WASHINGTON — After five decades in politics, President Joe Biden's political career is coming to a close as he exits the 2024 presidential race.
Biden won the highest political office after a career spanning 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president to Barack Obama.
His inauguration came at a time of national tumult and uncertainty amid a pandemic -- a ceremony of resilience weeks after the u.S. Capitol was attacked by an insurrectionist siege by Donald Trump supporters.
Standing near Biden was vice president Kamala Harris – the first female vice president and woman of color to hold the office.
As president, Biden drew on his time in the Senate to spearhead the passage of the American Rescue Plan to address the coronavirus pandemic, a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Biden visited many countries during his presidency including Ukraine during its war with Russia, and Israel during its offensive in Gaza against Hamas.
He also ordered the final withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Afghanistan, fulfilling a campaign promise to end America's longest war.
The Afghanistan exit was marked by scenes of fear and violence, including the deaths of more than a dozen U.S. Service members, leading to criticism from both sides of the aisle.
81-year-old Biden was known to often ramble in speeches, but he was a humorous, plainspoken, and, at times, an emotional speaker who peppered his remarks with "folks," "malarkey," and plenty of anecdotes from his childhood. He often talked about his father and the lessons both of his parents taught him while growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Just as his career was starting, he suffered an immense personal tragedy soon after being elected to the Senate in 1972 when his wife Neilia and their year-old daughter Naomi were killed in an auto accident. Sons Beau and Hunter were critically injured. Joe Biden was not in the car during the crash.
Later in life, Beau, the attorney general of Delaware and Joe Biden's eldest son would pass away in 2015 after battling brain cancer.
Biden’s raw openness around grief and his ability to empathize with fellow Americans who have experienced loss have become defining traits of his political career.
Biden married Jill Jacobs in 1977, and their family grew with the birth of their daughter, Ashley. They are grandparents to seven grandchildren.
As a senator, Biden mostly commuted to Washington, D.C. from Delaware and relished taking the train to work.
Biden went on to chair the confirmation hearings of five justices, including Clarence Thomas. During the Thomas hearings in 1991, Biden failed to conduct a full investigation into sexual harassment allegations against the nominee. The committee heard from Thomas's accuser, Anita Hill, but Biden didn't allow corroborating testimony from other witnesses – an error he later took responsibility for. In the wake of his foul treatment of Hill, Biden worked to improve his record on issues important to women, calling the 1994 passage of his federal "Violence Against Women Act" his "proudest legislative accomplishment."
Biden ran for president three times in his career. In 1987, his first run quickly ended after Biden was forced to acknowledge committing plagiarism in law school, exaggerating his academic record and failing to attribute key passages in some campaign speeches.
As a candidate for the 2008 democratic presidential nomination, Biden faced criticism for describing Obama as "articulate." The remark offended some in the Black community, though Obama said he didn't take it personally.
Barack Obama chose Biden as his running mate and eventually went on to win an historic victory in 2008. Obama, the nation's first Black president, and Biden, a Capitol Hill veteran who joined a senate in 1973 when it still included segregationists, went on to forge a partnership and brotherhood in the White House.
Obama surprised Biden by honoring him with the Medal of Freedom before leaving office in 2017.
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After leaving the vice presidency, Biden often criticized then-President Donald Trump and said Trump's divisive presidency propelled him to run for the highest office to "restore the soul of the nation."
After a bitter battle during one of the worst pandemics in U.S. history, Biden won after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes. Trump capitalized on that delay to make unfounded claims of election fraud.
By his third year in office, the persistence of the coronavirus, rising inflation, congressional gridlock and the Israel-Hamas war exacted a bitter toll on Biden's approval rating.
Biden tested positive for COVID-19 twice during his presidency and has gotten numerous vaccinations and booster shots to protect against the virus. He ended the U.S. national health emergency three years into the global coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has killed more than one million Americans.
As the oldest president in U.S. history, Biden ran for a second term in 2024 in an election rematch against 78-year-old former president Donald Trump, but ultimately left the race following a disastrous debate performance.
Biden was seen by some of his colleagues as a man who attempted to reach across the aisle during difficult times to find bipartisan solutions.