph R. Biden Jr. began his public service career in the State of Delaware as a member of the New Castle County Council, on which he served from 1970 to 1972 and demonstrated true care for and commitment to the residents and businesses of his adopted home state. It was from this local platform that Biden set his sights on a far larger stage.

Joseph R. Biden Jr. was elected to the United States Senate in 1972 at age 29, becoming the sixth-youngest senator in American history upon taking office, and representing the people of Delaware from 1973 to 2009. Biden defeated incumbent Republican U.S. Senator J. Caleb Boggs in what was considered a major political upset. Biden was sworn into office on January 5, 1973, by secretary of the Senate Francis R. Valeo in a small chapel at the Delaware Division of the Wilmington Medical Center. The unusual setting for his swearing-in resulted from one of Delaware's most somber stories: just weeks after his election, tragedy struck the Biden family. Just weeks after his Senate election, tragedy struck when his wife Neilia and daughter Naomi were killed, and sons Hunter and Beau were critically injured, in a car accident. He was sworn into the U.S. Senate at his sons' hospital bedsides and began commuting from Wilmington to Washington every day, first by car, and then by train, in order to be with his family.

Following his first election in 1972, Biden was reelected to six more Senate terms, in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008, usually getting about 60% of the vote. He became the longest-serving senator in Delaware history and, as of 2018, was the 18th-longest-serving senator in U.S. history.

U.S. Senate Career and Delaware Ties

Throughout his Senate tenure, Biden's relationship with Delaware was defined not only by his legislative work, but by his physical presence in the state. Biden was a familiar figure to his Delaware constituency, by virtue of his daily train commute from there, and generally sought to attend to state needs. He strongly supported increased Amtrak funding and rail security; he hosted barbecues and an annual Christmas dinner for the Amtrak crews, who sometimes held the last train of the night a few minutes so he could catch it. This dedication earned him a lasting nickname and a permanent honor: he earned the nickname "Amtrak Joe" as a result, and in 2011, Amtrak's Wilmington Station was named the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station, in honor of the 7,000-plus trips he made from there.

The Wilmington Amtrak station bears the name of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who rode the rails an estimated 7,800 round trips during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate. Built in 1907 as Pennsylvania Station, the station was renamed in 2011 for then-Vice President Joe Biden, an advocate for passenger rail who routinely took the train from Wilmington to Washington, D.C. during his time as a Senator from 1973 to 2009. The station served as a kickoff location for some of his campaigns, and he and President Barack Obama rode the train from Philadelphia to Washington for the 2009 inauguration, stopping in Wilmington to greet a crowd of thousands of people.

In the Senate, Biden chaired two of its most powerful committees. As a senator, Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and Foreign Relations Committee. As a Senator from Delaware for 36 years, then-Senator Biden played a leading role addressing some of our nation's most important domestic and international challenges, including writing the Violence Against Women Act. He drafted and led passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. Biden also oversaw six U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

He was an advocate for Delaware military installations, including Dover Air Force Base and New Castle Air National Guard Base. From 1991 to 2008, as an adjunct professor, Biden co-taught a seminar on constitutional law at Widener University School of Law.

Biden's family life in Delaware continued to deepen. In 1977, he married Jill Jacobs, and in 1980, their family was complete with the birth of their daughter Ashley. Jill Biden's own roots were also planted firmly in the state: in 1976, Jill Biden began teaching English at St. Mark's High School in Wilmington. She then became a reading specialist at Claymont High School. Their son Beau Biden went on to follow his father into public service, becoming Delaware Attorney General before his death from brain cancer in 2015.

Vice Presidency, Presidential Election, and Delaware Legacy

In 2008, Joe Biden became Vice President after winning a historic election alongside Barack Obama. The duo were reelected for a second term in 2012, which concluded with Biden receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction for his eight years of service as Vice President and the decades of prior service to his country. As Vice President, he worked alongside President Obama to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, oversee the then-largest economic recovery plan in history, and strengthen American leadership on the world stage.

On January 20, 2021, he was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. His election was greeted with particular pride in Delaware. After representing Delaware in the Senate for 36 years, Biden was elected the 47th Vice President of the United States, serving in the historic administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. Delaware has reciprocated that love and admiration with such honors as the establishment of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware, the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Aquatic Center, and the Biden Welcome Center on Interstate-95, all of which illustrate the love and respect Delaware has for its hometown hero.

As president, Biden maintained his deep personal bond with Delaware, frequently returning to Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach. Biden spent more than a quarter of his time working from his home state of Delaware, either at his house in Wilmington or his Rehoboth Beach property. Some 21 months into his term, Biden had made 55 visits to Delaware, totaling some or all of 174 days. For Biden, Delaware is home. He has said he struggles with the formality of the White House, where people are always around. Ted Kaufman, a longtime Delaware friend of Biden's, described the connection simply: "It's a very important part of who he is, and keeps him grounded."

Delaware Honors and Institutions

Delaware has memorialized Biden's decades of service in several lasting ways. In addition to the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station in downtown Wilmington, the University of Delaware formally named institutions in his honor. On December 11, 2018, at the semi-annual meeting of the University of Delaware Board of Trustees, university president Dennis Assanis announced the establishment of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. Biden is an alumnus of the university, having graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1965. The Biden School is one of seven schools of public affairs in the United States named for U.S. presidents.

The School is the second program on campus named for Biden. In 2017, he founded the university's Biden Institute, a research and policy center whose mission is to make an impact in the fields of women's and civil rights, criminal justice reform, environmental sustainability and economic reform. The Biden Institute will remain a part of the new Biden School. Chaired by the president's sister, Valerie Biden Owens, the Biden Institute hosts events, brings prominent speakers to campus and focuses on developing domestic public policy.

President Biden's son Beau, his wife Neilia, and daughter Naomi are buried in the cemetery at St. Joseph on the Brandywine church in Wilmington. The church, located in Greenville, has remained central to Biden's spiritual and personal life in the state. Biden's roots in Delaware — from the streets of Mayfield to the football fields of Archmere, from the courtrooms of New Castle County to the Amtrak platform bearing his name — represent one of the most enduring relationships between a national political figure and the state of Delaware.

See Also

• Wilmington, Delaware
• University of Delaware
• New Castle County
• Archmere Academy
• Dover Air Force Base
• Rehoboth Beach, Delaware