WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden, who on Wednesday opted out of another run for the White House in 2016, is the consummate Washington insider who has spent more than four decades in politics.
The following are key dates in the life of Biden:
1942: Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. is born on November 20, 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania into an Irish Catholic family. His father was a car salesman.
November 1972: At 29, Biden is elected to the US Senate for the state of Delaware. He becomes one of the youngest people ever to serve in the Senate, turning 30 -- the minimum age -- before his term begins.
December 1972: Biden's wife Neilia and one-year daughter Naomi are killed in a car accident. Biden decides to remain in the Senate while caring for his two injured sons, Beau and Hunter. He would go on to marry his current wife Jill in 1977.
1987: Biden throws his hat in the ring for the Democratic presidential nomination for the first time, for the 1988 election. But he is forced to withdraw when he is caught up in a plagiarism scandal over his speeches. He rebuilds his reputation through his work in the Senate.
2001: Biden becomes chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In that capacity or as the minority ranking member when Republicans are in power, he travels the globe and meets world leaders. He votes for the Iraq war in 2002, as does then-Senator Hillary Clinton.
2007: Biden makes a second run at the White House, but this too ends in failure, with his withdrawal in early 2008. But he stays in contact with Barack Obama, his Senate colleague, and becomes his running mate. The pair are elected and Biden becomes vice president.
2015: Biden's Beau dies of brain cancer. Biden cites his death and the family's mourning as one reason behind his hesitation to make a third White House run. On October 21, he says he will not seek the Democratic presidential nomination.
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