{"parse":{"title":"Joe Biden","pageid":145422,"text":{"*":"

\"Joseph Biden\" and \"Biden\" redirect here. For his first-born son, Joseph Biden III, see Beau Biden. For other uses, see Biden (disambiguation).

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Joe Biden
$\"Official$ Official portrait, 2021

46th President of the United States
In office January 20, 2021 \u2013 January 20, 2025
Vice President	Kamala Harris
Preceded by	Donald Trump
Succeeded by	Donald Trump
47th Vice President of the United States
In office January 20, 2009 \u2013 January 20, 2017
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Dick Cheney
Succeeded by	Mike Pence
United States Senator from Delaware
In office January 3, 1973 \u2013 January 15, 2009
Preceded by	J. Caleb Boggs
Succeeded by	Ted Kaufman
\n
Personal details
Born	Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (1942-11-20) November 20, 1942 (age 82) Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Democratic (since 1969)
Other political affiliations	Independent (1968\u20131969)
Spouses	\n \n Neilia Hunter \n (m. 1966; died 1972) \n \n Jill Jacobs (m. 1977) \n
Children	\n Beau \n Hunter \n Naomi \n Ashley \n
Relatives	Biden family
Education	\n University of Delaware (BA) \n Syracuse University (JD) \n
Occupation	\n Politician \n lawyer \n author \n
Awards	Full list
Signature	$\"Cursive$
Website	\n Presidential library \n White House archives \n
\n \n \n Joe Biden's voice \n \n Biden speaks on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul. Recorded August 16, 2021 \n
\n Other offices \n 2007\u20132009: Chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus\n 2001^[a]\u20132003, 2007\u20132009: Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee\n 1987\u20131995: Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee\n 1971\u20131973: Member of the New Castle County Council from the 4th district\n \n

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Personal

U.S. Senator from Delaware

U.S. Senate career
Judiciary Committee\n
Foreign Relations Committee
Elections\n
- 1972
- 1978
- 1984
- 1990
- 1996
- 2002
- 2008

47th Vice President of the United States

Transition
Obama administration\n
- first inauguration
- second inauguration
Economic policy\n
Foreign policy
Task forces\n
- Gun Violence
- Protect Students from Sexual Assault

Vice presidential campaigns

2008\n
- election
- selection
- convention
- debates
2012\n
- election
- convention
- debates

46th President of the United States

Tenure

Executive actions\n
- proclamations
Trips\n
- foreign
- '21
- '22
- '23
- '24\u2013'25
Geneva summit
COVID-19 pandemic
Afghanistan withdrawal
Classified documents incident
2023 debt-ceiling crisis

Policies

COVID-19\n
- WH Response Team
Economy\n
- ARP
- IIJA
- IRA
Electoral/ethics
Environment
Foreign policy\n
- AUKUS
- Camp David Principles
- IPEF
- War in Ukraine
- War in Israel
Immigration\n
- border crisis
Social issues\n
- guns
- cannabis
- marriage

Appointments

Cabinet
Ambassadors
Federal judges\n
- Jackson
- Supreme Court candidates
Executive Office
U.S. attorneys

Presidential campaigns

1988\n
- primaries
2008\n
- primaries
2020\n
- primaries
- election
- sexual assault allegation
- Ukraine conspiracy theory
- convention
- debates
- endorsements
- VP selection
2024\n
- primaries
- debate
- endorsements
- opposition
- withdrawal

\n $\"Seal$

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.^[b] (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, and represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009.\n

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden moved with his family to Delaware in 1953. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965 and the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and the U.S. Senate in 1972. As a senator, Biden drafted and led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. He also oversaw six U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including the contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. Biden ran unsuccessfully for the 1988 and 2008 Democratic presidential nominations. In 2008, Obama chose Biden as his running mate, and he was a close counselor to Obama during his two terms as vice president. In the 2020 presidential election, the Democratic Party nominated Biden for president. He selected Kamala Harris as his running mate, and they defeated Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence. He became the first president to serve with a female vice president.\n

As president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession. He signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing. He proposed the Build Back Better Act, which failed in Congress, but aspects of which were incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed into law in 2022. Beginning in March 2021, Biden confronted elevated inflation rates, which peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 and declined to 2.9% by the end of his term. Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. He worked with congressional Republicans to resolve the 2023 debt-ceiling crisis by negotiating a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Biden responded to record levels of illegal border crossings with extensive use of humanitarian parole and deportations. In his foreign policy, the U.S. reentered the Paris Agreement. Biden oversaw the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that ended the war in Afghanistan, leading to the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban seizing control. He responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorizing civilian and military aid to Ukraine. During the Israel\u2013Hamas war, Biden condemned the actions of Hamas as terrorism, strongly supported Israel's military efforts, and sent limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. A ceasefire proposal he backed was adopted shortly before he left office.\n

Concerns about Biden's age and health persisted throughout his term, with Biden's staffers and family members insulating him from scrutiny and managing declines in his acuity. He initially ran for reelection and, after the Democratic primaries, became the party's presumptive nominee in the 2024 presidential election. After his performance in the first presidential debate, renewed scrutiny from across the political spectrum about his cognitive ability led him to withdraw his candidacy. Gallup found that Biden had an average approval rating of 42.2% throughout his presidency. He was replaced as the nominee by Vice President Harris, who lost to Trump in the general election. During his term, historians and political scientists ranked Biden in the second quartile of U.S. presidents, diverging from public assessments of his tenure.\n

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Early life (1942\u20131965)

Marriages, law school, and early career (1966\u20131973)

1972 U.S. Senate campaign in Delaware

Death of wife and daughter

Second marriage

Teaching

U.S. Senate (1973\u20132009)

Senate activities

Brain surgeries

Senate Judiciary Committee

Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

1988 and 2008 presidential campaigns

1988 campaign

2008 campaign

2008 and 2012 vice presidential campaigns

2008 campaign

2012 campaign

Vice presidency (2009\u20132017)

First term (2009\u20132013)

Second term (2013\u20132017)

Role in the 2016 presidential campaign

Post-vice presidency (2017\u20132021)

2020 presidential campaign

Speculation and announcement

Campaign

Presidential transition

Presidency (2021\u20132025)

Inauguration

First 100 days

Domestic policy

Economy

Judiciary

Infrastructure and climate

Immigration

Pardons and commutations

Pardons of family members and political figures

2022 elections

Foreign policy

Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Russian invasion of Ukraine

China affairs

Israel\u2013Hamas war

NATO enlargement

Investigations

Retention of classified documents

Business activities

Age and health concerns

2024 presidential campaign

Assessments

Post-presidency (2025\u2013present)

Political positions

Public image

Job approval

Media depictions

Scholarly rankings

See also

Notes

References

Citations

Joe Biden

What happened with Joe Biden on 5 January, 1971

5 January, 1971