The Journey of Joe Biden: From Political Setbacks to the Presidency

>> NARRATOR: As the nation reckons with the assault on democracy...

>> One of the darkest days in the history of our nation. >> FRONTLINE tells the story of

America's next President. >> This man who's wanted to be president for half a century and

failed, and now finds himself at this moment of really abject national crisis that's when the

country sees him for the first time. >> It will test every bit of

what Joe Biden has learned over nearly 50 years in public office.

>> Now on FRONTLINE - President Biden. >> As today, I announce my

candidacy for the president of the United States of America... Friends, today I filed the

necessary papers to become candidate for president of the United States.

Today I'm announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.

>> When people get in the habit of running for president, and in the habit of wanting the

presidency, and in the habit, when they reflect on their lives, of thinking they could

win, and they could be a good president, that's a hard habit to break.

Dreams die hard. >> NARRATOR: In the 2020 election, Joe Biden's dream of

the presidency was fading. >> He was seen as yesterday's news.

He was a very rickety ship. He was not as eloquent as he was 30 years ago, like most people

wouldn't be. And he also, you know, he was saddled with a very, very long

record, some of it going back to the '70s. >> From NBC News.

"Decision 2020: The Democratic Candidates' Debate." >> NARRATOR: At the first

primary debate, that long, complicated record was a liability.

>> I'm going to now direct this at Vice President Biden. You opposed busing.

And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to

integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day.

And that little girl was me. >> It wasn't about the specifics of the busing debate.

It was a signal. It was saying that this is a white guy who is so old that he

was taking a position on busing in the first place. >> But, Vice President Biden, do

you agree today-- do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose busing in America then?

>> Precisely because he has such a long track record in American politics, you can point to him

being on the wrong side of questions that are now considered to be completely

settled. >> NARRATOR: In the weeks that followed, things didn't get

better. >> Meanwhile, in a stunning reversal, Joe Biden's campaign

struggles to match rival presidential candidates in fundraising.

>> ...numbers are down among women, down among independents. The drop is primarily among

younger voters. >> NARRATOR: He struggled to excite voters.

>> ...Vice President Joe Biden, struggling in the polls here... >> Joe Biden-- is his campaign

in trouble? >> He did not look like an effective candidate.

He lacked energy often. He wasn't as crisp as a lot of people had hoped he would be.

>> NARRATOR: His campaign was in crisis. >> Joe Biden presently trailing

in fourth place... >> ...surprised how bad Joe Biden did-- he fled the stage...

>> One of his senior advisers had to call him and have what she described to me as the

conversation you never want to have with a candidate, which is, "We may be approaching the point

of having to shut this thing down." >> Joe Biden is fighting for his

political survival. >> NARRATOR: It was a moment of peril.

>> ...make-or-break time in particular for Joe Biden... >> NARRATOR: But Joe Biden had

been here before. >> Biden, fighting to survive after a fourth straight...

>> This is a person who had suffered significant setbacks, both personally and politically.

And out of that I think he had come to a sense of what his strengths and weaknesses really

were. >> We're talking about a half-century in public life,

during which he experienced, multiple times, the setbacks, any one of which would have, and

has, driven out candidates to leaving public life. So the improbability of where he

finds himself is unprecedented in American presidential history.

>> NARRATOR: His life had prepared him for this moment. Shaped by challenges...

>> Stuttering is a fear problem. >> NARRATOR: Tragedy... >> An automobile accident killed

the wife and baby daughter of Biden of Delaware... >> NARRATOR: Crisis...

>> ...plagiarized a law review article... >> NARRATOR: Perseverance.

>> Tonight his campaign is doing damage control. >> The Biden legacy--

perseverance through personal agony. ♪ ♪

>> (stammering): Hope to p... Teach P.E. ...two s...

(stuttering on "S") Uh, s... Sisters.

Well, my... ...father is very strict. >> Among the many causes of

retarded speech are low intelligence, hearing loss, emotional conflicts, poor

methods of the teaching of talking by the parents, brain injury, and many others.

For example, a child may stutter as he comes out of the early stages of retarded speech.

>> NARRATOR: Joe Biden's formative challenge: he stuttered.

>> He came of age in a, another time, in which people... (stuttering softly)

...weren't as open about disorders or disabilities or setbacks...

(stuttering) When the common... ...prescription was...

"Buck up. Deal with it." >> NARRATOR: Dealing with it:

a rough-and-tumble childhood in Delaware, his father a car salesman fallen on hard times.

For little Joey, Catholic school. Nuns.

>> He had an assignment he had to memorize. He had to stand up and deliver

it in the classroom. >> NARRATOR: The words were in front of him: "Sir Walter

Raleigh was a gentleman." >> When Joe read it, it went... (claps out rhythm): "Sir Walter

Raleigh was a gentle man." "Say that again?" Mmm...

"Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentle man." And this went on three times.

>> He said "gentle man" instead of "gentleman." And...

the nun said... (imitating nun): "Mr. B-B-B-B-Biden, what's that

word?" And this is a person in a... position of authority, this is a

person who's meant to protect you. >> It was so embarrassing and

so enraging that Biden walked out of the room, he walked out of the school.

He walked all the way home. (car motor starts) >> NARRATOR: Joey's mom, Jean,

marched him back to the school to confront his teacher. >> The sister starts telling her

how disrespectful Joe is, and my mother, "Stop." She said, "Just tell me, did

you make fun of my son?" "Well, I..." "Sister, did you make fun of my

son?" "Well..." And my mother said, "Well, I'll

answer it for you. You sure in hell did. And if you ever, ever, ever do

that again, I'm going to come back and I'm going to knock your bonnet right off your head.

Do we understand each other?" >> NARRATOR: Bullied, harassed, ridiculed, he was hell-bent on

beating the stutter. >> Biden would stand in front of his bedroom mirror holding a

flashlight to his face, and he would recite Yeats and Emerson. >> NARRATOR: He kept pushing--

against the stutter, the bullies-- and it paid off. >> People liked to be around

him, he really had a presence. You knew him when he walked in. He was a little taller than

most, and in very good shape. He was a star football player on their team.

>> NARRATOR: Joey Biden found another way to fight back: politics.

>> In high school, he's president of his senior class. Honestly, that's when he gets a

taste for it. The stutter is still part of him during his senior year in high

school, where he has to introduce his family at the, at graduation, and he has to

stand up there and not stutter, and say this publicly. And he does it.

>> We want Joe! We want Joe! >> NARRATOR: In the crisis of

stuttering, a life method: persevere. Just push through.

>> More medical research to confer-- to conquer devastating diseases like cancer, and...

Not the end in, um, um, in themselves... The UAW took ex-- credible cuts

in their future... >> Many people would say Biden's stutter is among

his most visible weaknesses, if not number one. But it's also a source of his

strength. It's also... The main source of his grit and

his... determination to just be there, competing.

♪ ♪ >> ♪ Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy... ♪

>> NARRATOR: As he began his political career, Joe Biden had a role model: Irish,

Catholic, good-looking. Joe emulated what he could. Kennedy was drawn to politics,

Biden was drawn to politics. Jack had a photogenic wife and children.

Joe had a photogenic wife and children. The Kennedys had a family

compound at Hyannis Port. The Bidens would have a family compound in Wilmington,

Delaware. >> Joe Biden was always fascinated by the Kennedy

mystique. He really saw himself as a natural heir to that tradition.

>> I'm Joe Biden and I'm a candidate for the United States Senate.

Politicians have done such a job on the people that the people don't believe them anymore, and

I'd like a shot at changing that. >> NARRATOR: But Wilmington was

no Hyannis Port. >> We, the Bidens, we had no money.

We had no power or influence. We didn't know anybody who was a big name who could help us.

>> Hi, how are you? >> Hi, how are you? >> Joe Biden's my name...

>> NARRATOR: Like the crisis over his stutter, his political start was a struggle.

Behind in the polls, facing a powerful opponent: United States Senator Cale Boggs, an

ally of President Richard Nixon. >> Joe Biden asked me about getting involved in his

campaign. I started off by telling him that "There's no way you can

win." >> "Audacious" is a good term to apply to Biden back then.

This is a guy who wasn't yet old enough to hold the seat. >> NARRATOR: It was a time of

crisis in the country. The Vietnam War had divided Americans...

>> Opposition to the war in Vietnam has set off demonstrations in several major

cities. >> NARRATOR: ...igniting social unrest.

In Delaware, racial tensions boiled over. >> The National Guard was called

out in several cities to put down riots. One of these cities was

Wilmington, Delaware. >> NARRATOR: Black residents were angry.

Joe Biden saw an opportunity to draw on his personal experience with race-- back when he was

19, working at an inner-city pool. >> He was a lifeguard.

He was one of the two white guys. He was a tall, slim, uh...

young-looking, good-looking, Elvis Presley-looking kind of guy.

>> That's how he got to know some of the guys who were in the gangs.

He just seemed to have a natural instinct for getting to know people, getting to understand

them, but not being afraid to be around them. >> We became friends.

We became friends. I was a very troubled child. Okay?

Leader of a gang, no food at home, electric cut off, no soap-- sometime no soap and

water to take a bath, no hot water. >> NARRATOR: Joe and Ricky-- he

likes to be called "Mouse"-- forged a lifetime friendship. Mouse introduced Joe all around

the neighborhood. Over the years, Biden kept in touch, building relationships

in the Black community that would pay off. >> Some people are in politics

because they're in love with policy, but they're not necessarily in love with

humans. He loves the game of it. He loves the dance of it.

He loves meeting people. He loves hugging strangers. >> NARRATOR: It became his

go-to strategy. >> President Nixon's landslide didn't help the Republicans...

>> NARRATOR: And in 1972, that method worked. >> Some of those who did lose

had been considered the most certain to win. >> NARRATOR: The Black community

helped make Joe Biden a winner. >> In Delaware... >> NARRATOR: By less than

3,000 votes. >> ...whipped by 29-year-old Joseph Biden.

>> It was very close. People were still surprised, you know, how this even

happened. >> All of you have done something that the political

pundits said there was no way in the world it could be done! >> (cheering)

>> That night, all the college kids were so excited. A lot of us went to the Hotel

Du Pont ballroom. And it was packed, packed. And there was so much

excitement in the air. I saw this woman coming through the crowd, and I realized that

it was Neilia, Joe's wife. And so I walked up to her, and I shook her hand, and I said, uh,

"Congratulations on your win." And she said, "Thank you very much."

And that was our exchange. (rotary phone dialing out) (siren wailing)

>> NARRATOR: Biden and his sister Val were in Washington setting up the office, hiring a

staff, when the crisis hit. >> The phone rings, and Val gets it.

And Biden is sort of paying attention, and then he really starts paying attention when he

sees her face. >> I got a call from Jimmy Biden.

And he said, "Come home, now. There's been an accident." And Neilia was in the car, the

station wagon, with the three children, Beau, Hunt, and Naomi. >> Neilia was literally

bringing home the Christmas tree, with the kids in the car, the three kids in the car.

(siren blaring) >> NARRATOR: Campaign flyers from the car helped identify

the bodies. >> She was hit broadside by a tractor trailer.

And she and Naomi, who sat behind her in the car seat, they died instantly.

And Beau and Hunter were seriously injured. >> And he... he knew, he knew.

He knew from the look on her face. >> My brother looked at me and

said, "She's dead, isn't she?" And I said, "I don't know, Joey."

I did know. Jimmy told me. >> NARRATOR: He got to the boys;

they were all that was left. Broken hips, legs, arms, Beau was all cut up and Hunter's

skull was fractured. >> Since the accident, Biden himself's been living at a

hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, taking care of his sons.

>> Today, the senator took his swearing-in ceremony... >> Joseph Biden, Democrat of

Delaware... >> NARRATOR: Somehow, Biden pulled it together.

They held a swearing-in ceremony at the hospital. >> It means a lot to me.

I appreciate it, and I hope that I can be a good senator for y'all.

I make this one promise, that if in six months or so, there's a conflict between my being a

good father and being a good senator, which I hope will not occur-- I thought would, but I

hope it won't-- I promise you that I will, will contact Governor-elect Tribbitt, as I

had earlier, and tell him that we can always get another senator, but they can't get

another father. >> NARRATOR: The road ahead for Joe Biden would be tough,

like the fight against stuttering and the uphill political battle.

Once again, in crisis, he would persevere. >> Valerie's going to help

raise the children. He's going to have a job in Washington and a home in

Wilmington, and he's going to ride that train back and forth. He's going to be home for dinner

every night with his kids and his sister. And that's going to be the

family unit. It's not the one he chose, but that's going to be the one.

>> You don't lose a wife and child at the point in life that he did and not grow from it.

You learn from those kinds of experiences. What you do, though, is, like,

uh, Muhammad Ali said one time, "I've never been knocked down. I was always been getting up."

So Joe just never been knocked down, he's always been getting up.

(gavel banging) >> Senator Biden. >> Thank you very much, Mr.

Chairman. I, I truly appreciate the opportunity to sit in on this

hearing... >> NARRATOR: From his earliest days in the Senate, Joe Biden

was determined to make a name for himself. >> You can't convince me that

the guy you're kicking back to isn't saying to you or one of your agents at some point, "Hey

look, I'm getting $100,000 from you, but Harry over here, he's getting a $175,000," from uh,

uh, whomever else. You mean you guys didn't know that was going on?

>> He was seen as a bit of a show horse at first. He was not someone who was

waiting his turn. In fact, he was fighting as hard for attention and notoriety and

the ability to stay as a U.S. Senator as anyone was. >> His ambitions were never even

thinly disguised. He talked about it not long after he came to the Senate and

made clear that being in the Senate itself was not the only thing he might want to do in

life. >> NARRATOR: What he wanted to do was become president.

(crowd cheering) >> Thank you very much! >> NARRATOR: And by 1987, he

thought he was ready. It was a family affair. The boys were older, he had

remarried, had a new daughter. >> You know he said, "Let's just test the waters.

And so I said, "All right." It sort of just snowballed. And we were into it, really,

before we even knew it. >> NARRATOR: But as he campaigned, he headed towards

another crisis, stemming from a persistent question: what did he stand for?

>> I think that's always been one of his challenges as he tries to go for president, he

casts about for what he wants to say. He casts about for the issues he

wants to put forward, and what he wants to say he believes in. And it, and it feels cast about.

>> NARRATOR: Then, one day, a video of a British politician and a story that would give him

something to say. >> Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand

generations to be able to get to university? >> NARRATOR: Obsessed with the

tape, Biden studied it. He later wrote, "The ad was riveting; I couldn't take my

eyes off Neil Kinnock." >> Was it because they were weak?

Those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football?

Weak? >> Biden could put himself into the Neil Kinnock story, family

in Scranton, Pennsylvania, family in the mines. And so, in a sense, he absorbed

the Kinnock story and making it his own. >> The campaign begins in

earnest with the first votes for the next president in Iowa. >> The candidates spent much of

yesterday fanned out... >> NARRATOR: In Iowa, during the primary, he took Kinnock's

words, made them his own. >> And now Mr. Biden. >> Thank you very much.

I started thinking as I was coming over here, "Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in

his family ever to go to a university?" >> He got up there and he gave

his speech, and he got to the end, the last three minutes, and he gave Kinnock, but he did not

attribute it to Kinnock. >> Is it because they didn't work hard?

My ancestors who worked in the coal mines of northeast Pennsylvania and would come up

after 12 hours and play football for four hours? >> Joe Biden borrowed it and

applied it to his own life, and made a moving sort of aria, a moving sort of part of a speech

about his own life, which in fact had been taken from Neil Kinnock.

>> Biden seems to be claiming Kinnock's vision-- and life-- as his own.

>> NARRATOR: It became front- page news. >> Biden has been caught with a

sudden embarrassing comparison of his recent campaign speeches. The first example came from

Great Britain. >> Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be

able to get to university? >> And I started thinking as I was coming over here, "Why is it

that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university?"

>> NARRATOR: His campaign said it was a mistake, that he had cited Kinnock other times.

>> For a second time in two weeks... >> NARRATOR: But then, the

avalanche. >> He looks like a Joe Biden wind-up doll, with somebody

else's words coming out... >> NARRATOR: Allegations of failing to cite a source in a

law school paper... >> Plagiarized a law review article...

>> NARRATOR: Taking lines from his political idols, the Kennedys...

>> One from John Kennedy's inaugural, others from Robert Kennedy-- their words from the

lips of Joe Biden. >> Joe Biden comes off as someone who has a lot of self

confidence, but obviously there's an imposter syndrome dynamic at work here.

Because if you feel like you have to make up stuff about yourself and invent stories that

are not your own, and then do it in such a self-destructive way in which you can be caught, that

speaks to a level of character, and certainly insecurity, that is common in lot of

politicians. >> Delightful to see you all here.

You know my wife, Jill. >> Pulling out of the 1987 presidential race was really

devastating to, to Joe and to me and to our family. >> Thanks, folks, my wife and I

thank you very much. >> NARRATOR: Biden lost this fight...

>> Delaware Senator Joseph Biden dropped out of the hunt... >> Joe Biden blames mostly

himself for blowing it. >> NARRATOR: But he believed he'd have another chance.

He returned to the Senate to rebuild. >> It wasn't as though, having

lost in 1988, he faded away or disappeared. He has positions in the Senate

that give him power and clout and, in a sense, a national platform from which to continue

to kind of project himself as a leader of the Democratic Party. >> Committee chairman Joseph

Biden opens confirmation hearings for the nation's 106th nominee...

>> NARRATOR: He concentrated on his job as the chairman of the powerful Senate judiciary

committee. >> President Bush says the American people are supporting

his choice for the Supreme Court. >> NARRATOR: It was there he

would face his biggest challenge yet-- the controversy over the nomination of Clarence Thomas to

the Supreme Court. >> Good evening, we begin tonight with the potential for

political explosion on Capitol Hill. >> Clarence Thomas ran into

trouble today... >> Questions are growing over charges of sexual harassment

against Thomas... >> NARRATOR: This affidavit charged that Thomas sexually

harassed a former employee, Anita Hill. >> It seems to have been a

nightmare for Joe Biden. As a man, he felt uncomfortable about it.

As a white man, he felt uncomfortable taking Clarence Thomas, a Black man, on about

it. Um, and the whole subject matter just made him incredibly

uncomfortable. >> But committee chairman Biden conceded tonight that new

information about the allegations... >> Drama and history...

>> NARRATOR: With the crisis growing, Anita Hill was called to testify.

>> The hearing will come to order. >> Anita Hill comes to

Washington to tell the Senate her side. >> Welcome, Professor Hill.

>> ...for what everyone anticipates will be... >> Professor, do you swear to

tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

>> I do. >> Thank you. >> NARRATOR: Biden's committee

was all white men. The "Men of the Senate," as they were called.

>> There was not a single woman who might have understood her story from a woman's point of

view. >> Can you tell the committee what was the most embarrassing

of all the incidences that you have alleged? >> I think the one that was the

most embarrassing was his discussion of, of pornography involving these women with

large breasts and, and engaged in a variety of sex with different people or animals.

That was the thing that embarrassed me the most and made me feel the most humiliated.

>> Here in Illinois, women were just mesmerized by the hearings, outraged at what had happened.

They looked up and saw a very non-diverse United States Senate judiciary committee.

There was not a woman there, not to mention person of color. It was just all these, like,

cookie cutters, and folks were really horrified by it. >> Let me now yield to my friend

from Pennsylvania, Senator Specter. >> NARRATOR: Biden's close

friend, Republican Arlen Specter, led the charge against Hill.

>> I find the references to the alleged sexual harassment not only unbelievable, but

preposterous. >> NARRATOR: He cast doubt on her memory.

>> How reliable is your testimony in October of 1991 on events that occurred eight, ten

years ago? >> NARRATOR: He suggested she was exaggerating.

>> You took it to mean that Judge Thomas wanted to have sex with you, but in fact he never

did ask you to have sex, correct? >> No, he did not ask me to have

sex. >> That was an inference that you drew?

>> Yes, yes. >> Thank you, Professor Hill. >> There were these searing

images of this all-white panel, Joe Biden right in the middle of it, grilling Anita Hill,

sometimes in quite hostile fashion. And Joe Biden was seen as a

real sort of ringleader to that. >> NARRATOR: Biden gave Clarence Thomas the last word.

He strongly denied the allegations. >> This is a circus.

It's a national disgrace. And from my standpoint as a Black American, as far as I'm

concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks by a committee of the U.S., U.S.

Senate, rather than hung from a tree. >> Very powerful.

I mean, what it did was, it shamed these white senators. And it certainly seemed to

shame the Democrats, who had just been accused of lynching a Black man.

(gavel bangs) >> NARRATOR: Biden would end up voting against Thomas, but his

handling of the hearing damaged him politically. >> It made him the face of an

out-of-touch body. And really wounded his prospects of a future run for

president. He had some work to do, he had some reputational rehab to do.

>> NARRATOR: Biden turned to his method for survival in crisis: acknowledge the problem and

repair the damage. >> Joe is always able to say, "Yeah, I didn't handle that

quite right. Let me see what I can do better the next time."

>> Carol Moseley Braun has entered political history. She's the first African American

woman elected to the U.S. Senate. >> Big changes here, a kind that

have history written all over them. >> NARRATOR: "Fixing things"

began by recruiting the first Black woman elected to the United States Senate.

>> Braun's anger over the Clarence Thomas hearings turned her into a candidate.

>> NARRATOR: Biden wanted to make sure Moseley Braun joined his committee.

>> I made a joke, which he didn't think was funny at all. I said, "You just want Anita

Hill on the other side of the table." He did not laugh.

He didn't think it was funny. And he still probably doesn't. (laughs)

>> NARRATOR: He would end up convincing her and Dianne Feinstein to join the committee.

Joe Biden was rebuilding with an eye on the ultimate prize: the presidency.

>> Half a dozen times in his career he faces moments like this where a normal person

looks in the mirror and says, "This is never going to happen for me, either because my time

has passed or because I've humiliated myself or because I've been on the wrong side of

an issue." And he just keeps coming back. >> Another day, another entry

in the presidential race. Delaware Senator Joe Biden is the ninth Democrat to jump...

>> NARRATOR: It was 2007. Joe Biden was running for president, again.

But that very day... >> It sure isn't easy running for president these days...

>> NARRATOR: It all blew up. >> This was not a good day for Joe Biden, was it?

>> No, it really wasn't, Katie. >> ...just got into the race today, and no sooner than he

did, he talks his way into a national controversy. >> ...spent much of the day

discussing these comments he made to a newspaper reporter about Senator Barack Obama.

>> I mean, you got the first sort of mainstream African American who is articulate and

bright and, and clean, and a nice-looking guy, I mean, it's, that's a storybook, man.

>> Some people listening to those descriptions of Obama-- "articulate," "clean"-- heard

racial overtones, or, at the very least, condescension. >> I think when people heard the

"clean and articulate" line, there was a wave of eye-rolling, certainly among African

Americans. It was the kind of well-intentioned but benighted

commentary that you expect from people who inhabit environments where there aren't very many

Black people, and the United States Senate has historically been a prime example of that.

>> Tonight, his campaign is doing damage control. >> Joe Biden's apologizing for a

remark he made about Senator Barack Obama... >> NARRATOR: In the months that

followed... >> Joe Biden dropped out of the race last night after finishing

poorly... >> NARRATOR: Once again, Joe Biden's campaign would

collapse. >> The latest news is that Joe Biden is dropping out of the

race. >> NARRATOR: But he wasn't taking himself out of the game.

He'd make it personal-- build a relationship with Obama. >> Out of competition came

mutual respect, and mutual respect led to a real relationship, a friendship.

And Joe Biden became somebody that President Obama looked to for advice and counsel.

>> Senator... (people talking in background) >> You are not going to get

anything out of me on the vice presidential thing-- nothing. >> NARRATOR: Soon, that

relationship would pay off, as Obama sought a running mate. >> I am gonna say that I've,

I've made the selection, and that's all you're going to get. >> When Barack ran he needed the

support of someone who knew his way around government. And that was Joe Biden.

>> NARRATOR: Obama asked him to be on his ticket as vice president.

At the house in Wilmington, the Biden inner circle gathered.

>> He was not going to do it. I mean, there's no doubt he was not going to do it.

We had another one of those family meetings and a few key, key people.

>> The kids said to me, "Mom, you have to talk Dad into running."

And I said, "Joe, this is such a great moment in history." >> His ma said, "Well, well,

Joey"-- she called him Joey-- she said, "Well, Joey, you're telling me that the first

African-American president in history thinks that you can help him get elected, and you're

saying no?" Game, set, match, it was over. (laughs)

>> Barack Obama is projected to be the next president. >> Senator Barack Obama of

Illinois... >> NARRATOR: He'd turned a political crisis into a

relationship, and became vice president. >> 47 years old, he'll become

the president... >> He had already squared away in his mind that he understood

that Barack Obama was president, Joe was vice president. And Joe understood the job of

vice president and, and, uh... and wore it well. >> NARRATOR: In the Obama White

House, Biden brought with him something the president didn't have: relationships in Congress

spanning decades. >> These were his recently former colleagues, and he knew

that he could call them and they would take his call, and that he could go and thrash issues out

with them with a degree of comfort that President Obama didn't have, because he hadn't

known them as long as Vice President Biden. >> NARRATOR: Biden became

Obama's trusted partner. >> The real question isn't what thing did you do, if you're vice

president. The real question is, how much influence did you have?

And I think Biden understands power and leveraging power. I think he had a genuine

relationship with Obama, and they spent a lot of time talking.

But I think he was a very influential vice president, in that way, and an extremely loyal

vice president. >> NARRATOR: In return, Obama bestowed on Biden something

special-- a kind of political sainthood they called the "Obama halo."

>> Joe Biden has the Obama halo, everybody knows that. That is the cleansing of Joe

Biden and everything that may have happened. And there is such a great irony,

that someone who was the architect of the '94 crime bill, and a white man of this age,

when you think about Anita Hill, his crutch, his... the reason for his success is a

Black man with a funny name who's kind of skinny from Hawaii by way of Kansas.

>> Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Black lives matter!

>> NARRATOR: In those years as vice president, Biden would confront yet more crises.

Among them: the building racial tensions... >> Don't touch me.

>> NARRATOR: Growing outrage over police violence against African Americans.

>> Black lives matter! Black lives matter! >> NARRATOR: Then, news of a

revenge shooting against the police. >> We begin tonight with

breaking news. A deadly police shooting in New York City.

>> Two New York City police officers are dead following an ambush Saturday afternoon.

>> They were, quite simply, assassinated. >> Amateur video captured the

frantic scene, as paramedics desperately tried to save the lives of officers Wenjian Liu

and Rafael Ramos. >> NARRATOR: When it came to matters of race, Obama relied on

Biden to walk a fine line he could not. >> One of Joe Biden's chief

responsibilities was to be an ambassador to the country, specifically to the white parts

of the country, where Barack Obama's presence might have only further inflamed the situation.

>> NARRATOR: Now Biden was dispatched to New York. >> 25,000 police officers are

all there... >> NARRATOR: It was tense. >> A sea of blue filled the city

streets... >> NARRATOR: He used his method: keep it personal, talk directly

to the family of Officer Rafael Ramos. >> Our hearts ache for you.

I know from personal experience that there is little anyone can say or do at this moment to,

to ease the pain, that sense of loss, that sense of loneliness. >> Joe Biden has been defined in

public life by heartbreak and empathy. That when Joe Biden steps up at

the funeral, you know that those tears are real. >> ...that the time will come.

The time will come when Rafael's memory will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a

tear to your eyes. That's when you know it's going to be okay.

I know it's hard to believe it'll happen, but I promise you, I promise you it will happen.

>> It's an odd role in public life to be known as a person associated with grief.

And Joe Biden never wanted to be that person, actually. It was not how he imagined his

own political future. ("Taps" playing) But because of his life, he

ended up being this public political symbol of suffering and of resilience.

And eventually he embraced it. But he actually didn't want to be that.

("Taps" continues) >> NARRATOR: That day, there was unfinished business.

Biden wanted to see Officer Wenjian Liu's family. >> We came out of the church.

And Joe said, "I want to offer my condolences to him, as well, to them, to that family."

(siren beeping) >> He wanted to go and meet them and talk with them.

So the police worked it out so that we could visit. And they had a translator there.

>> I can remember walking up the stairs with the, with an interpreter.

And the family was all crammed into this tiny kitchen. And we sat and we talked to

them. And we must have been in there, I don't know, a good

hour. >> I started to notice that Wenjian Liu's father had rarely

left my side. Occasionally, he would lean into me so that his shoulder touched

my arm. "Thank you," he kept saying. "Thank you, thank you."

>> We went out on the sidewalk. And the father, who didn't even speak English, I mean, just held

on to Joe. And, I mean, he was so grateful that Joe had come to offer

condolences to the family. >> We stood there for a long while, embracing on the little

sidewalk in front of the house where he had lived with his only son, just two fathers.

I understood all that he wanted me to know. >> NARRATOR: After decades in

politics, Biden seemed to have finally found his place. But soon after the crisis in New

York-- yet again a personal crisis. (pipes and drums playing)

Biden was burying his own son, Beau. (pipes and drums playing)

>> He was the apple of Biden's eye. He was not just someone who he

thought was brilliant and successful and so proud of him. It went beyond pride, it was

almost like, "He's the perfect version of me." >> NARRATOR: Beau had served in

Iraq. He was attorney general of Delaware.

They talked about the presidency someday. >> Joe often describes him as

Joe 2.0. And he looked like his dad, he had a lot of the same skill sets

as his father-- he was very charismatic, he was charming, he was funny.

>> NARRATOR: But then, brain cancer. Death at 46.

>> Beau Biden, former Delaware attorney general and eldest son of Vice President Joe Biden,

died... >> ...Vice President Biden's office was the first to announce

his son's death... >> ...vice president was with his son Beau when he passed away

tonight... >> Very sad news, Beau Biden lost his battle with brain

cancer. >> Family and friends gathered at St. Anthony's Church in

Wilmington yesterday to pay their respects-- some waited in line for up to six hours.

>> Lines, lines five blocks long outside the church. >> NARRATOR: At one point, after

several hours, a surprise. >> There was Mr. Liu and his wife.

And they came to, uh... give us comfort. It was just two men, really, who

had gone through something horrible, um, just offering comfort to one another.

>> NARRATOR: Before Beau's death, Biden had been considering another run for

president. Now the question was not just "would he," but "could he?"

>> I was, happened to be in Obama's White House, and he walked in.

And I honestly... It was almost like I didn't recognize him.

This was shortly after Beau died. He just looked like he had aged

years and years in such a short amount of time. >> NARRATOR: Through crisis and

tragedy, Joe Biden had his eyes on the presidency, but now, in grief, he would decide to stand

down. >> Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear. >> I, Donald John Trump, do

solemnly swear. >> NARRATOR: For the first time in decades, Joe Biden was a

private citizen, watching Donald Trump's polarizing presidency. >> So help me God.

>> So help me God. >> Congratulations, Mr. President.

(cheers and applause) ♪ ♪ >> White lives matter!

White lives matter! White lives matter! White lives matter!

White lives matter! >> Then came Charlottesville. That was really the tipping

point. When he heard President Trump say, "There are very fine, some

very fine people on both sides," that was it. That was the tipping point.

>> NARRATOR: Biden watched, increasingly alarmed, violent clashes between white

supremacists and counter protestors. >> It's hard to believe, based

on his own statements, that Joe Biden doesn't see some level of personal responsibly for the

rise of Donald Trump. Joe Biden was the vice president and he chose not to run for

president. You have to imagine that's weighed pretty heavily on Joe

Biden. >> NARRATOR: He decided to do something about it.

At 76 years old, he would run one more time. >> Today I am announcing my

candidacy for president of the United States. >> Through the Democratic

primaries, he was not, you know, at the top of his game. He kind of staggered along.

He didn't do terribly well when the voting started. >> Joe Biden appearing to shrug

off an apparent fourth place finish in Iowa... >> NARRATOR: Fourth in Iowa.

>> Biden may not have enough cash even to make it through Super Tuesday...

>> NARRATOR: Fifth in New Hampshire. >> After three straight losses,

Joe Biden is now... >> NARRATOR: But he stuck with his playbook...

>> ...certainly damaged his fundraising ability... >> NARRATOR: Stay in the center,

make personal connections, reach out to Black voters. >> As he ages, he's a better

candidate every time. He does not waver. He does not appear to be a guy

who goes with the wind, even when he appears to be losing and out of step with his own party.

>> Joe Biden desperately needs South Carolina if he has any chance...

>> NARRATOR: His last hope... >> ...make or break time in particular for Joe Biden...

>> NARRATOR: ...South Carolina. >> ...it all rests on South Carolina...

>> Joe Biden had spent a lot of time in South Carolina. He can relate to South

Carolinians. South Carolina was very, very important to Joe Biden.

>> ...NBC News is projecting former Vice President Joe Biden is the winner...

>> NARRATOR: And the state's Black voters gave him a victory. >> ...was reinvigorated largely

by Black voters in this state... >> Joe Biden wins big... >> NARRATOR: Three days later...

>> In a political earthquake, these are the results nobody saw coming.

>> NARRATOR: ...he rode the momentum and dominated Super Tuesday.

>> He pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in modern political history.

>> NARRATOR: Soon, he'd win the nomination. (cheers and applause)

>> In its own way, it's the culmination of all of his training and ambition and his

mistakes and his regrets and his attempts to be better. And it, and it came together.

At last. >> Biden has made his pick. >> NARRATOR: And when the time

came... >> ...historic decision from former Vice President Joe Biden.

>> NARRATOR: ...he turned to the opponent who'd gone after him on the campaign trail,

Kamala Harris. >> ...Kamala Harris as his running mate.

>> NARRATOR: ...and picked her as his running mate. >> ...African American community

will help propel him to the White House. >> It was an opportunity for him

to distinguish himself from Donald Trump. "That I actually want to bring

the person who's criticized me most harshly into the fold because I value dissenting

opinions." And that was part of the message that was being sent with Kamala

Harris. >> ...the coronavirus crisis in this country is taking a

dangerous turn... >> The true cost of COVID, measured not by numbers, but

families... >> NARRATOR: He ran for president in the midst of a

profound national crisis... >> COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death in the

U.S... >> Unemployment now soaring to 14.7%...

>> Millions of Americans on the brink of financial ruin. >> The moment plays to his

strengths in ways that other moments he ran probably did not. >> ...it has been double the

trauma, first the global pandemic and now the traumatic death of George Floyd.

>> A new wave of grief in the form of police brutality. >> We're living in a country

that's experienced, in 2020, a ton of loss. >> ...disappointment, emptiness,

hopelessness, and so much fear. >> And here you have a man whose life has been defined in a lot

of ways by loss. >> NARRATOR: Joe Biden told voters he understood and

promised he would be there for them. >> You folks at home, how

many of you got up this morning and had an empty chair at the kitchen table because someone

died of COVID? How many of you are in a situation where you lost your

mom or dad and you couldn't even speak to them, you had a nurse holding a phone up so you could

in fact you could say goodbye. >> You would have lost far more people.

Far more people. You would have been... >> ...and by the way...

>> It's sort of a political story you could not have imagined.

This man who's wanted to be president for half a century and failed to do it over and over,

and now finds himself at this moment of really abject national crisis, and that's the moment

when the country sees him for the first time, really. >> We've reached a historic

moment in this election. Joseph R. Biden Jr. is elected the 46th president of the

United States. >> NARRATOR: Finally, after five decades-- victory.

>> And Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will receive the most votes of any presidential ticket

ever. >> The people of this nation have spoken.

They've delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for we, the people.

(cheers and applause) >> NARRATOR: Now Joe Biden faces his biggest challenge yet.

>> I don't think any president, certainly in my lifetime, has faced the problems that Joe

Biden will face as the new president-- the pandemic, a weakened economy, the racial

issues that are on the table. To do it when the country is as divided as it is will test

every bit of what Joe Biden has learned over nearly 50 years in public office.