Beau Biden
Encyclopedia
Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III (born February 3, 1969) is an American lawyer, Army JAG officer, and politician from Wilmington, Delaware
. He serves as the Attorney General of Delaware and a Major in the Delaware Army National Guard
. He is a member of the Democratic Party
and is also the oldest son of the current Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden
.
were badly injured. He and his brother encouraged his father to remarry, and Jill Jacobs
became Beau's stepmother in 1977. His half-sister Ashley was born in 1981.
He is a graduate of Archmere Academy
, his father's high school alma mater, as well as the University of Pennsylvania
, where he was a member of the Psi Upsilon
fraternity, and Syracuse University College of Law
. From 1995 to 2004, he worked at the United States Department of Justice
in Philadelphia, first he served as Counsel to the Office of Policy Development and later as a Federal Prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office
. In 2004, he became a partner in the Wilmington law firm Bifferato, Gentilotti, Biden & Balick.
He and his wife, Hallie, have two children: a daughter, Natalie and a son, Hunter.
At the 2008 Democratic National Convention
, after Joe Biden was nominated for Vice President of the United States, Beau introduced his father. He recounted the auto accident that killed his mother and sister and the subsequent parenting commitment his father made to his sons, a speech at which many delegates wept.
After being elected, he appointed former Delaware Attorney General and International Judge Richard S. Gebelein as Chief Deputy Attorney General, and former assistant U.S. Attorney Richard G. Andrews
was appointed as State Prosecutor. As Attorney General, Biden has supported and enforced stronger registration requirements for sex offenders.
Joe Biden's victory in the 2008 presidential election left a vacancy in the U.S. Senate upon the time he would resign his seat. It was once believed to have been a frontrunner for the seat, but, while deployed in Iraq, stated that he would not seek or accept an appointment to the Senate.
On November 24, 2008, Governor Ruth Ann Minner
named Ted Kaufman
to the seat, but Kaufman indicated he would not be a candidate in the 2010 special election. This fueled speculation Beau would run at that time. 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." 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, confirmed that he would forgo a Senate run so as to better focus on the prosecution of Earl Bradley
, an infamous pedophilia suspect.
On November 2, 2010, he was easily reelected to a second term as Delaware Attorney General, beating Independent Party of Delaware
candidate Doug Campbell by a huge margin.
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=7 style="background: #ccccff;" |Public Offices
|-
! Office
! Type
! Location
! Elected
! Took Office
! Term Ends
! notes
|-
|Attorney General
|Executive
|Dover
|2006
|January 2, 2007
|January 3, 2011
|
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=13 style="background: #ccccff;" |Election results
|-
| Year
| Office
| Election
|
| Subject
| Party
| Votes
| %
|
| Opponent
| Party
| Votes
| %
|-
|2006
|Attorney General
|General
|
| |Joseph R. Biden III
| |Democratic
| |133,152
| |52.5%
|
| |Ferris Wharton
| |Republican
| |120,062
| |47.4%
|-
|2010
|Attorney General
|General
|
| |Joseph R. Biden III
| |Democratic
| |196,799
| |78.9%
|
| |Doug Campbell
| |Delaware Independent
| |52,517
| |21.1%
and was recently promoted to the rank of Major
in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps
as part of the 261st Signal Brigade
in Smyrna, Delaware
.
Biden's unit was activated to deploy to Iraq on October 3, 2008, and sent to Fort Bliss, Texas for pre-deployment training, the day after his father participated in the 2008 presidential campaign's only vice presidential debate
. His father is 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."
Biden traveled to Washington, D.C.
from Iraq in January 2009 for the presidential inauguration
and his father's swearing-in as Vice President, then returned to Iraq. Biden received a visit at Camp Victory
from his father on July 4, 2009. Biden returned from Iraq in September 2009, his yearlong deployment complete. Biden had announced that during his deployment he would continue to actively serve as Delaware's Attorney General by working in conjunction with his office's senior staff in Delaware, although a member of his unit related Biden saying he had turned over most of his attorney general work to his deputy so as to focus on his duties in Iraq.
for what doctors described as a "mild stroke".
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. He serves as the Attorney General of Delaware and a Major in the Delaware Army National Guard
Delaware Army National Guard
The Delaware National Guard comprises both Army and Air National Guard components. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. In fact, the National Guard is the only United States military force empowered to function in a...
. He is a member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and is also the oldest son of the current Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
.
Early life and family
Biden was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the eldest son of former U.S. Senator and current Vice President Joe Biden and his first wife, Neilia Hunter. His mother and younger sister, Naomi Christina Biden, were killed in an automobile accident in 1972, in which he and his brother HunterHunter Biden
Robert Hunter Biden , second son of Vice President Joseph R. Biden, is a partner at Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC and is Counsel to Boies, Schiller, Flexner, LLP, a New York based-law firm. Previously, he was a founding partner of Oldaker, Biden & Belair, LLP.He received a bachelor's degree from...
were badly injured. He and his brother encouraged his father to remarry, and Jill Jacobs
Jill Biden
Jill Tracy Biden is an American educator and, as the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, is the Second Lady of the United States....
became Beau's stepmother in 1977. His half-sister Ashley was born in 1981.
He is a graduate of Archmere Academy
Archmere Academy
Archmere Academy is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school of 474 students in Claymont, Delaware. It is run independently within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington.-History:...
, his father's high school alma mater, as well as the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, where he was a member of the Psi Upsilon
Psi Upsilon
Psi Upsilon is the fifth oldest college fraternity in the United States, founded at Union College in 1833. It has chapters at colleges and universities throughout North America. For most of its history, Psi Upsilon, like most social fraternities, limited its membership to men only...
fraternity, and Syracuse University College of Law
Syracuse University College of Law
Syracuse University College of Law , founded in 1895, is a Juris Doctor degree-granting law school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. It is one of only four law schools in Upstate New York Syracuse University College of Law (SUCOL), founded in 1895, is a Juris Doctor degree-granting law...
. From 1995 to 2004, he worked at the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
in Philadelphia, first he served as Counsel to the Office of Policy Development and later as a Federal Prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
. In 2004, he became a partner in the Wilmington law firm Bifferato, Gentilotti, Biden & Balick.
He and his wife, Hallie, have two children: a daughter, Natalie and a son, Hunter.
At the 2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...
, after Joe Biden was nominated for Vice President of the United States, Beau introduced his father. He recounted the auto accident that killed his mother and sister and the subsequent parenting commitment his father made to his sons, a speech at which many delegates wept.
Political career
In his first bid at political office, Biden ran for Attorney 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.After being elected, he appointed former Delaware Attorney General and International Judge Richard S. Gebelein as Chief Deputy Attorney General, and former assistant U.S. Attorney Richard G. Andrews
Richard G. Andrews
Richard Gibson Andrews is a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. A former Delaware state prosecutor and Assistant United States Attorney, he was nominated to the bench by Barack Obama.- Early life and education :...
was appointed as State Prosecutor. As Attorney General, Biden has supported and enforced stronger registration requirements for sex offenders.
Joe Biden's victory in the 2008 presidential election left a vacancy in the U.S. Senate upon the time he would resign his seat. It was once believed to have been a frontrunner for the seat, but, while deployed in Iraq, stated that he would not seek or accept an appointment to the Senate.
On November 24, 2008, Governor Ruth Ann Minner
Ruth Ann Minner
Ruth Ann Minner is an American politician and businesswoman from Milford, in Kent County, Delaware. She is a member of the Democratic Party who served in the Delaware General Assembly, as the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Delaware and two terms as the first female Governor of Delaware.-Early life...
named Ted Kaufman
Ted Kaufman
Edward E. "Ted" Kaufman is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Delaware from 2009 to 2010. Since 2010, he has chaired the Congressional Oversight Panel in the United States federal government; he is the second person to hold that post, succeeding inaugural holder...
to the seat, but Kaufman indicated he would not be a candidate in the 2010 special election. This fueled speculation Beau would run at that time. 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." 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, confirmed that he would forgo a Senate run so as to better focus on the prosecution of Earl Bradley
Earl Bradley
Earl Brian Bradley is a former pediatrician in Lewes, Delaware. He was indicted in February 2010 on 471 charges stemming from his alleged molestation, rape and exploitation of 103 child patients, some as young as three months old. He was charged in April 2010 with an additional 58 offences in...
, an infamous pedophilia suspect.
On November 2, 2010, he was easily reelected to a second term as Delaware Attorney General, beating Independent Party of Delaware
Independent Party of Delaware
The Independent Party of Delaware is a political party in the State of Delaware, United States.In 2000 the party ran Floyd Mcdowell Sr. for governor. He received 3,271 votes, making 1.1% of the total vote . In 2002 Maurice Barros, running for U.S. Senate, received 996 votes, for 0.4% of the total...
candidate Doug Campbell by a huge margin.
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=7 style="background: #ccccff;" |Public Offices
|-
! Office
! Type
! Location
! Elected
! Took Office
! Term Ends
! notes
|-
|Attorney General
|Executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
|Dover
Dover, Delaware
The city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...
|2006
|January 2, 2007
|January 3, 2011
|
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=13 style="background: #ccccff;" |Election results
|-
| Year
| Office
| Election
|
| Subject
| Party
| Votes
| %
|
| Opponent
| Party
| Votes
| %
|-
|2006
|Attorney General
|General
|
| |Joseph R. Biden III
| |Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
| |133,152
| |52.5%
|
| |Ferris Wharton
| |Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
| |120,062
| |47.4%
|-
|2010
|Attorney General
|General
|
| |Joseph R. Biden III
| |Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
| |196,799
| |78.9%
|
| |Doug Campbell
| |Delaware Independent
Independent Party of Delaware
The Independent Party of Delaware is a political party in the State of Delaware, United States.In 2000 the party ran Floyd Mcdowell Sr. for governor. He received 3,271 votes, making 1.1% of the total vote . In 2002 Maurice Barros, running for U.S. Senate, received 996 votes, for 0.4% of the total...
| |52,517
| |21.1%
Military service
Biden joined the military in 2003 as a member of the Delaware Army National GuardDelaware Army National Guard
The Delaware National Guard comprises both Army and Air National Guard components. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. In fact, the National Guard is the only United States military force empowered to function in a...
and was recently promoted to the rank of Major
Major (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...
in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps
Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army
The Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army is composed of Army officers who are also lawyers and who provide legal services to the Army at all levels of command. The Judge Advocate General's Legal Service includes judge advocates, warrant officers, paralegal noncommissioned...
as part of the 261st Signal Brigade
261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade
The 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade is a unit in the Delaware Army National Guard, with a home station in Smyrna, Delaware. The 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade provides command and control to assigned and attached units...
in Smyrna, Delaware
Smyrna, Delaware
Smyrna is a town in Kent and New Castle counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area...
.
Biden's unit was activated to deploy to Iraq on October 3, 2008, and sent to Fort Bliss, Texas for pre-deployment training, the day after his father participated in the 2008 presidential campaign's only vice presidential debate
United States vice-presidential debate, 2008
The 2008 United States vice-presidential debate, took place on October 2, 2008, between U.S. vice-presidential candidates Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, and Joe Biden, the senior Senator for Delaware, at Washington University in St. Louis, and was moderated by Public Broadcasting Service...
. His father is 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."
Biden traveled to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
from Iraq in January 2009 for the presidential inauguration
Inauguration of Barack Obama
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joe...
and his father's swearing-in as Vice President, then returned to Iraq. Biden received a visit at Camp Victory
Camp Victory
Camp Victory is the primary component of the Victory Base Complex which occupies the area surrounding the Baghdad International Airport . The Al-Faw Palace, which served as the headquarters for the Multi-National Corps - Iraq , is located on Camp Victory...
from his father on July 4, 2009. Biden returned from Iraq in September 2009, his yearlong deployment complete. Biden had announced that during his deployment he would continue to actively serve as Delaware's Attorney General by working in conjunction with his office's senior staff in Delaware, although a member of his unit related Biden saying he had turned over most of his attorney general work to his deputy so as to focus on his duties in Iraq.
Health concerns
On May 11, 2010 Biden was admitted to Christiana in Newark, DelawareNewark, Delaware
Newark is an American city in New Castle County, Delaware, west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is the home of the University of Delaware.- History :...
for what doctors described as a "mild stroke".