Joe Biden, born on 20 November 1942, was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. He is the oldest person to have served as president and, since 2025, the oldest living former president.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on 20 November 1942 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the oldest child in a Catholic family of mostly Irish descent. His mother was Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Biden (née Finnegan) and his father Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. He has a sister, Valerie, and two brothers, James and Francis. The family bought a home in Garden City, New York, in 1946, but after business setbacks it lived with his mother’s parents in Scranton for several years, and from 1953 settled in Claymont, Delaware, where his father later became a successful used-car salesman.
At Archmere Academy in Claymont he played baseball and was a standout halfback and wide receiver. Though a poor student, he was class president in his junior and senior years, and graduated in 1961. He decided at a young age to be teetotal after observing alcoholism in his family. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965 and from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968, and was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970.
In 1972 he was elected to the US Senate from Delaware and represented the state from 1973 to 2009. He chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, drafted and led passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act, and oversaw six Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including those of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991 but voted for the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, and ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008.
In 2008 Barack Obama chose him as his running mate, and he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017, remaining a close adviser. In the 2020 election he picked Kamala Harris as his running mate, and they defeated the Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
As president he signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, and signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing. He proposed the Build Back Better Act, part of which was incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, and appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. In foreign policy, the United States rejoined the Paris Agreement. He withdrew US troops from Afghanistan under the 2020 Doha Accords negotiated by Trump, after which the Taliban swiftly retook control. He responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with sanctions and aid, and in 2022 supported Finland and Sweden joining NATO. During the Gaza war he gave Israel strong military and diplomatic support while sending humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Concerns about his age and health persisted throughout his presidency, and he became the first president to turn 80 in office. He ran for re-election in 2024 and won the Democratic primaries, but after his performance in the first presidential debate, growing scrutiny from both parties led him to withdraw his candidacy. He entered office with majority support, but his approval ratings fell significantly, mainly over inflation and immigration. He left office in January 2025 and is now retired from politics.
Image: Official portrait photograph of Joe Biden, 2021 (file photo). Photo: The White House / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
