Biden Bio-Sketch

Joe Biden was born on November 20, 1942 and he is the Vice President-elect of the United States and the senior United States Senator from Delaware. Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived there for ten years before moving to Delaware. He is the son of Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. and Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Finnegan. He was the first of four siblings in an Irish Catholic family. He has two brothers, James Brian Biden and Francis W. Biden, and a sister, Valerie Owens. One of his grandfathers was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate. Biden went to the Archmere Academy in Claymont, where he was a standout halfback/wide receiver on the high school football team. Biden then soon graduated in 1961. He attended the University of Delaware in Newark, he also played football there as well. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in history and political science in 1965, he ranked 506th of 688 in his class. On August 27, 1966, Biden then became a law student, married Neilia Hunter, who was from an affluent background in New York and had attended Syracuse University. They had three children, Joseph R. Biden III , Robert Hunter , and Naomi Christina.


On August 22, 2008 Barack Obama announced that Biden would be his running mate. Biden nevertheless focused on campaigning in economically-challenged areas of swing states and trying to win over all Democrats, especially those who had supported Hillary Rodham Clinton. Biden attacked McCain heavily, despite a long-standing personal friendship. Biden is against the Bush administration's tax cuts and would take back one year of the tax cuts for Americans who make over a million dollars a year. He believes action must be taken on global warming and he supports the creation of a new treaty on climate change that would require emissions reductions from developing countries such as Brazil, India, China, and Mexico. He has also stated his support for investment in technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the creation of a "cap and trade" system. Biden opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and supports governmental funding to find new energy sources as well as upping funding for alternative transportation like Amtrak and mass transit.