Joe Biden

Joe Biden
Official portrait, 2021
46th President of the United States
In office January 20, 2021 – 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 – January 20, 2017
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Dick Cheney
Succeeded by	Mike Pence
United States Senator from Delaware
In office January 3, 1973 – January 15, 2009
Preceded by	J. Caleb Boggs
Succeeded by	Ted Kaufman
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 (1968–1969)
Spouses	Neilia Hunter ​ ​ (m. 1966; died 1972)​ Jill Jacobs ​ (m. 1977)​
Children	Beau Hunter Naomi Ashley
Relatives	Biden family
Education	University of Delaware (BA) Syracuse University (JD)
Occupation	Politician lawyer author
Awards	Full list
Signature
Website	Presidential library White House archives
Joe Biden's voice Biden speaks on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul. Recorded August 16, 2021
Other offices 2007–2009: Chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus 2001[a]–2003, 2007–2009: Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1987–1995: Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee 1971–1973: Member of the New Castle County Council from the 4th district

This article is part of a series about Joe Biden
Personal Early life and career Eponyms Family Honors Presidential library Public image Age and health concerns SNL parodies The Onion parody Bibliography U.S. Senator from Delaware U.S. Senate career Judiciary Committee Bork hearings Thomas hearings 1994 Crime Bill Violence Against Women Act Foreign Relations Committee Elections 1972 1978 1984 1990 1996 2002 2008 47th Vice President of the United States Transition Obama administration first inauguration second inauguration Economic policy Great Recession response 2010 Tax Relief Act 2011 debt-ceiling crisis fiscal cliff Foreign policy Task forces Gun Violence Protect Students from Sexual Assault Vice presidential campaigns 2008 election selection convention debates 2012 election convention debates 46th President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board Inauguration Efforts to impeach inquiry Tenure Executive actions proclamations Trips foreign '21 '22 '23 '24–'25 Geneva summit COVID-19 pandemic Afghanistan withdrawal Classified documents incident 2023 debt-ceiling crisis Policies COVID-19 WH Response Team Economy ARP IIJA IRA Electoral/ethics Environment Foreign policy AUKUS Camp David Principles IPEF War in Ukraine War in Israel Immigration border crisis Social issues guns cannabis marriage Appointments Cabinet Ambassadors Federal judges Jackson Supreme Court candidates Executive Office U.S. attorneys Presidential campaigns 1988 primaries 2008 primaries 2020 primaries election sexual assault allegation Ukraine conspiracy theory convention debates endorsements VP selection 2024 primaries debate endorsements opposition withdrawal
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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.

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.

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–Hamas 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.

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.
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