Former United States President Joe Biden has built a political and personal history defined by decades in federal office, family tragedies, and a recent cancer diagnosis, bild.de reported.
Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in November 1942, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. moved to Delaware as a child and later earned degrees from the University of Delaware and Syracuse University. He worked as an attorney before voters elected him to the New Castle County council in 1970 and subsequently to the United States Senate in 1972, where he represented Delaware until 2009.
Decades in the Senate and White House
During his 36 years in the Senate, Biden chaired both the Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, helping shape major legislation including the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. He mounted unsuccessful presidential primary campaigns in 1988 and 2008 before Barack Obama selected him as his running mate for the 2008 election.
Biden served two terms as vice president from 2009 to 2017. He subsequently launched a 2020 presidential campaign, defeating incumbent Donald Trump in November 2020 to take office as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021.
Withdrawal from the 2024 race and memoirs
After initially announcing a re-election bid, Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race in July 2024 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. Nach dem Ausscheiden aus dem Amt blieb Joe Biden politisch präsent. He published memoirs criticizing Trump’s political trajectory and the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Personal Losses and a Recent Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
Biden’s personal life has experienced severe losses alongside his public achievements. His first wife, Neilia Hunter, and their infant daughter Naomi died in a 1972 car accident, while his son Beau Biden died of a brain tumor in 2015. He married teacher Jill Tracy Jacobs in 1977, with whom he shares a daughter, Ashley.
In May 2025, doctors diagnosed Biden with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, receiving hormone and radiation treatments, bild.de reported. His son Hunter Biden said that the illness has since progressed and causes his father significant pain, according to bild.de.