Despite spending a life marked by family tragedies and political setbacks, US President Joe Biden spent 36 years in the Senate, serving eight years in the Barack Obama administration. He became the 46th President of the US in 2021.
Joe Biden was born in Pennsylvania on November 20, 1942. He got elected to the Senate for the first time in 1972. Since then, Biden was re-elected six times.
On his birthday, here’s a look at 10 interesting facts about the US President.
1) Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. is the oldest of the four children of Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden and Joseph Robinette Biden, Sr. Biden moved with his family to Wilmington, Delaware, at the age of 10.
2) As a child he had a debilitating stammer for which he was teased by his classmates in school.
3) Biden played American Football at a Catholic prep school called Archmere Academy. As a wide receiver and running back, Biden is said to have caught an impressive 19 touchdown passes.
4) The US President is an alumnus of the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School. He was part of the New Castle County Council.
5) The young Biden was drafted for service in the Vietnam War after he passed out of law school at Syracuse University. However, he failed the medical as he suffered from asthma.
6) He ran for President twice earlier – once in 1988 and again in 2008.
7) He became the oldest first-term president in the history of the US at the age of 77.
8) In his personal life, Biden suffered family tragedies. In 1972, he lost his first wife Neilia and baby daughter Naomi in a car accident. Two of Biden’s sons -- Beau and Hunter -- were also in the vehicle when the accident took place. However, they survived. In 2015, Biden lost his son Beau to brain cancer.
9) In a 2008 interview, Joe Biden confessed that the classic "Chariots of Fire" was his favourite movie.
10) In 2016, the US President admitted to having a sweet tooth and said he loved to indulge with a scoop of ice-cream. “I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. But I eat a lot of ice cream,” Biden said.
