Joe Biden- A Life of Never Giving Up

Vidyuth Shankar

Love him or hate him, Joe Biden has had one of the most challenging lives of a politician in the modern United States, and throughout his life has constantly been faced with human loss at turning points in his career. Perhaps, whether you agree with his politics or not, we can all look at his life and appreciate the strength to get up and continue fighting when you get knocked down.

Starting as a fresh face on the democratic scene in the 1960’s, Biden graduated from law school in 1968 and joined the democratic Party in 1969. At the 1972 election, at the young age of 29, the Democrat party put him up in an effectively hopeless seat for the Senate- Delaware. The seat was held by lovable Caleb Boggs- a 70-year-old Republican who was universally adored by the state. Funding was a constant struggle in the campaign and Biden had to stretch out every cents worth. At one point, when he travelled to Washington to meet with the Democratic party treasurer for extra funding, the man chose to instead test his resolve by relentlessly attacking him on why he felt he deserved the money, waiting for Biden to give up and bow out. But Biden never gave up, and eventually the treasurer forked out 200,000- about 1.5 million in today’s money- for funding, which is still pitifully little.

Limited funding meant Biden had to get smart. He refused to do TV debates- they were prohibitively expensive for his campaign- and had to get word of mouth out by encouraging an “army of kids” to spread leaflets. He didn’t even have an official campaign team, instead employing his siblings. By energising the minority vote in the state and emphasising his youth, Biden won in a razor-thin margin- and became the youngest senator in the country.

Unfortunately, this would also be one of the darkest periods in his life. Two weeks before his swearing-in, his family ended up in a car crash, immediately killing his wife Neilia and one year old daughter Naomi, whilst leaving his two sons in critical condition. Tore apart by grief at such a tragic incident at such a tender age, Biden almost didn’t even want to accept his new job, but after some convincing by his fellow senators, he was sworn in at the hospital where his sons were being tended to.

And thus the Biden we know today was born- representing Delaware for almost the next 60 years before serving as Obama’s Vice President from 2009 to 2017. This was a great time for Biden, although it didn’t come without its hardship either. His sons survived, he got remarried, had another daughter and dealt with the trauma of his first wife and daughter’s deaths. However, his eldest son, Beau Biden, was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis following his military service in Kosovo, which causes acute joint pain, and then got brain cancer in 2009, which is thought to be due to exposure to burn pits in his stint in the war in Iraq. However, overall, it seemed everything was overall going well- maybe Biden would even have a shot as the Democrat presidential candidate in 2016 when Obama resigned!

That was, until the unfortunate passing of his eldest child, Beau Biden, due to Brain cancer. He passed away peacefully at the age of 46, leaving his father a wreck. To process his grief, he chose to not attempt to become the Democrat candidate for President and retired from politics at the age of 73, which as we all know, led to Hilary Clinton becoming the Democratic nominee for the President, before losing to Trump.

And that was where it should have ended. Left for dead politically, Biden in 2019 was 77; way too old for any political job, especially the Presidency, right? Surely no one would give him the light of day? 

But shockingly, Biden clawed his way back into politics, joining the Democrat candidates race, eventually closely beating everyone else and going into the US elections in 2020, against one of America’s most polarising presidents in one of America’s most polarising periods of time, defeating him in a close victory and going on to become America’s oldest President ever.

Ultimately, Joe Biden’s life has been a story of being continuously beaten down at every point of success in his life- whenever a new opportunity or success came, it was always twinned with trauma and pain, alongside claims of either being too young or too old. But despite everything against him, he persevered and never gave up, choosing to instead fight back. And now, he is literally the most powerful man in the world. I think we can all learn something from this mentality, the admirable trait of never giving up and never backing down.