Promises to Keep, by Joe Biden : on Principles & Values

Politics is a noble calling

If you do politics the right way, you can actually make people's lives better. And integrity is the minimum ante to get into the game. Nearly 40 years after I first got involved, I remain captivated by the possibilities of politics and public service. I believe my chosen profession is a noble calling.

1970: won first election, to County Council, in GOP district

I asked my sister, Val, if she'd run the campaign. She was a methodical organizer. She got voter records going back several elections, had an index card for every block in every neighborhood and started recruiting block captains. I spent most of my time in Democratic precincts, but I also spent time going door to door in the middle-class neighborhoods like the one I grew up in. They were overwhelmingly Republican in 1970, but I knew how to talk to them. I understood they valued good government & fiscal austerity & the environment. I promised to fight for open space. Those voters were key for me. The 1970 elections were a washout for the Democratic Party in Delaware, but I won election to the County Council by 2,000 votes.

1972: beat GOP incumbent; 2nd youngest Senator ever elected

When the political reporters started to find out how hard I was working to win over voters, none of them called my running for the Senate ridiculous. I was "one of the bright young men of the Democratic party." I think they liked fresh blood to write about. At the same time, the smart guys covering Delaware politics didn't give me a snowman's chance in August. They'd note my lack of a war chest, Sen. Boggs's long-standing popularity, his quarter century of serving Delaware, and the slew of Democratic challengers he'd left by the roadside. [In 1972, Biden won by 3,000 votes and became the 2nd youngest senator ever elected.]

1988: Presidential run intended as base-building for 1992

If someone had hooked me up to a lie detector in 1988 and asked if I was going to be a fully announced candidate for 1988, I would have said no. If they had asked me if I was building a base to run for president in 1992 or 1996, I would have said, "Absolutely."

1988: plagiarized law school paper, but not malevolently

This was an academic mistake. I hadn't been trying to cheat. My gurus advised me to just say I did it and ask for forgiveness. I said, "It was an academic mistake. I wasn't trying to hide it. If I was trying to hide it, why would I cite this article that no one else in the class found? I didn't cheat."

I'd made a stupid mistake 22 years earlier, I told the press. "I was wrong, but I did not intentionally move to mislead anybody. I am in this race to stay. I am in this race to win." The NY Times headline was "Biden admits plagiarism in School but says it was not ‘malevolent.'" [As a result, Biden withdrew from the presidential race.]

Childhood stuttering strengthened me

It's a funny thing to say, but even if I could, I would not wish away the darkest days of the stutter. That impediment ended up being a godsend for me. Carrying it strengthened me and made me a better person. The very things it taught me turned out to be invaluable lessons for my life as well as my chosen career.

1972: Wife & child killed in pre-inauguration auto accident

Washington & the Senate had no hold on me. I was supposed to be sworn in two weeks, but I could not bear to imagine the scene without Neilia. I told the Senate majority leader, Mike Mansfield, that I wasn't going to be a Senator. Mansfield was relentless. He called the hospital every day to tell me he needed me in the Senate and to keep me up to date. Mansfield told me I owed it to Neilia to a Senator. My wife had worked too hard for me to kick it away. Give me six months, Joe, Sen. Mansfield kept saying. So I agreed. Six months.

Remarried in 1977, willing to give up Senate for Jill

I'd given her my word. I'd already let a few people know they might want to be ready to run for the Senate in case I got out. I was going to have to show Jill I meant it, [so I concluded] "I'll tell Bill Frank I'm not running." Frank was the chief political reporters at the Wilmington News-Journal. I could hear Frank's phone ringing. Then I heard a dial tone. Jill had her finger on the phone cradle. She'd cut off the call. She told me later why: "If I denied you your dream, I would not be marrying the man I fell in love with."

Jill and I were married by a priest at the UN chapel in NYC in 1977. Beau and Hunter stood with us at the altar. The way they thought of it, the four of us were getting married.

1988: suffered aneurysm requiring brain surgery

The size of the worst bulge and the leak meant that a fatal rebleed could be imminent. Surgery to shore up the spot where I'd bled was the best chance I had of survival. My chances of surviving the surgery were certainly better than 50-50. But the chances of waking up with serious deficits to my mental facilities were more significant. Any incidental damage could leave me seriously impaired.

The most likely incidence was loss of speech. Dr. George said what he was about to do was going to be difficult, but he had done many of these before. But he recommended I speak to my family--it might be my last chance. [Biden fully recovered from the surgery.]