Who is Joe Biden
Running for the U.S. President, Joe Biden is fighting to achieve a decades-long dream of winning the White House. A Democratic nominee, Biden had run for presidentship twice before becoming vice-president under Barack Obama. This is his third attempt at running for President. He had first tried his hands in 1988 but dropped out after allegations of plagiarism. His second attempt ended in 2008 after he garnered less than one percent in the crucial lowa caucuses. If Biden suceeds in defeating Donald Trump in the US Presidential elections, he will be 78-years-old on Inauguration Day and the oldest person ever elected president.
Tragedies that struck Biden over the years
A month after he celebrated his victory on being elected to the Senate in 1972 at the age of 29, Biden's wife and baby daughter died in an accident when their car collided with a tractor-trailer. His two toddler sons, Beau and Hunter, were hospitalised. Biden was sworn in as Senator for the very first time in their hospital room.
In 1988, just months after he ended his first presidential bid, Biden suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms. At the time doctors told him a White House campaign may have killed him.
In May 2015, Biden received a shock when his oldest son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer. That death put Biden's political career on hold. It was only five years later that Biden embraced his tragic history and said it helped him pave a path forward and find purpose.
Biden's rise in ranks
Over six terms in the Senate, Biden rose in the ranks to chair the Senate's Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees, developing broad expertise in global affairs and presiding over contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
But while those positions gave him gravitas, he still lives with the consequences of some of his decisions, like sponsoring the 1994 Crime Bill and allowing sexual harassment accuser Anita Hill to be grilled by an all-male committee during Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court process.
With a penchant for speaking his mind, Biden developed a reputation for a plainspoken, unpredictable approach to politics. Although it frequently got him in trouble in the press, some Democrats suggested his freewheeling style was uniquely suited for this year's presidential campaign against Trump.
(With AP inputs)
