Joe Biden Biography

Fast Facts

• Served as committee chair for the Foreign Relations Committee from 2001 to 2003 and later in 2007 after the Democrats regained control of the Senate following the 2006 elections
• Admits to not having enjoyed schoolwork, as he graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Delaware 506th out of 688 students and later 76th out of 85 in his class at the Syracuse University College of Law
• Lost his first wife and infant daughter in a car accident in 1972, only weeks after being elected to the U․S․ Senate
• Seeking more profitable job opportunities, his father moved his wife and four kids to Delaware in 1953 are more than a decade in Scranton, Pennsylvania
• Quote: "I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America․"
• Quote: "Everybody quotes ․․․ Tip O'Neill saying, all politics is local ․․․ I think that's not right․ I think all politics is personal․ And I mean it: All politics is personal․ And it's building personal relationships and trust and exposure, talking to people that really matters, particularly in foreign policy․"
• Served as a U․S․ Senator for the state of Delaware from 1973 until January of 2009 when he resigned in order to take office as the Vice President of the United States
• Initially registered as an Independent in the late 1960s, he would transfer to the Democratic party in 1969 after seeking employment as a public defender at a firm run by a local prominent Democrat
• Once stricken with a debilitating stutter, he would eventually overcome the impediment after reciting poetry into a mirror for hours on end
• One of the youngest men ever to be elected a U․S․ Senator, as he was not yet 30 years-of-age before election night