President Joe Biden
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. is the 46th President of the United States. He 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 where Joe Biden and his siblings attended local Catholic schools. Biden graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse University Law School and served on the New Castle County Council.
JOE BIDEN’S FAMILY
At age 29, Joe Biden became one of the youngest Americans ever elected to the United States Senate. Just weeks after his Senate election, tragedy struck when his wife Neilia and daughter Naomi were killed and sons Beau and Hunter were critically injured in a car accident.
Joe Biden was sworn into the U.S. Senate in his sons’ hospital room. He began commuting back and forth between Wilmington and Washington every day—first by car, then by train—to be with his boys every morning and night. In 1977, he married Jill Jacobs, a teacher. Beau and Hunter stood by their sides at the altar. In 1981, their family was made complete with the birth of their daughter Ashley.
A LEADER IN THE SENATE AND 47TH VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Joe Biden served Delaware in the U.S. Senate for 36 years. During that time, he played a leading role in addressing some of our nation’s most important domestic and international challenges, including authoring the Violence Against Women Act.
In 2008, Joe Biden was elected Vice President alongside President Barack Obama. As Vice President, he worked together with President Obama to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, oversee what was then the largest economic recovery plan in history, and strengthen American leadership on the world stage.
THE 46TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
In 2020, Joe Biden was elected President of the United States.
His election came at a pivotal moment. America stood in a winter of peril and possibilities. The country was in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.
Joe Biden ran for the White House to restore the Soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of our nation—the middle class—and to unite the country. After being sworn in as the 46th President on January 20th, 2021, he took swift action to get Americans vaccinated and jumpstart an economic recovery that created 16 million new jobs—more than any other President had created in four years.
By the end of the Biden Administration, America had the strongest economy in the world. In addition to record job creation, wages were up. Inflation was down. The racial wealth gap was the lowest that it had been in 20 years.
Furthermore, the Administration invested in communities across the entire nation—urban, suburban, rural, and Tribal communities. Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, roads, bridges, ports, airports, and railways were rebuilt; lead pipes were removed; and high-speed internet access was expanded to every corner of the country. Manufacturing had come back to America. And the country led the world again in the semiconductor industry. Because of President Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act, cutting-edge technology was manufactured in America—with American workers.
During Joe Biden’s presidency, his Administration finally beat Big Pharma to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors, including capping insulin at $35 a month. More people in America had health insurance at the end of the Biden Administration than ever before in history.
President Biden also signed one of the most significant laws helping millions of veterans who were exposed to toxic materials and their families. His Inflation Reduction Act was the largest investment in climate action in history. And he signed into law the first major gun safety legislation in 30 years. By the end of his presidency, the violent crime rate in America was at a 50-year low.
President Biden nominated the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. And on the world stage, President Biden strengthened our alliances and restored American leadership. He rallied the world to stand up to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine; expanded NATO to be larger and stronger than ever before; and vastly increased America’s influence in the Indo-Pacific.
President Biden entered office determined to build an Administration that looked like America. He served as Vice President to the nation’s first Black President. He served as President alongside the nation’s first Black woman Vice President. For his entire career, President Biden has been at the center of the great American story of expanding opportunity and making real the promise of America for everyone.
President Biden is the author of the bestselling memoirs Promises to Keep (2007) and Promise Me, Dad (2017). He tells the story of his four years in the White House in his new presidential memoir, Promise Me, America, available November 17.
