Luanda - Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., the first U.S. statesman to set foot on Angolan soil, as of this Monday, is popularly known as Joe Biden.
By Catarina Silva, ANGOP journalist
He is an American politician who has had a long career in the Senate, being the 46th President of the United States, since 2021.
Joe Biden is a member of the Democratic Party and served the country as the 47th vice president (from 2009 to 2017), under then-US President Barack Obama, having represented Delaware in the US Senate from 1973 to 2009.
Political trajectory
Joe Biden entered politics in the 1970s, being re-elected to the position of senator several times.
He started in politics after briefly practicing law at a large firm, eventually running for and winning a seat on the New Castle County Council, which was his unlikely stepping stone to the Senate.
Biden ran for the Senate after no other Democrat expressed interest in challenging the Republican who held the office. At the age of 29, he became the second youngest to be elected to the Senate until then.
Throughout his career as a senator, Biden was marked by his presence in debates on international affairs and his great ability to negotiate solutions between his party and the opposition.
He showed interest in running for president in 1988 and 2008, but withdrew his candidacies. He was invited by Barack Obama to be his vice president, and after that he organized his candidacy to defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential elections.
As the election campaign for the presidency in 2020 approached, Joe Biden's name emerged as a strong alternative to run for the Democratic Party. The goal was to prevent Republican Donald Trump from being re-elected. The formalization of Joe Biden's candidacy took place in April 2019.
After a weak start in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 election, Biden consolidated his name among the black and center electorate, surpassing the ultra-progressive Bernie Sanders.
In the race against Donald Trump, which had a record turnout, Biden became the most voted President in the history of the United States in absolute numbers, alongside his vice president, Kamala Harris.
The 2020 presidential elections in the US were quite close and Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump with more than 81 million votes, while Donald Trump obtained more than 74 million votes. The presidential election in the United States is not determined by the total number of votes, but by the number of delegates won in the Electoral College.
In this one, Joe Biden won 306 delegates, while Donald Trump got 232. Thus, Joe Biden was elected as the 46th President of the United States, taking office on January 20, 2021.
The election of Joe Biden as president of the United States, in addition to consecrating a political and personal path marked by persistence in the face of adversity, also represents the return of the Democratic Party to the command of the country.
Family
Joe Biden was born on November 20, 1942, from the city of Scranton, in the state of Pennsylvania. The eldest son of the couple formed by Joseph Robinette Biden Senior and Catherine Eugenia Biden, he is part of a family of Irish origin and with excellent economic conditions.
His father was a sales representative for the oil company Amoco, but lost his job with the recession in the U.S. after the end of World War II. The family had to move to Jean's parents' house. Shortly thereafter, the Bidens left the state of Pennsylvania and moved to Delaware, where Joe Biden Sr. got a job as a used car salesman.
His father, who died in 2002, is always remembered by his son (Joe Biden) as a person who never gave up, teaching his children that 'a man is not measured by how many times he is knocked down, but rather how fast he gets up'.
Biden lived in Scranton for a few years, but still during his childhood, he lived in Mayfield, Delaware. In this state, he completed part of his educational training, studied in local schools and graduated in History and Political Science from the University of Delaware in 1965.
He also entered Syracuse University to study law, where he graduated in 1968, and the following year was admitted to the Delaware bar.
In addition, his youth coincided with the period of the Vietnam War. Biden was discharged from the US army because, in addition to being enrolled in a university, he suffered from asthma.
The politician loved sports and was one of the main American football players at his school. He managed to lead his weak team to an undefeated season in the state championship, but his grades did not keep up with the brilliance on the field. Among his friends at the time, Biden is remembered more for his leadership and charisma than for academic excellence.
When he was already studying political science and history at the University of Delaware, Biden traveled with friends to the Bahamas, where he met Neilia Hunter, whom he would marry two years later in 1966. After graduating, he went to Syracuse University, the same as Neilia, to study law.
A few weeks before taking office as senator, Joe Biden lost his first wife, with whom he had three children, and his daughter during a car accident.
A widower, Biden considered resigning from office to care for his children, but was dissuaded from the idea by the president of the Senate. Just like his father, he would stand up. Biden decided to stay near his parents in Delaware and take the train to and from Washington to work in the Senate and see Hunter and Beau every day.
Five years after the tragedy, Biden remarried Jill Tracy, a professor and doctor of education. The two met on a blind date arranged by Joe's brother. According to Biden, Jill renewed her passion for life and politics. Together, they have a daughter, Ashley, born in 1981.
In 2015, Biden would face another family tragedy: the death of his eldest son, Beau, after a long battle with brain cancer. CS/JM/ADR/DOJ
