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Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. }} (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009 and also served as the 47th vice president under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965 and the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and the U.S. Senate in 1972. As a senator, Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and Foreign Relations Committee. He drafted and led passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. Biden oversaw six U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991 but voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution in 2002. Biden ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in the1988 and 2008 primaries. In 2008, Obama chose him as his running mate, and he served as a close advisor to Obama while in office. In the 2020 presidential election, Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running mate, and they defeated Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

As president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recession. He signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing. Biden proposed the Build Back Better Act, part of which were incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022. He appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court of the United States. In his foreign policy, the U.S. reentered the Paris Agreement and enacted the New Atlantic Charter. Biden oversaw the total withdrawal of U.S. troops that ended the war in Afghanistan, leading to the Taliban seizing control. He responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorizing Ukrainian aid. During the Gaza war, Biden condemned the actions of Hamas, strongly supported Israel, and sent limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. A temporary ceasefire proposal he backed was adopted shortly before his presidency ended. Although he entered office with majority support, he saw his approval ratings decline significantly throughout the course of his presidency, particularly over concerns surrounding inflation.

Concerns about Biden's age and health persisted throughout his presidency. Biden is the first president to turn 80 years old while in office. Biden initially ran for re-election in 2024, winning the Democratic primaries and becoming the party's presumptive nominee. After his performance in the first presidential debate, intensifying scrutiny from across the political spectrum about his age and health led him to withdraw his candidacy.

During his time in office, Biden's administration was ranked favorably by historians and scholars, diverging from unfavorable public assessments of his tenure. He is the oldest living former U.S. president since the second inauguration of Donald Trump in 2025, the oldest living former U.S. vice president since the death of Dick Cheney in 2025, and the oldest person to have served as president. Provided by Wikipedia