Joe Biden

== Early life (1942–1965) ==
{{Main|Early life and career of Joe Biden}}
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942,<ref name="cong-bio">{{CongBio |id=b000444 |name=Joseph R. Biden|inline=YES|access-date=January 20, 2021}}</ref> at St. Mary's Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania,{{sfn|Witcover|2010|p=5}} to Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden (née Finnegan) and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr.<ref name="ap010810">{{Cite news |last=Chase |first=Randall |date=January 9, 2010 |title=Vice President Biden's mother, Jean, dies at 92 |publisher=[[WITN-TV]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.witn.com/home/headlines/81062772.html |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-date=May 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520012620/https://www.witn.com/home/headlines/81062772.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Smolenyak |first=Megan |author-link=Megan Smolenyak |date=September 3, 2002 |title=Joseph Biden Sr., 86, father of the senator |newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2002-09-03-0209030023-story.html |access-date=April 15, 2020 |archive-date=December 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230113231/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2002-09-03-0209030023-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The oldest child in a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] family of English, French, and Irish descent, he has a sister, [[Valerie Biden Owens|Valerie]], and two brothers, Francis and [[James Biden|James]].{{sfn|Witcover|2010|pp=8–9}}

Biden's father had been wealthy and the family purchased a home in the affluent Long Island suburb of [[Garden City, New York|Garden City]] in the fall of 1946,<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The New Yorker|date=August 15, 2022|access-date=August 25, 2022|first=Adam|last=Entous|title=The Untold History of the Biden Family|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/the-untold-history-of-the-biden-family|archive-date=August 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825154155/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/the-untold-history-of-the-biden-family|url-status=live}}</ref> but he suffered business setbacks around the time Biden was seven years old,<ref>{{cite news |last=Russell |first=Katie |date=January 8, 2021 |title=Joe Biden's family tree: how tragedy shaped the US president-elect |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/joe-biden-family-tree-children-ashley-hunter/ |access-date=December 1, 2020 |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108150352/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/joe-biden-family-tree-children-ashley-hunter/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name = promises2008>{{cite book |last1=Biden |first1=Joe |title=Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics |date=2008 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-8129-7621-2 |pages=16–17}}</ref>{{sfn|Witcover|2010|pp=7–8}} and for several years the family lived with Biden's maternal grandparents in Scranton.<ref name="nyt-father">{{Cite news |last=Broder |first=John M. |date=October 23, 2008 |title=Father's Tough Life an Inspiration for Biden |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24biden.html |access-date=October 24, 2008 |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108082045/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24biden.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Biden's father could not find steady work.<ref name="ap-scranton">{{Cite news |last=Rubinkam |first=Michael |date=August 27, 2008 |title=Biden's Scranton childhood left lasting impression |publisher=[[Fox News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Aug27/0,4670,CVNBidenapossScrantonRoots,00.html |access-date=September 7, 2008 |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115185424/https://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Aug27/0,4670,CVNBidenapossScrantonRoots,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Beginning in 1953 when Biden was ten,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/21/trump-biden-scranton-pennsylvania-deserted-delaware/ |title=Joe Biden, who left Scranton at 10, 'deserted' Pennsylvania |last=Farzan |first=Antonia Noori |date=May 21, 2019 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=November 7, 2021 |archive-date=November 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105045522/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/21/trump-biden-scranton-pennsylvania-deserted-delaware/ |url-status=live }}</ref> the family lived in an apartment in [[Claymont, Delaware]], before moving to a house in nearby [[Mayfield, Delaware|Mayfield]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Jennifer |title=Joe Biden's houses |work=Homes and Gardens |date=January 20, 2021 |url=https://www.homesandgardens.com/news/joe-biden-house |accessdate=September 18, 2021 |archive-date=September 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918200800/https://www.homesandgardens.com/news/joe-biden-house |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Newman |first=Meredith |title=How Joe Biden went from 'Stutterhead' to senior class president |newspaper=[[The News Journal]] |date=June 24, 2019 |url=https://eu.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/06/24/how-joe-biden-overcame-stutter-class-president-archmere-high-school/1261174001/ |accessdate=September 18, 2021 |archive-date=November 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103124946/https://eu.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/06/24/how-joe-biden-overcame-stutter-class-president-archmere-high-school/1261174001/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name = promises2008 /><ref name="nyt-father" /> Biden Sr. later became a successful [[used-car salesman]], maintaining the family in a middle-class lifestyle.<ref name="nyt-father" /><ref name="ap-scranton" /><ref name="aap08-bio">''Almanac of American Politics'' 2008, p. 364.</ref>

At [[Archmere Academy]] in Claymont,{{sfn|Witcover|2010|pp=27, 32}} Biden played baseball and was a standout [[Halfback (American football)|halfback]] and [[wide receiver]] on the [[high school football]] team.<ref name=nyt-father /><ref name="tnj092808">{{Cite news |last=Frank |first=Martin |date=September 28, 2008 |title=Biden was the stuttering kid who wanted the ball |page=D.1 |work=[[The News Journal]] |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/delawareonline/access/1742718581.html?FMT=ABS |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601081204/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/delawareonline/access/1742718581.html?FMT=ABS |archive-date=June 1, 2013}}</ref> Though a poor student, he was [[class president]] in his junior and senior years.{{sfn|Witcover|2010|pp=40–41}}{{sfn|Taylor|1990|p=99}} He graduated in 1961.{{sfn|Witcover|2010|pp=40–41}} At the [[University of Delaware]] in [[Newark, Delaware|Newark]], Biden briefly played freshman football,<ref>Biden, ''Promises to Keep'', pp. 27, 32–33.</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Domenico |last=Montanaro |title=Fact Check: Biden's Too Tall Football Tale |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fact-check-bidens-too-tall-football-tale-flna1c6504609 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221225751/http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/16/14489712-fact-check-bidens-too-tall-football-tale |archive-date=December 21, 2012 |agency=[[NBC News]] |date=October 16, 2012 }}</ref> and, as an unexceptional student,<ref name="nyt091887" /> earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 with a [[double major]] in history and [[political science]].<ref name="ap-timeline" />{{sfn|Taylor|1990|p=98}}

Biden had a [[stutter]] and has mitigated it since his early twenties.<ref>{{cite web | last=Biden | first=Joseph R. Jr. |date=July 9, 2009 |title=Letter to National Stuttering Association chairman |url=https://www.westutter.org/pdfs/Joe_Biden-PublicGreeting_NationalStutteringAssoc_7.1.09.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728173845/http://www.westutter.org/pdfs/Joe_Biden-PublicGreeting_NationalStutteringAssoc_7.1.09.pdf |archive-date=July 28, 2011 |access-date=December 9, 2010 |publisher=[[National Stuttering Association]]}}</ref> He has described his efforts to reduce it by reciting poetry before a mirror.{{sfn|Taylor|1990|p=99}}<ref>{{cite web |first=Janet|last=Hook|date=September 16, 2019 |title=Joe Biden's childhood struggle with a stutter: How he overcame it and how it shaped him |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-15/joe-bidens-childhood-struggle-with-a-stutter |access-date=July 24, 2020 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |archive-date=September 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916173912/https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-15/joe-bidens-childhood-struggle-with-a-stutter |url-status=live }}</ref>

Biden is a [[teetotalism|teetotaler]]. He has said he abstains from alcohol because there were "too many alcoholics in my family".<ref>{{cite web|last=Leibovich|first=Mark|title=Riding the Rails with Amtrack Joe|website=The Caucus|publisher=[[The New York Times]]|date=16 September 2008|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/riding-the-rails-with-amtrak-joe/|access-date=10 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928171220/https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/riding-the-rails-with-amtrak-joe/|archive-date=28 September 2017}}</ref>