11/26/2022 0 Comments Biden best friends ever awardHe later took on arms control issues and served as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee.īiden came under criticism for the way he handled the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas in 1987, when former employee Anita Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment.īiden was accused by women's rights advocates and legal activists of suppressing Hill's testimony and not allowing other witnesses to testify on the same matter. In the Senate, Biden concentrated on issues such as consumer protection, environmentalism and government accountability. The main railway station in Delaware's capital was renamed to honor Biden in 2011 to pay tribute to his marathon travels and devotion to his family - 7,000 trips back and forth over three and a half decades.īiden was a single father for five years, then married educator Jill Jacobs, with whom he has a daughter, Ashley.įILE - Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Jill Biden speak in celebration of World AIDS Day at Carnegie Hall in New York, Dec. Biden began traveling between Wilmington and Washington daily - usually by train, a 90-minute trip each way - to be sure he could see his sons before bedtime, and to maintain a semblance of normal home life. Before he took office, Biden's wife and 13-month-old daughter were killed in a car accident, leaving the rookie U.S. He initially became known for personal tragedy. He's as good a man as God ever created.'"īiden, a middle-class lawyer from Scranton, Pennsylvania, won his first run for a Delaware seat in the Senate at age 29, turning 30 - the minimum age for a senator - just a few weeks before taking office in January 1973. "It feels like a rarity among public servants today."įurthermore, the professor notes, Biden "will also be known for that wink," and his public persona as a good-natured, fun-loving guy - a man known to his fans as "Uncle Joe."Īt Thursday's White House ceremony, Obama recalled: "As one of his longtime colleagues in the Senate, who happened to be a Republican, once said, ‘If you can't admire Joe Biden as a person, you got a problem. "He venerates public service and that's an honorable thing to do," she said. Renee Van Vechten, professor of political science the University of Redlands in California, says the length of Biden's time in public service is memorable. 20, 2013.īiden, who is 74 years old, evokes a much warmer reaction from almost anyone who has known him, whether or not they were political allies. Garner broke with Roosevelt in 1937 over a controversial issue at the time - the president's bid to enlarge the Supreme Court - and openly campaigned against the measure, which was defeated.įILE - Vice President Joe Biden takes the oath of office during the 57th Presidential Inauguration official swearing-in ceremony at the Naval Observatory in Washington, Jan. Garner had been Roosevelt's main opposition before the election of 1932, and he was only added to the Democratic ticket that year in a deal to ensure he would drop out of the party's internal presidential campaign. In a review several years ago of "the vice presidents that history forgot," the Smithsonian Institution said the vice presidency in the past was "a rogues' gallery of mediocrities criminals." Roosevelt from 1933-41, is frequently quoted as having said the vice presidency is "not worth a bucket of warm spit." (Actually, historians assert that he used a different word than "spit.") Vice President John Nance Garner, who served under President Franklin D. In some administrations, vice presidents have had a more distant relationship with the occupant of the White House. Constitution, the vice president's main official duty is to cast a vote on any issue in which the Senate is divided at 50 votes apiece the president's deputy also serves as acting head of state in case the serving president is incapacitated and, of course, is first in the line of succession should the president die in office.Īmerican vice presidents also preside over a joint session of Congress after each quadrennial election, to certify the vote of the Electoral College that formally decides on a president's election. FILE - President Barack Obama, right, honors Vice President Joe Biden, left, during a ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Jan.
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