This is an accepted version of this page
Beau Biden | |
|---|---|
 Biden in 2012 | |
| 44th Attorney General of Delaware | |
| In office January 2, 2007 – January 6, 2015 | |
| Governor | |
| Preceded by | Carl Danberg |
| Succeeded by | Matthew Denn |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joseph Robinette Biden III (1969-02-03)February 3, 1969 Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. |
| Died | May 30, 2015(2015-05-30) (aged 46) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
| Resting place | St. Joseph on the Brandywine |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Biden family |
| Education | |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | Delaware Army National Guard |
| Years of service | 2003–2015 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | 261st Signal Brigade |
| Battles/wars | Iraq War |
| Awards |
|
Joseph Robinette "Beau"Biden III (February 3, 1969 – May 30, 2015) was an American politician, lawyer, andArmy National Guard officer who served as the 44thattorney general of Delaware from 2007 to 2015. A member of theBiden family and theDemocratic Party, he was the eldest child of 46th U.S. presidentJoe Biden andNeilia Hunter Biden.
After graduating from theUniversity of Pennsylvania andSyracuse Law School, Biden joined theDelaware Army National Guard in 1995 and served as an officer in theArmy Judge Advocate General's Corps; deploying toIraq in 2008. He went on to work as alaw clerk for adistrict judge before serving as afederal prosecutor until 2004. In 2006, Biden was elected Attorney General of Delaware. After his father was electedvice president in2008, Biden consideredrunning for his father's old senate seat, but instead ran forre-election; winning in alandslide.
In April 2014, Biden announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination forGovernor of Delaware in the2016 election. Whilehis father was vice president, Biden died ofglioblastoma, at the age of 46, in May 2015. His death generated national attention, and a portion of the21st Century Cures Act was named the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot initiative in his honor.[1]
Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III was born inWilmington, Delaware, on February 3, 1969, the eldest son ofJoe Biden and his first wifeNeilia. On December 18, 1972, his mother and infant sister Naomi were killed in an automobile accident while Christmas shopping. He was almost four years old and his brother,Hunter, was almost three years old. Beau and Hunter were in the car when the crash took place and were critically injured but survived. Beau sustained multiple broken bones while Hunter sustained injuries to his skull and severe traumatic brain damage.[2] They spent several months in the hospital, where their father was sworn into theSenate two weeks after the accident.[3][4][5]
According to some accounts, Beau and Hunter Biden encouraged their father to marry again, even going so far as to ask him "when were 'we' going to get married".[6] In June 1977, his father marriedJill Jacobs, whom Beau welcomed as astepmother. His half-sister,Ashley, was born in 1981.[7]
Biden marriedHallie Olivere in 2002. They had two children: daughter Natalie Naomi (b. 2004), and son Robert Hunter II (b. 2006).[8][9]
In 1987, Biden graduated fromArchmere Academy, his father's high school alma mater,[10] and theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1991,[11] where he was a member of thePsi Upsilon fraternity.[12] He was also a graduate ofSyracuse University College of Law, as was his father. After graduating from law school, heclerked for JudgeSteven McAuliffe of the United States District Court of New Hampshire.[13] From 1995 to 2004, he worked at theUnited States Department of Justice in Philadelphia, first as Counsel to the Office of Policy Development and later as a federal prosecutor in theU.S. Attorney's Office.[14][15]
Biden was inKosovo after the 1998–1999Kosovo War, working on behalf of theOSCE to train judges and prosecutors for the local judicial system.[16][17] In 2004, he became a partner in the law firm of Bifferato, Gentilotti, Biden & Balick, where he worked for two years before being electedAttorney General of Delaware.[18]
When Joe Biden was nominated for vice president at the2008 Democratic National Convention, Beau Biden introduced him. Many delegates wept at his speech, which recounted the auto accident that killed his mother and sister and the subsequent commitment his father made to his sons.[19][20]
Biden joined theDelaware Army National Guard in 2003 and attendedThe JAG School at theUniversity of Virginia.[21] He attained the rank ofmajor in theJudge Advocate General's Corps as part of the261st Signal Brigade inSmyrna, Delaware.[22][23]
Biden's unit was activated to deploy to Iraq on October 3, 2008, and was sent toFort Bliss, Texas for pre-deployment training.[24] This was the day after his father participated in the 2008 presidential campaign's onlyvice presidential debate. His father was on the record as saying, "I don't want him going. But I tell you what, I don't want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years, and so how we leave makes a big difference."[25]
Biden traveled toWashington, D.C. from Iraq in January 2009 for thepresidential inauguration and his father's swearing-in as vice president,[26] then returned to Iraq.[27] Biden received a visit atCamp Victory from his father on July 4, 2009.[28]
Biden returned from Iraq in September 2009 after completing his yearlong stint on active duty which included a 7-month deployment in the combat zone with the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps.[29] During his deployment he announced that he would continue to actively serve as Delaware's attorney general by working in conjunction with his office's senior staff in Delaware,[30] although a member of his unit related that Biden said he had turned over most of his attorney general work to his chief deputy in order to focus on his duties in Iraq.[31]
Biden was awarded theBronze Star Medal for meritorious service in Iraq.[32]Army Chief of StaffRaymond Odierno delivered the eulogy at Biden's funeral and presented a posthumousLegion of Merit for his service in the Delaware National Guard, stating "Beau Biden possessed the traits I have witnessed in only the greatest leaders."[33] He was also posthumously presented with theDelaware Conspicuous Service Cross, which is "awarded for heroism, meritorious service and outstanding achievement".[34]
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In his first bid for political office, Biden ran forattorney general of Delaware in 2006. Biden's opponent was a veteran state prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney, Ferris Wharton. Major issues in the campaign included the candidates' experience and proposed efforts to address sex offenders, internet predators, senior abuse and domestic abuse. Biden won the election by approximately five percentage points.[35]
After being elected, he appointed former Delaware Attorney General and International JudgeRichard S. Gebelein as Chief Deputy Attorney General, and former assistantU.S. AttorneyRichard G. Andrews was appointed as State Prosecutor. As Attorney General, Biden supported and enforced stronger registration requirements for sex offenders.[36][37]
Joe Biden resigned from the Senate following his2008 election to the vice presidency. GovernorRuth Ann Minner named former Joe Biden aideTed Kaufman to fill the vacant seat, but Kaufman made it clear that he would not be a candidate in the2010 special election. It fueled speculation Beau would run at that time.[38] Biden's father stated after the announcement of Kaufman's appointment, "It is no secret that I believe my son, Attorney General, would make a great United States Senator just as I believe he has been a great attorney general. But Beau has made it clear from the moment he entered public life that any office he sought he would earn on his own.... [I]f he chooses to run for the Senate in the future, he will have to run and win on his own. He wouldn't have it any other way."[39]
In October 2009, Biden stated that he was considering a run for the Senate and that he would make a final decision in January. On January 25, Biden confirmed that he would forgo a Senate run so as to better focus on the prosecution ofEarl Bradley, a convicted serial child rapist.[40]
On November 2, 2010, he was easilyre-elected to a second term as Delaware Attorney General, beatingIndependent Party of Delaware candidate Doug Campbell by a large margin.[41]
Biden was criticized for his handling of the prosecution ofRobert H. Richards IV, an heir of the powerful Delaware-basedDu Pont family accused of sexually assaulting his young daughter.[42] In 2008, Biden's office charged Richards with two counts of second-degree rape, charges punishable by a minimum of 20 years in prison, but later that year, his office entered a plea bargain with Richards in which Richards pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree rape and was sentenced by Judge Jan Jurden to eight years' probation.[43][42] Defending the plea bargain and Jurden's sentencing in a letter toThe News Journal, Biden wrote "This was not a strong case, and a loss at trial was a distinct possibility" and said the judge "exercised sound discretion".[44]
Biden did not seek election to a third term as attorney general in 2014.[45] In the spring of that year, he announced his intention to run forgovernor of Delaware in the2016 election to succeed term-limited Democratic GovernorJack Markell.[46][47] At the time of this announcement, the cancer that would kill Biden in 2015 had been diagnosed (in 2013), but was in remission.[48]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Beau Biden | 133,152 | 52.5% | |
| Republican | Ferris Wharton | 120,062 | 47.4% | |
| Total votes | 253,214 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Beau Biden | 196,799 | 78.9% | |
| Independent Party | Doug Campbell | 52,517 | 21.1% | |
| Write-in | 197 | 0.08% | ||
| Total votes | 249,513 | 100.00% | ||
According to his father, Biden was diagnosed withankylosing spondylitis in 2001 after returning from service inKosovo.[49] He was later diagnosed with brain cancer, which his father suggested was possibly a consequence of exposure to militaryburn pits in Iraq.[50]
For the final few years of his life, Biden suffered from a brain tumor.[51][52] In May 2010, he was admitted toChristiana Hospital inNewark, Delaware, after complaining of a headache, numbness, and paralysis. Officials stated that he had suffered a mild stroke.[52][53] Later that month, Biden was transferred toThomas Jefferson University Hospital inPhiladelphia and kept for observation for several days.[53]
In August 2013, Biden was admitted to theUniversity of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and diagnosed withglioblastoma multiforme,[50] the most aggressive type of primary brain cancer, after experiencing whatWhite House officials called "an episode of disorientation and weakness".[54] A lesion was removed at that time. Biden had radiation and chemotherapy treatments and the cancer remained stable. On May 20, 2015, he was admitted toWalter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, because of a recurrence of brain cancer. He died there ten days later, on May 30, at the age of 46.[55][56] His funeral was held atSt. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church inWilmington, Delaware, on June 6.[57]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 "Funeral Service for Beau Biden",C-SPAN[57] |
Biden's funeral was attended by then-PresidentBarack Obama, First LadyMichelle Obama, their daughtersMalia andSasha, former PresidentBill Clinton, former Secretary of State and former First LadyHillary Clinton, former US Army Chief of Staff GeneralRay Odierno, and then-Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell. At his funeral, he was awarded theLegion of Merit Award by General Odierno, for his services in theIraq War. President Obama described Biden as "an original. He was a good man. He did in 46 years what most of us couldn't do in 146." At his funeral service, a solo rendition of the song "Til Kingdom Come" was performed byChris Martin, the lead singer of the bandColdplay, of whom Beau had been a fan.[58][59]
Biden was buried atSt. Joseph on the Brandywine inGreenville, Delaware.[51] His gravesite is near the graves of his grandparents Joe Sr. and Catherine, his motherNeilia and his sister Naomi.[60]
On November 4, 2015, Biden was posthumously awarded theAlbert Schweitzer Leadership Award, the highest honor given by the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation (HOBY), for his service to mankind.[61] A portion of the21st Century Cures Act (2016) was named theBeau Biden Cancer Moonshot initiative after him.[1][62][63] A named scholarship was established atSyracuse UniversityCollege of Law in 2016.[64]
In August 2016, Joe Biden, his sister Valerie Biden Owens and son Hunter attended a ceremony that renamed a southeastern Kosovar highway "Joseph R. 'Beau' Biden, III" to honor Beau's contribution to Kosovo for training its judges and prosecutors.[16][17][65] The Kosovan government posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal on the Rule of Law in 2021.[66]
On November 14, 2017, Joe Biden published a memoir titledPromise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, where he reflects on Beau Biden's illness and death.[67]
On March 2, 2020, Joe Biden mentioned Beau in a speech, comparing him to former South Bend MayorPete Buttigieg after Buttigieg endorsed Biden for the2020 presidential election:[68][69][70]
I don't think I've ever done this before, but [Buttigieg] reminds me of my son, Beau, and I know that may not mean much to most people, but to me, it's the highest compliment I can give any man or woman.[68][69]
The Major Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center inNew Castle, Delaware, was named for Biden in 2016.[71] It was the site of a speech by Joe Biden the day before hisinauguration where he stated "we should be introducing him (Beau) as president".[72][73]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Carl Schnee | Democratic nominee forAttorney General of Delaware 2006,2010 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | Attorney General of Delaware 2007–2015 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
