Contender for victory: presidential ambitions, millions in royalties and personal tragedies of Joe Biden

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has high chances of winning the 2020 elections... Biden is forecast to receive the majority of the electoral votes with a 91% probability. RBC collected ten facts that most clearly characterize the main rival of the current US President Donald Trump.

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Former US Vice President Joe Biden has been announced as the country's official presidential candidate for the November 3 elections. Senator Kamala Harris from California has been approved as his partner and vice presidential nominee.

The current campaign is not the first attempt to become president

Joe Biden set himself the goal of becoming president at 21, and first attempted that dream at 46, running for the Democratic primary. Then he failed and withdrew from the race amid accusations of plagiarism: Biden used excerpts from a speech given in 1987 by the leader of the British Labor Party, Neil Kinnock. Before and after his failed run for office, Biden served as Senator from Delaware. He was first elected to the Senate from the state in 1973 and held that post until 2009.

In 2008, the politician nominated for the primary election for the second time, but withdrew immediately after the first primaries, realizing that he could not impose competition on the main pair of candidates - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In August 2008, Obama invited Biden to become his partner and run for vice president. From 2009 to 2017, he held this post. Biden wondered if he should run in the 2016 elections, but decided not to, including on Obama's advice.

If he wins, he will become the oldest US president

If Biden wins the election, he will become the oldest President of the United States - at the date of his inauguration in January 2021 he will be 78 years old (born November 20, 1942). Now the oldest president in American history is Donald Trump - he took office at 70. Biden comes from a family of centenarians: his father lived to 86, his mother to 92.

Biden - Doctor of Laws

In the mid-60s, Biden received a BA in history and political science from the University of Delaware. A few years later, he additionally graduated from the Syracuse University School of Law in the state of New York and received his Juris Doctor degree in 1968.

Doesn't drink alcohol

Like his Republican rival Donald Trump, Biden doesn't drink at all. The Democratic candidate attributes this to alcohol addiction problems in his family. “I don’t take anything that can be a crutch for me,” Biden explained in an interview, referring to addiction to chemicals.

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He suffered from stuttering as a child

“When I was at home with my brothers and sister, with my friends or playing football, everything was fine, but when I got into a new situation or a new school, had to read in front of the class or wanted to ask a girl out on a date, I I just couldn't do it, ”he wrote in his memoirs.

In the end, Biden was able to overcome the speech impairment. The presidential candidate talked about combating stuttering during the primary debate, agreeing to give his number to a struggling student. He is now known for his frequent reservations. For example, he used foul language on the air, congratulating Barack Obama on signing the health care law.

Approximate family man

In 1966, Biden married Nelia Hunter, whom he met in his first year of college. The couple had three children: sons Bo and Hunter and daughter Naomi. In 1972, weeks after 29-year-old Biden won the Senate for Delaware, Nelia and 13-month-old Naomi died in a car accident. Biden wanted to resign from the senatorial post, but in the end decided to pursue a political career. To see the children, he traveled every day by train from Washington to his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

In 1975, Biden met his current wife, English teacher Jill Tracy Jacobs, whom he married two years later. In 1981, the couple had a daughter, Ashley. In 2015, at the age of 47, Bo's eldest son died of brain cancer. Hunter Biden experienced drug problems, is now in business, and became a defendant in the scandal with the Ukrainian company Burisma.

Jill Biden took a break from her career to support her husband

Despite moving to the Vice President's residence in Washington as Second Lady, Jill Biden taught English courses at Virginia North College, the country's second largest college. Wikipedia... Biden became the first working Second Lady during her husband's tenure.

Only now, for the first time since 1981, Biden took a break from her teaching practice to support her husband's election campaign. Even when her husband was vice president (2009–2019) and Jill was the second most important woman in the country, she continued to teach. In addition, she has worked on community college development, assisted military families, and campaigned for breast cancer prevention. TASS.

Voted against the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq

Biden voted against the Gulf War (1990-1991), in which the United States and the Multinational Force, which included contingents from European and Middle Eastern countries, managed to prevent the annexation of Kuwait following Iraq's invasion of that country. But he supported the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, which, unlike America's first intervention in Iraq, is considered a failure for Washington. Biden later called the decision a mistake and accused the George W. Bush administration of incompetence in its actions in Iraq.

Opposed the war in Libya

Biden expressed doubts about the wisdom of invading Libya when the move was discussed in the Obama administration in 2011. Skeptics included Biden, Pentagon chief Robert Gates, CIA Director John Brennan and US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen, Gates wrote in his memoirs.

US Permanent Representative to the UN Susan Rice, member of the National Security Council Samantha Power and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Obama to intervene in the conflict in Libya on the side of the opposition. As a result, Obama reluctantly agreed to provide military support for the intervention in Libya, Gates argued. Subsequently, Obama said that the lack of preparation for the consequences of the overthrow of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi is the main mistake of his presidency.

Supported the reset of relations with Russia

Biden was a supporter of the reset policy in relations with Russia and came to Moscow for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev. He also actively lobbied the ratification of the Treaty on Measures to Further Reduce and Limit Strategic Offensive Arms (START III) in Congress.

When US intelligence agencies identified a network of Russian "sleeping" agents in the summer of 2010 in anticipation of the Obama-Medvedev meeting, Biden proposed not to arrest them so as not to harm relations with Russia. At the same time, Biden showed a negative attitude towards Vladimir Putin and was a supporter of a hard line in relations with Moscow after the conflict in Ukraine in 2014.

Was one of the key figures in the Obama administration on contacts with Ukraine

It was Biden who became the face of American support for Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity. In June 2014, he led the US delegation to the inauguration of newly elected President Petro Poroshenko. And in December 2015 he spoke in the Verkhovna Rada in Kiev, writes "New Time".

Winner of the highest U.S. award

At his 2017 farewell press conference at the White House, Barack Obama surprised Biden by presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, one of the two highest US awards for civilians.

Obama praised Biden for his "faith in his fellow citizens and love of country."

In 2019, he became a defendant in charges of inappropriate behavior

In the spring of 2019, several women at once publicly announced cases of inappropriate, in their opinion, behavior on the part of Biden. One of them, Lucy Flores, who previously worked in the Nevada Assembly, pointed out in her memoirs that in 2014 Biden once put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the back of the head. The second, an employee of the Democratic Party apparatus Amy Lappos, in an interview with AR told about one case of incorrect hugs on the part of Biden.

Бwas included in the list of 200 personalities of the future

In 1974, when Biden was still a freshman senator, Time magazine included him in its list of 200 Faces for the Future. The editors called Biden "confident" and "extremely ambitious."

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Focus on personal relationships

The presidential candidate often communicates with other politicians and foreign partners, and also frankly expresses his thoughts in private conversations, writes former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes in his memoirs.

“He walked through the corridors of the West Wing [White House], stopping to talk to people, holding their forearms while talking,” he noted.

Pentagon chief Robert Gates who worked with Biden noted his sense of humor, openness and honesty.

“It's impossible not to love Joe,” Gates says. "At the same time, he has held the wrong position on almost every issue on the international relations and national security agenda for the past forty years."

Got rich after leaving the post of vice president of the United States

In 2014, Biden was one of the poorest civil servants - the Center for Responsible Politics ranked him 501st out of 505 in the ranking of politicians and bureaucrats with the largest fortunes. In 1998-2009, the annual earnings of Biden and his wife, Jill, were less than $ 300 thousand. The spouses' income had grown by about $ 100 thousand a year by the time Biden left the post of vice president, writes The Washington Post.

Since the departure of the Obama administration, Biden has been able to consolidate his financial position through public speaking and publishing. For example, he and his wife received $ 8 million for the publication of books. After leaving the post of vice president, Biden bought a vacation home for $ 2,7 million, and also rents a mansion, the monthly fee for which is estimated at $ 20 thousand.

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