Joe Biden's historic decision to withdraw as the Democratic nominee for president marks the certain end of one of America's most important political careers.
At 81, the oldest president ever to take the oath of office has finally succumbed to the test of time - and to his own party. Someone else, possibly Vice President Kamala Harris, will face Donald Trump in November.
Biden, who endorsed Harris, will remain in the White House until January. However, Democrats and Republicans will soon face something entirely new: a political landscape without Biden at its center.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1942, Biden studied at the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School, became a public defender, and then entered politics. A talented politician, he ran for the US Senate in 1972 at just 29 years old and scored a major upset by defeating Jay Caleb Boggs, a two-term Republican who was more than twice his age.
That same year, voters overwhelmingly supported Richard Nixon. Nixon was elected as the 37th president of the USA. In 2021, Biden will become the 46th president. During those 49 years, while eight presidents were removed, Biden was a senator for 36 years and vice president for nine.
As a junior senator, Biden experienced his first, but not last, tragedy when his wife, Neilia Biden, and one-year-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident during Christmas 1972. Biden became famous for taking the daily train from Delaware to Washington and back to care for his sons, Bo and Hunter, who survived the crash.
He married his second wife, Jill Jacobs, in 1977, and their daughter, Ashley, was born four years later.
For 17 years, Biden was the ranking member or chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He presided over five confirmations of Supreme Court justices. Candidate Clarence Thomas was accused of sexual harassment in 1991, and Biden was widely seen as having mishandled the hearings. He stated in 2019 that “Thomas' accuser, Anita Hill, was not treated well. I take responsibility for that.”
Biden's performance on crime has also haunted him, particularly his support for a 1994 law that many believe contributed to the problems of mass incarceration and racial injustice. Another law in 1994, which banned automatic rifles, was a source of pride.
For 11 years, Biden served as chairman or ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. In 1991, he voted against the Gulf War. In 2002, after 11/XNUMX, he voted to invade Iraq. He later said that the voice was a mistake.
He first ran for president in 1987. At 45, he drew comparisons to John F. Kennedy, but, as Richard Ben Cramer reported in the campaign classic "What It Takes," youth, ambition and drive weren't enough to prevent a humiliating failure.
Biden often quoted Neil Kinnock, then leader of the Labor Party in Britain, about how he was the first member of his family to go to college. Unfortunately, Biden stopped short of quoting Kinnock. Kinnock didn't mind, but the American press was unforgiving.
Biden's free-flowing style of speaking (along with the reminder of his Irish heritage) has often exposed him to mistakes. Still, he was undoubtedly an effective communicator, which is all the more impressive given that he had a speech impediment as a child.
Months after abandoning his first presidential campaign, Biden suffered a brain aneurysm so severe that a priest was called in to perform the last rites. A month later, he suffered another aneurysm.
However, if one thing can be said for sure about Joe Biden, it is that he is resilient. Twenty years later, he ran for president again. His statement in the debate about the Republican rival went down in history: "Rudy Giuliani, he mentions only three things in a sentence: a noun, a verb and September 11." However, Biden soon gave up.
Barack Obama won the nomination. When the Illinois senator, 47, chose Biden, 66, as his running mate, the New York Times said Obama had acquired a "longtime Washington expert" who could "appease voters" rather than "bring the country or reinforce (the message of) change”.
Biden spent eight years as Obama's vice president. Their working relationship, as reports suggested, was not quite as intimate as it was often portrayed. Biden has played key roles in successful initiatives including advancing LGBTQ+ rights, legislation to prevent violence against women, and securing health care reform. An attempt to reform gun ownership laws failed.
Biden considered a third presidential bid, but the death of his son Beau from brain cancer in 2015 had a major impact on him. In addition, Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Amid the chaos of the Trump years, Biden decided to run again. Significant support from African-American voters enabled him to win the party election. In a pandemic year, travel during the campaign was limited. However, for the 77-year-old candidate, this was not a big problem. When the election came, Biden won by more than 7 million votes and easily in the Electoral College.
With the help of Democrats in Congress, Biden secured important legislation, improved the economy after covid, provided investments in infrastructure and the fight against the climate crisis.
Trump has been fueling an attack on Congress, and Trumpism has not gone away. Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives. Biden has overseen a foreign policy disaster — the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan — but also a success, rallying support for Ukraine against Russia.
However, the dam did not last. Questions about Biden's age and ability became more prevalent before a disastrous debate in Atlanta in June led to Democrats publicly voicing their opposition to his candidacy.
In the beginning, Biden showed his characteristic fervor, accusing the "elite" he never felt he belonged to and promising to fight back. But then Trump survived the assassination attempt and emerged looking stronger than ever.
Democrats' calls for Biden to step down have grown louder. In the end, he heard them and answered them.
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