Joe Biden: Decline and Fall | 5-Minute Videos

Joseph Biden spent his career chasing one goal: the presidency. After decades of political frustration, he finally became the 46th president of the United States. What happened next is one of American history’s tragic ironies. Presidential historian Tevi Troy explores Biden’s rise and fall.

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Transcript:
Joe Biden: Decline and Fall
Presented by Tevi Troy,

Joe Biden was a young man in a hurry. Elected to the US Senate at the age of 29, he spent four decades dreaming of becoming president. But then, in one of American history’s tragic ironies, when he finally got there, he was incapable of doing the job. Father Time had exacted a cruel price.

Joseph Robinette—forever known as Joe—Biden was born in the coal-mining town of Scranton, Pennsylvania on November 20, 1942. His father moved the family to Wilmington, Delaware when Biden was ten, but Biden would always stress his working-class Scranton origins.

Young Joe was popular and a good athlete, but just got by academically. At Syracuse Law School, he graduated 76th out of a class of 85.

After getting caught plagiarizing a law review article, a pattern emerged that persisted throughout his life: if he didn’t like a version of his past, he’d make up a better one. Examples include getting arrested when trying to visit South African civil rights activist Nelson Mandela in prison, being shot at while touring Iraq as a senator, and his uncle getting eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during World War II—all fabrications.

In 1972, after a brief tenure on a Delaware county council, he challenged incumbent Republican senator J. Caleb Boggs. Biden’s youthful energy captured the voters’ imagination. In a shocking upset, he defeated Boggs by 3,000 votes.

Before he could take office, tragedy struck. In December 1972, his wife Neilia and one-year-old daughter Amy were killed in a car crash. His sons Beau and Hunter were badly injured.

Biden pushed past his grief and entered the Senate, the youngest member in that exclusive club.

There, Biden thrived. There’s no doubt that he had political skills. You don’t get elected to the Senate seven times, vice president twice, and ultimately president without being good at politics. Winning re-election after re-election, he advanced in seniority and influence.

But make no mistake, the presidency was always his goal.

In 1987, he ran for the Democratic nomination. That attempt failed when he was caught plagiarizing a speech by a British politician. He ran again in 2007 but got swept away by Barack Obama.

Then, Obama, to the surprise of many, tapped Biden to be his running mate. It seemed like a good match of young gun and old pro.

As vice president, Biden served loyally for eight years, but when it came time for Obama to bless a successor, he opted for his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was a bitter pill.

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