Joe Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Nov. 20, 1942. He was the first of four children. His family moved to Claymont, Delaware in 1953. Biden eventually became senator for Delaware. He served in the Senate for 36 years, with 17 years serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He married his first wife, Neilia, in 1966 while attending law school.
He also served on the New Castle County Council from 1970 to 1972. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 at the young age of 29.
In Dec. of 1972, shortly after his election to the Senate, Biden’s wife Neilia and daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident. His sons Hunter and Beau survived the accident, but were seriously injured from it. He was considering resigning from the Senate to care for his sons, but was persuaded out of it.
In 1973, Biden was officially sworn into the U.S. Senate.
He married his second wife Jill in June of 1977 and has a daughter named Ashley with her.
Joe Biden wrote the Violence against Women Act (VAWA), which was passed in 1994. This made violence against women a more serious crime and imposed tougher penalties.
On Jan. 31, 2007, Biden announced his bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
In Aug. of 2008, Obama announced that Biden would be his running mate.
He has taught a seminar on Constitutional Law at Widener University School of Law since 1991.
Biden became Vice President of the U.S. on Jan. 20, 2009. He assumed the role of an important behind-the-scenes counselor. One of his duties was to calm disputes between Obama’s team of rivals. He’s made several trips to Afghanistan to meet with their leaders and discuss problems. He was in charge of the spending from the Obama stimulus package to help counteract the recession.
Biden has also held a big role when brinning an end to the war in Iraq. Since 2009 he has traveled to Iraq eight times, with the most recent trip in 2011.
Not only has he traveled to Iraq, but also to Israel, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia all to aid with foreign affiar issues.