Joe Biden: “Everyone Calls Me Joe”
Joe Biden is now a heartbeat away from the presidency. His life has been full of surprising highs and extraordinary lows.
By
Nancy Doyle Palmer
Published Sunday, February 01, 2009
Though Biden has been a fixture on Capitol Hill, he and his wife, Jill, have never lived in Washington. Photograph by Jason Reed/Reuters/Corbis
Last year, during a Senate hearing, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy scribbled a note and passed it to his colleague Joe Biden. “Are you going to be the VP?” Leahy asked the Delaware senator. Biden passed back the note with this response: “Hope not—remember the story about the two brothers?” The joke about the two brothers is that one goes off to sea and the other becomes vice president—and neither is ever heard from again. This time around, that’s unlikely. Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. has never been one to sit silently. His life story, in fact—a story of luck and tragedy and resolve—has been one of boldfaced headlines and dramatic events: entering the Senate as one of its youngest-ever members, losing a beloved wife and daughter in a car accident, surviving a near-fatal brain aneurysm, failing at two presidential campaigns, and now, at age 66, becoming the 47th vice president of the United States. Washington has been the backdrop to most of the ups and downs in Biden’s life. But with a 36-year Senate career and 14,000 train trips between the Capitol and Wilmington under his belt, he may be the ultimate insider who has never really been a Washingtonian. Until now. Get Up! In the prologue to his book, Promises to Keep, Biden offers his credo. “The art of living is simply getting up after you’ve been knocked down. . . . After the surgery, Senator, you might lose the ability to speak? Get up! The newspapers are calling you a plagiarist, Biden? Get up! Your wife and daughter—I’m sorry, Joe, there was nothing we could do to save them? Get up! Flunked a class at law school? Get up! Kids make fun of you because you stutter, Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-Biden? Get up!” “Get up” came from his parents. Biden’s father, Joseph Robinette Biden Sr., was fond of saying, “The world doesn’t owe you a living.”
The elder Biden had grown up well-to-do, but a financial downturn made college unaffordable, and he spent most of his life earning modest wages in auto sales after moving his young family of five from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Wilmington in search of better jobs. Biden Sr. quit one dealership after an office Christmas party at which the owner tossed silver dollars onto the dance floor for employees to scramble after. “The thing he couldn’t stand,” writes his son, “was people who lorded it over the less fortunate.. . . And he couldn’t stand people who abused power of any kind.” His mother, Jean Biden, taught her children to care, but she also taught them to fight back. Young Joe had a stutter, which he eventually conquered by memorizing passages from books and speaking to a mirror. When a nun at school once imitated his stammering, Mrs. Biden came for a visit. “My mother,” he wrote in his book, “who was so timid, so respectful of the church, stood up, walked over in front of the nun, and said, ‘If you ever speak to my son like that again, I’ll come back and rip that bonnet off your head.’ ” Biden today says he that while he never feels his stutter coming back, “I have never forgotten what it was like and how tough it is for anyone who’s had to face it. Overcoming my stuttering taught me one of the most important lessons in my life—that if you put your mind to something, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
A Man in a Hurry Joe attended the prestigious Archmere Catholic preparatory school in Claymont, Delaware. It was his personal Rosebud: He could see the stately grounds from his boyhood split-level home and dreamed of going there. He then went to the University of Delaware and on to law school at Syracuse University. Why Syracuse? Because Neilia Hunter was teaching school in town, and he planned to marry her. On their first date, he recounted, he was mortified to realize he didn’t have enough cash to pay the bill. “Don’t be,” she said. “That happens a lot to my dad. You shouldn’t be embarrassed.” He wrote, “That was her special touch, the way she made everybody feel okay about themselves. Nobody ever felt smaller around Neilia.” After they married in 1966, the Bidens’ life together took off—Joe was a man in a hurry. Finding work as a trial lawyer and public defender for a law firm in Wilmington, he supplemented his income by managing properties, including a neighborhood swimming pool. Delaware, the nation’s second-smallest state, is about 100 miles from Washington and is a microcosm of the country with farmers, blue-collar workers, DuPont Chemical, Dover Air Force Base, mansions, ghettos, beaches, Catholics, WASPs, Jews, Baptists. In the early days, Joe Biden met all of them, and in 1972 he decided to run for the US Senate. When he entered the race against popular Republican incumbent Caleb “Cale” Boggs, it seemed like tilting at windmills. Biden had been putting in his time as a member of the county council, and the local Democratic bosses decided to let him run because no one else would challenge Boggs.
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Comments
The most telling part of Joe Biden’s character is that he hopes that Neilia sent Jill to him. What a sweet man.
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Posted by: ForTheRepublic, Mar 19, 2009 11:23:10 PM
Thank you for this great article. It is such a privilege to have intelligence and humility in the person of our vice-president Joe Biden. Dr. Jill Biden is also of the same strong character and it is always a positive sight to seem them together. The Obama and Biden families represent the best for our country.
Posted by: 42skidoo, Mar 05, 2009 04:08:18 PM
Great article. Before the election I didn’t know much about Joe Biden. After he was asked to be Obama’s VP I started doing research on him and came to like him a lot. From the first time he appeared with Obama I felt like they were a winning team. They both had winning smiles and seemed to really be comfortable with each other. Even when Joe makes his gaffes I still appreciate listening to him speak. He loves to talk and I love to listen to him.
Posted by: Mark F., Mar 05, 2009 01:12:44 PM
There aren’t many comments here, but all are complimentary save one. What does that say about that person? I enjoyed this article very much.
Posted by: Jeri, Mar 05, 2009 12:00:45 PM
I had always admired Sen. Biden, for his intelligence, fairness and the honesty of his emotion. During the early debates this election cycle, I didn’t have a particular favorite but just listened to them all ... and it always seemed to me that Biden was the "grown up" in the room. Few things have pleased me,and impressed me, more than Obama’s decision to select this man as his VP. It says worlds about his insight and his own sturdy sense of self. It’s been warming and reassuring to watch them them learn to appreciate, and trust, one another and it makes me feel more comfortable, reassured about the fate of our country - more so than either would do alone. The fact that Joe has never been a second-stringer or a ’yes man’ makes his taking, and thriving in, this position all the more meaningful. Given the serious challenges we face, the historic nature of this presidency, and the phenomenal and unique strengths of Obama, I believe that Biden’s vice presidency is turning out to be more important and more of an achievement that the actual presidencies of others in the past. Thank you for a wonderful article.
Posted by: Elizabeth, Mar 05, 2009 11:12:18 AM
I am sitting at my work desk quietly bawling my eyes out....I have always liked Joe Biden, but after reading this wonderful article I think I may like him more than Mr. Obama now.
Thank you so much for such a great insight into such a wonderful human.
I am SO PROUD of America for putting these two into office.
Posted by: Devon, Mar 05, 2009 10:09:13 AM
to me this is REAL journalism. I feel like you gave me a gift of getting to know our vice president. My favorite inspiration came from the senator who said "look for the good" Is that not our major challenge today, with all of us. We do not know anyone’s motives...We are not them; but we can focus on the good. Much of the media is about division and focus on what is wrong. As a man thinketh......thank you
Posted by: susan louise, Mar 05, 2009 09:48:58 AM
You made me cry. Very nice article. Thank you.
Posted by: Auke Hoekstra, Mar 05, 2009 09:30:48 AM
I voted for Joe in ’88. It was only my second Presidential election, but I like what I saw and heard (blunders included). He seemed like a regular "Joe" and not a Washintonian.
I’m glad President Obama picked him as VP. Like he said in his speach - "Nobody messes with Joe".
Posted by: Lady Aurora, Mar 05, 2009 06:16:09 AM
Thank you for the wonderful article. It’s been a long time since I’ve read one this articulate and intimate. I feel like I know "Joe." Ohhh, and I just love his smile! It’s infectious!
Posted by: knucklelady, Mar 05, 2009 05:00:35 AM
A moving and inspiring insight into the character of an interesting and very human individual.JB has never,it seems,projected himself as some model of perfection - indeed his imperfections are,perhaps,his most valuable asset as he utilises these as a springboard to humility.
At this time in the nation’s history to have such men as JB and BO at the forefront is both a testimony to,and a confirmation of, truly American characteristics of courage,determination and compassion.
A beautiful experience to read this excellent article.Many thanks
Posted by: Keith R, Mar 05, 2009 03:46:59 AM
Republican whiners need not apply.
Posted by: Alice, Mar 03, 2009 08:21:45 PM
Such a wonderfully in-depth profile of Joe Biden... Thank you!
Posted by: Patricia Palmer, Feb 20, 2009 06:50:15 AM
What a wonderful article on a person who has overcome so much and with such good humor. As Vice President Biden says, "The art of living is simply getting up after you’ve been knocked down."
Loved the insight the article gave on Vice President Biden’s parents. Joe Biden, Sr,: "The world doesn’t owe you a living." His mother, Jean, taught Joe, Jr. to care, and to fight back against injustice.
Posted by: CulturalCatholic.Com, Feb 18, 2009 02:44:56 PM
Enough already. He’s a ponderous windbag. And it isn’t it funny that we never heard about ’Scranton Joe’ before or after the election?!?! And does no one remember the rude comment he made about Obama when they were both running for their party’s presidential nomination (’he’s clean and articulate?’)?
Posted by: Aimeef, Feb 06, 2009 10:06:48 AM
What a great article about a man who has overcame so much! As a person who stutters, I am so proud of him for not letting his stuttering get in the way of his dreams.... if a person who stutters can be Vice President, we can do anything!
I am a member of the National Stuttering Association (NSA - www.westutter.org) and attended the 2004 Conference in Baltimore, Maryland where Vice President Joe Biden spoke to over 600 people about his stuttering...which was the first time he did so in front of such a large crowd. His speech inspired many and he keeps on inspiring many today - especially kids and teens who stutter who are just figuring out who they want to be.
The NSA is the largest self-help non-profit organization for people who stutter, that offers chapter meetings, workshops and conferences for kids, teens and adults who stutter.
Again, thank you for your great articles on Vice President Biden. It would be great if he could speak at our next conference in Arizona in July!
Posted by: Cathy O, Feb 05, 2009 08:13:07 PM
My kudos to Ms. Palmer for such a terrific article that truly captured the essence of "Joe."
Posted by: J-Coll, Feb 05, 2009 12:54:36 PM
I am a person who stutters. I find it up lifting to see that Joe Biden got over his stutter by "memorizing passages from books and speaking into a mirror". I find it interesting that he doesn’t ever mention speech therapy...That he did it on his own. Overcoming stuttering is a matter of putting your mind to it!
Posted by: A Stutterer..., Feb 05, 2009 09:56:16 AM
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