Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is a retired American Democratic politician who served as a U.S. senator from Delaware (1973–2009), as the 47th vice president of the United States (2009–2017) and as the 46th president of the United States (2021–2025).

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he grew up in Scranton and in New Castle County, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965 and received his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and, at age 30, to the U.S. Senate in 1972, winning reelection six times. He chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, led passage of the Violence Against Women Act and oversaw six Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

In 2008 he became Barack Obama's running mate, and he served as vice president after their victory, winning reelection in 2012. As vice president he oversaw infrastructure spending in response to the Great Recession and negotiated with congressional Republicans on bills that resolved a tax impasse, the debt-ceiling crisis and the "fiscal cliff". Before leaving office in January 2017 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Obama.

In 2020 he and his running mate Kamala Harris defeated incumbent president Donald Trump, and he took office on January 20, 2021, as the oldest president at inauguration. He signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing, and he appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Abroad, the United States rejoined the Paris Agreement; after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan the Taliban swiftly retook control; and after Russia invaded Ukraine he imposed sanctions on Russia, authorized aid to Ukraine and supported Finland's and Sweden's entry into NATO. Inflation and immigration drove his approval ratings sharply down, and concerns about his age and health persisted. In July 2024, after his performance in the first presidential debate and mounting pressure within his party, he withdrew from the reelection race, becoming the first president since Lyndon B. Johnson to abandon a reelection bid.

After leaving office in January 2025, he was diagnosed in May of that year with aggressive prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, and he underwent radiation and hormone therapy.