Former Delaware Senator Joe Biden was elected
the 47th U.S. vice president with President
Barack Obama in 2008 and re-elected in 2012.
He is the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.
Joe Biden briefly worked as an attorney before
turning to politics.
He became the fifth-youngest U.S. senator
in history as well as Delaware's longest-serving
senator.
His 2008 presidential campaign never gained
momentum, but Democratic nominee Barack Obama
selected him as his running mate, and Biden
went on to serve two terms as the 47th vice
president of the United States.
In 2017, at the close of his administration,
Obama presented Biden with the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.
Two years later Biden launched his campaign
for U.S. president and is the 2020 Democratic
presidential nominee.
Long before reaching one of the highest political
offices in the nation, Biden — born on November
20, 1942 — grew up in the blue-collar city
of Scranton in northeast Pennsylvania.
His father, Joseph Biden Sr., worked cleaning
furnaces and as a used car salesman.
His mother was Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Finnegan.
Biden credits his parents with instilling
in him toughness, hard work and perseverance.
He has recalled his father frequently saying,
"Champ, the measure of a man is not how often
he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets
up."
He's also said that when he would come home
sullen because he had been bullied by one
of the bigger kids in the neighborhood, his
mother would tell him, "Bloody their nose
so you can walk down the street the next day!'"
Biden attended St. Paul's Elementary School
in Scranton.
In 1955, when he was 13 years old, the family
moved to Mayfield, Delaware—a rapidly growing
middle-class community sustained primarily
by the nearby DuPont chemical company.
As a child, Biden struggled with a stutter,
and kids called him "Dash" and "Joe Impedimenta"
to mock him.
He eventually overcame his speech impediment
by memorizing long passages of poetry and
reciting them out loud in front of the mirror.
Biden attended the St. Helena School until
he gained acceptance into the prestigious
Archmere Academy.
Although he had to work by washing the school
windows and weeding the gardens to help his
family afford tuition, Biden had long dreamed
of attending the school, which he called "the
object of my deepest desire, my Oz."
At Archmere, Biden was a solid student and,
despite his small size, a standout receiver
on the football team.
"He was a skinny kid," his coach remembered,
"but he was one of the best pass receivers
I had in 16 years as a coach."
Biden graduated from Archmere in 1961.
Biden attended the nearby University of Delaware,
where he studied history and political science
and played football.
He would later admit that he spent his first
two years of college far more interested in
football, girls and parties than academics.
But he also developed a sharp interest in
politics during these years, spurred in part
by the inspiring inauguration of John F. Kennedy
in 1961.
On a spring break trip to the Bahamas during
his junior year, Biden met a Syracuse University
student named Neilia Hunter and, in his own
words, "fell ass over tin cup in love — at
first sight."
Encouraged by his new love, he applied himself
more fully to his studies and was accepted
into the Syracuse University Law School upon
his graduation from Delaware in 1965.
Biden and Hunter married the next year, in
1966.
Biden was at best a mediocre law student.
During his first year at Syracuse, he flunked
a class for failing to properly cite a reference
to a law review article.
Although he claimed it was an accidental oversight,
the incident would haunt him later in his
career.
After graduating from law school in 1968,
Biden moved to Wilmington, Delaware, to begin
practicing at a law firm.
He also became an active member of the Democratic
Party, and in 1970 he was elected to the New
Castle County Council.
While serving as councilman, in 1971, Biden
started his own law firm.
In addition to his increasingly busy professional
life, Biden had three children: Joseph Biden
III (born in 1969), Hunter Biden (born in
1970) and Naomi Biden (born in 1971).
"Everything was happening faster than I expected,"
Biden said about his life at the time.
[Source: biography.com]
Please subscribe to my channel.
Thanks for watching.
