Joe Biden's Decades-Long Political Career in Photos

As the oldest-ever American president, Joe Biden's political career is drawing to a close as he steps aside. Here’s a look back at his journey, which began in 1972.

1974: Youngest US Senator US Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware addresses Drexel University alumni in October 1974, having been the youngest US senator at the time.

1972: 30th Birthday Celebration Senator-elect Joseph Biden and his wife Neilia cut his 30th birthday cake at a party in Wilmington on November 20, 1972. His son, Hunter, waits for the first piece. Biden met the constitutional requirement for senators to be 30 years old when they take office. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

1972: Taking the Oath of Office Senator Joseph Biden takes the oath of office in January 1972 from US Senate Secretary Frank Valeo, with his father-in-law Robert Hunter and son Joseph Beau Biden at his side in Beau’s hospital room. Beau and his brother Hunter were injured in an auto accident that killed their mother Neilia and younger sister Amy.

1975: Meeting Margaret Thatcher Recently elected British Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher talks with US Senator Joseph Biden and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Sparkman during a luncheon in her honor in the US Capitol's Foreign Relations Committee room, Washington DC, on September 18, 1975.

1978: Fundraiser with Jimmy Carter Joe Biden points out a friend in the crowd to President Jimmy Carter during a fundraiser at Padua Academy in February 1978. Carter spent the evening in Wilmington campaigning for Biden as he ran for a second term.

1979: SALT II Treaty Hearings Before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, on the third day of hearings on the SALT II treaty, US Secretary of Defense Harold Brown pointed to a chart illustrating the build-up of US and Soviet missiles. Visible are US Senators George McGovern, Joseph Biden (taking notes), and Edmund Muskie.

1985: Mock Oath of Office

Senator Joe Biden holds his daughter Ashley while taking a mock oath of office from Vice President George Bush during a January 1985 ceremony on Capitol Hill, Washington. Biden’s sons Beau and Hunter hold the Bible during the ceremony.

In September 1988, then-Senator Joe Biden was on the metro liner to Washington, D.C., returning to work in the Senate after surviving a life-threatening aneurysm. Biden was seen tenderly kissing his wife Jill’s forehead after announcing his bid for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination.

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden posed with Supreme Court associate justice nominee Clarence Thomas during the confirmation hearings in July 1991.

In the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks in 2001, Biden and Senate Armed Services ranking Republican John Warner addressed the media outside the U.S. Capitol Police headquarters.

During a visit to Kabul, Afghanistan, in January 2002, Biden met with Afghan students at Ariana High School.

In April 2005, Senator Barack Obama engaged in conversation with Biden during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill concerning the nomination of John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

In July 2005, Biden regularly commuted from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to Washington, D.C., and Capitol Hill via Amtrak.

In January 2007, Biden chaired a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled “Where We Are: The Current Situation in Iraq” i
n Washington, D.C.

In August 2008, presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama introduced Biden as his vice-presidential running mate with a text message. They took the stage together at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois.

During the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver, Colorado, in August 2008, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Senator Joe Biden embraced his son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, on the third day of the convention.

March 2010: St Patrick’s Day Reception

US President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden share a laugh during the annual St Patrick’s Day Reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

May 2011: Situation Room Update

In this handout image provided by the White House, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1, 2011. Obama later announced that US special forces had killed Bin Laden in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

January 2017: Presidential Medal of Freedom

US President Barack Obama awards Vice President Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a tribute to Biden at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 12, 2017.

March 2012: A Joke with World Leaders

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister David Cameron laugh as Vice President Joe Biden jokes about asking his Irish ancestors for forgiveness for hosting Cameron for lunch at the State Department in Washington, DC.

September 2020: Presidential Debate

Television screens at Walters Sports Bar in Washington, DC, air the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden held in Cleveland.

January 2021: Inauguration

Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th US president by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

June 2021: US-Russia Summit

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for press ahead of the US-Russia summit at the Villa La Grange in Geneva.

April 2022: Supreme Court Nomination

US President Joe Biden embraces Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as they watch the Senate vote on her nomination to be an associate justice on the US Supreme Court, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

December 2022: Meeting with Zelensky

Joe Biden walks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky through the colonnade of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 21, 2022. Zelensky was in Washington to meet with Biden and address Congress, his first trip abroad since Russia invaded Ukraine.

March 2023: National Medal of Arts

US President Joe Biden awards actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus with the 2021 National Medal of Arts during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

August 2023: Inspecting Wildfire Damage

Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, and wife Jaime Green walk along Front Street to inspect wildfire damage in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 21, 2023.

June 2024: Presidential Debate

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on stage during the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024.

July 2024: Campaign Rally in Wisconsin

President Joe Biden leaves a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin. Biden was then scheduled for a network interview as his campaign scrambled to manage the fallout from his poor debate performance.