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Top 10 Sensational Facts About Joe Biden

Joe Biden Art Piece- Image by Tibor Janosi Mozes from

Joe Biden was born on November 20th, 1942 as Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. He was born and raised in PennsPennsylvania but moved to New Castle County, Delaware when he was 10 years old.

He is the 46th president of the United States and the currently serving president of the U.S., having been elected in 2021.

He was also the 47th vice president of the U.S., between 2009 and 2017. He served as the vice president in the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama.

Between 1972 and 2009, he represented Delaware in the U.S Senate.

1. Joe Biden has been in the public eye as a political figure for nearly half a century

Joe Biden with President Jimmy Carter in 1979- Author; office of the United States Senator-

Joe Biden was first elected to office in 1972 as the senator state of Delaware. He became the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years. He was very influential in foreign affairs during President Obama’s reign.

He also chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1987 to 1995. In this position, he dealt with drug policy, crime prevention and led the efforts to pass Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement  Act and Violence against Women Act.

He was re-elected to the senate 6 times and was the fourth most senior sitting senator when he became Obama’s vice president in 2008.

In 2012, his and Obama’s office was reelected and in 2021, he was now elected as the president of the United States. He is still serving.

2. Joe Biden was the 6th youngest Senator in U.S History

In 1970, Biden was elected to the New Castle County Council but became to be known as the 6th youngest senator in U.S history after he was elected to the U.S Senate from Delaware in 1972. He was only 29 years old at the time.

3. Despite losing his first wife at the start of his political career, he soldiered on

In December 1972, not very long after being elected senator of News Castle Delaware, Biden lost his first wife Neilia, to an automobile crash.

At the time she was in the company of a 1-year-old daughter and two sons. Neilia and their daughter passed from the accident that left their two sons badly injured.

As recorded in Biden’s Biography, “Joe Biden: A life of Trial and Redemption,” this was a tough period for Biden. Having just successfully started his political career, after the tragedy he decided not to pursue it further.

He notified Senate majority leader at the time, Mike Mansfield, that he would not be accepting the senate seat he had just won. Mansfield however tried to convince him otherwise.

Though for a long time he continuously said no, when family and friends convinced him he wouldn’t have to choose between being a father and a senator, he decided to accept the oath of office.

This was however done in the hospital where he was continuously looking after and taking care of his injured sons.

4. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Joe Biden being presented with the presidential medal of freedom award by former president, Obama, 2017- Author; Chuck Kennedy-

In 2017, president Barack Obama in his farewell ceremony speech surprised Joe Biden by presenting to him the presidential medal of freedom. This is the nation’s highest civilian honour during a white house ceremony.

He was awarded for his good work and support during the time they worked together in office and as summarised by Obama, “for putting the needs of the American people above the needs of his political party.”

He had no idea this would happen thus his emotional state as he was being presented with the award.

5. Biden ran for presidency 3 times

Joe Biden during one of his presidential campaigns- Author; Gage Skidmore-

Given his long political career, in the course of his political journey, Biden vied for the presidency three times.

He first showed interest by starting to campaign for the 1988 presidential elections.  He had declared his candidacy for the very first time, a year before in June 1987.

He however didn’t stay long in that race as he withdrew in September 1987, before the primary general elections began.

In January 2007, he again announced that he would be in the 2008 presidential campaign. He participated in a number of presidential debates but withdrew from the elections prior to the last nine debates. He lost to Obama since he received a less than 1% of the vote during the nomination.

In April 2019, he announced again that he would run for the presidency in 2020 which is a race he ultimately won. By the final debate in March 2020, he and his opposing candidate, Bernie Sanders, were the only candidates still active.

He was inaugurated on January 20th, 2021, and Kamala Harris whom he selected as his running mate was sworn in as the vice president on the same day.

6. Biden was once a lifeguard

Lifeguard Stand- Image by Paul Brennan from

In 1962, when he was 19 years old, Biden took a summer job as a lifeguard. He was home from college and he took that job at the process run swimming pool in Brown-Burton, Winchester park.

This was in the hopes that he would be able to learn more about the black community.

As he wrote in his autobiography, “Promises to keep: On life and Politics,” his plan worked well as he was the only white person and the only white lifeguard at the pool.

It thus gave him an opportunity to learn more and interact more with the black community. It helped him work towards breaking down the social and cultural barriers that were so visible at the time.

7. He was able to overcome a childhood stutter

Growing up, Joe Biden was subjected to bullying because he stuttered so much. As he mentioned in his 2008 speech to the American Institute for stuttering, this is something that gave him a hard time and embarrassed him.

In his own words, “I can think of nothing else that has ever stripped me of my dignity as quickly and as profoundly and as thoroughly as when I stuttered in grade school.” Subject to ridicule even from teachers, Biden worked hard to overcome it.

As he wrote in his 2008 memoir, he was able to overcome his stutter by being an avid reader and reciting Irish poems in front of a mirror, so as to monitor and control his facial expressions. To date, he can be able to recite some of those Irish poems from memory.

8. He graduated with a Law Degree in 1968 from Syracuse University.

Syracuse University, College of Law Logo- Author; Syracuse University-

President Biden is a 1968 law graduate from the Syracuse University College of Law. He is the first president after William Howard Taff, the 26th president of the U.S between 1909 and 1913, to graduate from a law school outside the U.S.’s top 14 ranked law schools (T-14).

9. Was Awarded the Congressional Patriot Award

In 2017, Joe Biden received the congressional patriot award from the Bipartisan policy center. This is an award that recognizes leaders who demonstrate political courage and leadership throughout their careers even in the most trying of times.

10. Joe Biden is a “car guy”

Classic Cars Collection- Image by Anne and Saturnino Miranda from

Biden loves driving and has a collection of cars. In 2020, he appeared in a video driving his 1967 Chevrolet corvette stingray and went ahead to speak about the future of the American automobile industry. He believed that a new electrically driven corvette that could do a clean 200mph, was in the pipeline.

He grew up around cars since his father managed a car dealership in Delaware for 34 years. He would let the young joe drive some of the cars in the garage thus his interest in cars developed from a young age.

His first car was a 1951 Studebaker champion which was among the first cars to be produced after world war 2. His second car was a 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook convertible which was a highly efficient car in the 1950s.

As he grew older, his car collection grew and another model he added to his collection was a Mercedes Benz 1905L

In August 1967, Biden’s father gifted him a 1967 corvette stingray; a car that is still in his garage.

Biden loves classic cars thus the reason for his exquisite collection.

Joe Biden is considered a charismatic leader the U.S is blessed to have.