Joe Biden rose into the spotlight in 2020 when he was voted in as the next President of the United States, beating former President Donald Trump to lead America. Biden was generally unknown outside political circles as a household name before the election, and many are interested in where he came from and where he grew up.
Joe Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the United States, where he spent most of his childhood. He then moved with his family to Mayfield, Delaware in 1955 when he was 13 years old.
To find out more on where Joe Biden came from and what his younger years were like before he reached the highest official political rank in the US democracy, keep on reading on!
Philadelphia, Born and Raised
Not unlike the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (although admittedly a little different), Biden was born on November 20th, 1942, in St. Mary’s Hospital and grew up in what is known as the blue-collar city of Scranton. This refers to a ‘working man’ city, where people carry out manual labor jobs, pretty much the opposite to a job you may expect to find on Wall St.
His parents were Catherine Eugenia Finnegan, who went by the name of Jean, and his father was Joseph Biden Sr, both of whom passed away in 2010 and 2002, respectively.
Joe has frequently been seen and interviewed talking about his parents, and how what they taught him made him the strong and capable leader he is today. Coming from a blue-collar city meant that Joe understood the values of hard work and that perseverance and toughness of self were essentially needed for living in a world like the one we have today.
Joe even quoted his father saying;
“Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.”
This was essential for Joe’s experiences as a child. For a detailed look at Joe’s background from his official political campaign, his party uploaded his video onto his official YouTube account.
Always Getting Back Up
During his younger years, Joe attended the St. Pauls Elementary School in his hometown of Scranton but moved in 1955 when he was 13 to Mayfield, Delaware.
Joe has spoken about how, during his younger years in both schools, he was bullied considerably for his stutter. Kids in his school gave him the nicknames like ‘Joe Impedimenta.’
However, inspired by his father’s quotes, he was strong enough to pick himself up and taught himself to remember vast amounts of poetry off by heart. He would then recite this poetry in front of a mirror to himself and, over time, was able to cure himself of his speech condition.
Biden then moved up to St. Helena School, and eventually, he was given acceptance to attend the very prestigious Archmere Academy.
Biden was unable to afford the tuition costs at first, so he found himself work weeding people’s gardens and washing their windows to help raise the money. Inspired by his hard work ethos, Biden had always wanted to attend the Archmere Academy, so he did everything he needed to do to be there.
His Journey into Politics
After graduating from Archmere Academy as a standout student, he started to attend the University of Delaware, where he originally studied political and historical sciences. Biden took a break from academia during spring break of his junior year and took a trip to the Bahamas.
It was here he met Neilia Hunter, a Syracuse University student, and this changed everything. In love and smitten by this girl, he worked hard and managed to secure himself a place at Syracuse University to study law once he graduated from Delaware back in 1965. Fast forward to 1966, he and Neilia were married.
Perhaps caught up in the excitement of being married, Biden flunked his first year of Syracuse as he didn’t properly reference his law review paper. He claimed it was an accidental oversight, but this spelled big problems later on in his political career. Most notably, the Trump website itself claims that Biden has plagiarized content for years.
After graduating from law school with average grades in 1968, Biden moved again to Wilmington, Delaware, to work in a law firm. He then joined the Delaware Democratic Party in 1972 and so began his journey into politics to where he is today.
He won his first election on the New Castle County Council in 1970 and raced to the US Senate in a surprising race just two years later!
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