Biden’s legacy: Far-reaching accomplishments that didn’t translate into political support
Biden’s legacy: Far-reaching accomplishments that didn’t translate into political support
After five decades in politics, President Joe Biden’s political career is coming to a close as he exits the 2024 presidential race.
FILE - President Joe Biden participates in a briefing in the Oval Office of the White House, Dec. 22, 2022, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during an event on COVID-19 vaccinations and the response to the pandemic, on the White House campus, March 29, 2021, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about manufacturing jobs and the economy at SK Siltron CSS, a computer chip factory in Bay City, Mich., Nov. 29, 2022. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference following the NATO Summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about the end of the war in Afghanistan from the State Dining Room of the White House, on Aug. 31, 2021, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., with Jill Biden, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill to announce his decision to withdraw as a candidate for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, Sept. 23, 1987. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence President Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
FILE - President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, participate in a presidential debate hosted by CNN, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Vice President Joe Biden, center, leads a group across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., March 3, 2013. They were commemorating the 48th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when police officers beat marchers when they crossed the bridge on a march from Selma to Montgomery. From left: Selma Mayor George Evans, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Biden, Rev. Al Sharpton and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
FILE - Sen. Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., from left, and Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr., D-Del., talk to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, August 5, 1986. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart, File)
FILE - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, meets Mongolian wrestler during Mini Nadam, or Mongolian wrestling performance, in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Aug. 22, 2011. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., holds his daughter Ashley while taking a mock oath of office from Vice President George Bush during a ceremony, Jan. 3, 1985, on Capitol Hill, in Washington. Biden’s sons Beau and Hunt hold the bible during the ceremony. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Lana Harris, File)
FILE - U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting, Nov. 14, 2022, in Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral on a surprise visit, Feb. 20, 2023, in Kyiv. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, right, gestures while talking with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Anthony M. Kennedy, center, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., left, before the nominee’s confirmation hearing at Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 14, 1987. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden and Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson watch as the senate votes on her confirmation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, April 7, 2022. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S President Joe Biden shake hands during their meeting at the ‘Villa la Grange’ in Geneva, Switzerland in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)
FILE - Vice President-elect Joe Biden, with his wife Jill at his side, takes the oath of office from Justice John Paul Stevens, as his wife holds the Bible at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2009. At right are Biden’s children Ashley, Hunter and Beau, far right. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - President Jimmy Carter listens to Sen. Joseph R. Biden, D-Del., as they wait to speak at fund raising reception at Padua Academy in Wilmington, Del., Feb. 20, 1978. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)
FILE - Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, left, and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen Joe Biden, D-Del., respond to questions from moderator Gwen Ifill of PBS, center, during their vice presidential debate, Oct. 2, 2008 in St. Louis, Mo. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Don Emmert, Pool, File)
FILE - Then Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. arrives by Amtrak, Sept. 16, 2008, in Wilmington, Del. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Joseph Biden, the newly-elected Democratic Senator from Delaware, is shown in Washington, Dec. 12, 1972. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Henry Griffin, File)
FILE - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, right, walks with US President Joe Biden during his visit to Windsor Castle, near London, June 13, 2021. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, left, talks with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 31, 2007. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee confer prior to voting to recommend the nomination of Supreme Court Nominee Sandra Day O’Connor, to the full Senate for confirmation, Sept. 15, 1981, Washington, D.C. From left are: Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kans. and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen Joseph Biden D-Penn. The rest of the men are unidentified. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Ira Schwarz, File)
FILE - Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., right, shakes hands with Adlai E. Stevenson III, D-Ill., April 6, 1974, during the first annual Counter Gridiron party in Washington. Watching is Miss Ruth Dean of Washington. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Yugoslavia Leader Edward Kardelj attends a reception in his honor by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington on Oct. 3, 1977. Pictured from left are Chairman John Sparkman, D-Ala., Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., Kardelj, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, unidentified, Se. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Sen. Charles McC. Mathias, R-MD. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, with Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., raise their arms up as fireworks go off in the background during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. Looking on are Jill Biden, far left, and Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, far right. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is shown on NBC’s “Face the Nation,” in Washington, April 29, 1984. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks at U.S Vice President Joe Biden as he signs the guest book at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010. U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden says there is a “moment of opportunity” for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - President Barack Obama hugs Vice President Joe Biden during funeral services for Biden’s son, Beau Biden, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington, Del., June 6, 2015. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (Yuri Gripas/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - The newly-elected Democratic senator from Delaware, Joe Biden, smiles on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 13, 1972. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Vice President Joe Biden walks off of the stage after speaking on the Obama Administration’s nuclear security agenda, Feb. 18, 2010, at Ft. McNair in Washington. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Chinese President Hu Jintao, accompanied Vice President Joe Biden, waves during an arrival ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden participates in a briefing in the Oval Office of the White House, Dec. 22, 2022, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden participates in a briefing in the Oval Office of the White House, Dec. 22, 2022, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during an event on COVID-19 vaccinations and the response to the pandemic, on the White House campus, March 29, 2021, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during an event on COVID-19 vaccinations and the response to the pandemic, on the White House campus, March 29, 2021, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about manufacturing jobs and the economy at SK Siltron CSS, a computer chip factory in Bay City, Mich., Nov. 29, 2022. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about manufacturing jobs and the economy at SK Siltron CSS, a computer chip factory in Bay City, Mich., Nov. 29, 2022. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference following the NATO Summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference following the NATO Summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about the end of the war in Afghanistan from the State Dining Room of the White House, on Aug. 31, 2021, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about the end of the war in Afghanistan from the State Dining Room of the White House, on Aug. 31, 2021, in Washington. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., with Jill Biden, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill to announce his decision to withdraw as a candidate for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, Sept. 23, 1987. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence President Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., with Jill Biden, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill to announce his decision to withdraw as a candidate for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, Sept. 23, 1987. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence President Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
FILE - President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, participate in a presidential debate hosted by CNN, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, participate in a presidential debate hosted by CNN, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. In the ensuing two years following the pandemic, as inflation slowed but persisted, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. And when he showed his age in a disastrous debate in June against Donald Trump, he lost the benefit of the doubt as well. That gave him the legacy of having built the legislative scaffolding of a renewed America without convincing voters that better days were ahead. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Vice President Joe Biden, center, leads a group across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., March 3, 2013. They were commemorating the 48th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when police officers beat marchers when they crossed the bridge on a march from Selma to Montgomery. From left: Selma Mayor George Evans, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Biden, Rev. Al Sharpton and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
FILE - Vice President Joe Biden, center, leads a group across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., March 3, 2013. They were commemorating the 48th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when police officers beat marchers when they crossed the bridge on a march from Selma to Montgomery. From left: Selma Mayor George Evans, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Biden, Rev. Al Sharpton and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
FILE - Sen. Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., from left, and Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr., D-Del., talk to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, August 5, 1986. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart, File)
FILE - Sen. Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., from left, and Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr., D-Del., talk to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, August 5, 1986. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart, File)
FILE - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, meets Mongolian wrestler during Mini Nadam, or Mongolian wrestling performance, in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Aug. 22, 2011. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, meets Mongolian wrestler during Mini Nadam, or Mongolian wrestling performance, in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Aug. 22, 2011. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., holds his daughter Ashley while taking a mock oath of office from Vice President George Bush during a ceremony, Jan. 3, 1985, on Capitol Hill, in Washington. Biden’s sons Beau and Hunt hold the bible during the ceremony. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Lana Harris, File)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., holds his daughter Ashley while taking a mock oath of office from Vice President George Bush during a ceremony, Jan. 3, 1985, on Capitol Hill, in Washington. Biden’s sons Beau and Hunt hold the bible during the ceremony. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Lana Harris, File)
FILE - U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting, Nov. 14, 2022, in Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting, Nov. 14, 2022, in Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral on a surprise visit, Feb. 20, 2023, in Kyiv. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral on a surprise visit, Feb. 20, 2023, in Kyiv. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, right, gestures while talking with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Anthony M. Kennedy, center, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., left, before the nominee’s confirmation hearing at Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 14, 1987. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)
FILE - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, right, gestures while talking with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Anthony M. Kennedy, center, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., left, before the nominee’s confirmation hearing at Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 14, 1987. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden and Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson watch as the senate votes on her confirmation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, April 7, 2022. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden and Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson watch as the senate votes on her confirmation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, April 7, 2022. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S President Joe Biden shake hands during their meeting at the ‘Villa la Grange’ in Geneva, Switzerland in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S President Joe Biden shake hands during their meeting at the ‘Villa la Grange’ in Geneva, Switzerland in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)
FILE - Vice President-elect Joe Biden, with his wife Jill at his side, takes the oath of office from Justice John Paul Stevens, as his wife holds the Bible at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2009. At right are Biden’s children Ashley, Hunter and Beau, far right. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - Vice President-elect Joe Biden, with his wife Jill at his side, takes the oath of office from Justice John Paul Stevens, as his wife holds the Bible at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2009. At right are Biden’s children Ashley, Hunter and Beau, far right. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - President Jimmy Carter listens to Sen. Joseph R. Biden, D-Del., as they wait to speak at fund raising reception at Padua Academy in Wilmington, Del., Feb. 20, 1978. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)
FILE - President Jimmy Carter listens to Sen. Joseph R. Biden, D-Del., as they wait to speak at fund raising reception at Padua Academy in Wilmington, Del., Feb. 20, 1978. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)
FILE - Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, left, and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen Joe Biden, D-Del., respond to questions from moderator Gwen Ifill of PBS, center, during their vice presidential debate, Oct. 2, 2008 in St. Louis, Mo. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Don Emmert, Pool, File)
FILE - Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, left, and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen Joe Biden, D-Del., respond to questions from moderator Gwen Ifill of PBS, center, during their vice presidential debate, Oct. 2, 2008 in St. Louis, Mo. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Don Emmert, Pool, File)
FILE - Then Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. arrives by Amtrak, Sept. 16, 2008, in Wilmington, Del. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Then Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. arrives by Amtrak, Sept. 16, 2008, in Wilmington, Del. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Joseph Biden, the newly-elected Democratic Senator from Delaware, is shown in Washington, Dec. 12, 1972. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Henry Griffin, File)
FILE - Joseph Biden, the newly-elected Democratic Senator from Delaware, is shown in Washington, Dec. 12, 1972. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Henry Griffin, File)
FILE - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, right, walks with US President Joe Biden during his visit to Windsor Castle, near London, June 13, 2021. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, right, walks with US President Joe Biden during his visit to Windsor Castle, near London, June 13, 2021. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, left, talks with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 31, 2007. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, left, talks with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 31, 2007. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee confer prior to voting to recommend the nomination of Supreme Court Nominee Sandra Day O’Connor, to the full Senate for confirmation, Sept. 15, 1981, Washington, D.C. From left are: Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kans. and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen Joseph Biden D-Penn. The rest of the men are unidentified. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Ira Schwarz, File)
FILE - Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee confer prior to voting to recommend the nomination of Supreme Court Nominee Sandra Day O’Connor, to the full Senate for confirmation, Sept. 15, 1981, Washington, D.C. From left are: Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kans. and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen Joseph Biden D-Penn. The rest of the men are unidentified. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Ira Schwarz, File)
FILE - Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., right, shakes hands with Adlai E. Stevenson III, D-Ill., April 6, 1974, during the first annual Counter Gridiron party in Washington. Watching is Miss Ruth Dean of Washington. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., right, shakes hands with Adlai E. Stevenson III, D-Ill., April 6, 1974, during the first annual Counter Gridiron party in Washington. Watching is Miss Ruth Dean of Washington. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Yugoslavia Leader Edward Kardelj attends a reception in his honor by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington on Oct. 3, 1977. Pictured from left are Chairman John Sparkman, D-Ala., Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., Kardelj, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, unidentified, Se. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Sen. Charles McC. Mathias, R-MD. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Yugoslavia Leader Edward Kardelj attends a reception in his honor by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington on Oct. 3, 1977. Pictured from left are Chairman John Sparkman, D-Ala., Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., Kardelj, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, unidentified, Se. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Sen. Charles McC. Mathias, R-MD. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, with Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., raise their arms up as fireworks go off in the background during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. Looking on are Jill Biden, far left, and Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, far right. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, with Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., raise their arms up as fireworks go off in the background during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. Looking on are Jill Biden, far left, and Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, far right. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is shown on NBC’s “Face the Nation,” in Washington, April 29, 1984. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is shown on NBC’s “Face the Nation,” in Washington, April 29, 1984. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks at U.S Vice President Joe Biden as he signs the guest book at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010. U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden says there is a “moment of opportunity” for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks at U.S Vice President Joe Biden as he signs the guest book at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010. U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden says there is a “moment of opportunity” for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - President Barack Obama hugs Vice President Joe Biden during funeral services for Biden’s son, Beau Biden, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington, Del., June 6, 2015. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (Yuri Gripas/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - President Barack Obama hugs Vice President Joe Biden during funeral services for Biden’s son, Beau Biden, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington, Del., June 6, 2015. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (Yuri Gripas/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - The newly-elected Democratic senator from Delaware, Joe Biden, smiles on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 13, 1972. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - The newly-elected Democratic senator from Delaware, Joe Biden, smiles on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 13, 1972. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Vice President Joe Biden walks off of the stage after speaking on the Obama Administration’s nuclear security agenda, Feb. 18, 2010, at Ft. McNair in Washington. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Vice President Joe Biden walks off of the stage after speaking on the Obama Administration’s nuclear security agenda, Feb. 18, 2010, at Ft. McNair in Washington. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Chinese President Hu Jintao, accompanied Vice President Joe Biden, waves during an arrival ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Chinese President Hu Jintao, accompanied Vice President Joe Biden, waves during an arrival ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sitting in the Oval Office behind the iconic Resolute desk in 2022, an animated President Joe Biden described the challenge of leading a psychologically traumatized nation.
The United States had endured a life-altering pandemic. There was a jarring burst of inflation and now global conflict with Russia invading Ukraine, as well as the persistent threat to democracy he felt Donald Trump posed.
How could Biden possibly heal that collective trauma?
“Be confident,” he said emphatically in an interview with The Associated Press. “Be confident. Because I am confident.”
But in the ensuing two years, the confidence Biden hoped to instill steadily waned. When the 81-year-old Democratic president showed his age in a disastrous debate against Trump in June, he lost the benefit of the doubt and on Sunday withdrew as his party’s nominee.
In the aftermath of the debate, Democrats who had been united in their resolve to prevent another Trump term suddenly fractured, and Republicans, beset by chaos in Congress and the former president’s criminal conviction, improbably coalesced in defiant unity.
Biden never figured out how to inspire the world’s most powerful country to believe in itself, let alone in him.
He lost the confidence of supporters in the 90-minute debate with Trump, even if pride initially prompted him to override the fears of lawmakers, party elders and donors who were nudging him to drop out. Then Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, and, as if on cue, pumped his fist in strength. Biden, while campaigning in Las Vegas, tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday and retreated to his Delaware beach house to recover.
What to know:
- Biden drops out: The president ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris after a disastrous debate inflamed age concerns. Read Biden’s letter announcing his withdrawal.
- What happens next: How Biden passing the baton to Harris might work.
- Praise, calls for resignation: Democrats hailed Biden’s decision as selfless while Republicans urged him to resign.
- Inside Biden’s legacy: Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to Biden than voters have been.
- Broken barriers: Harris could become the first Black woman, person of south Asian descent to head major party’s presidential ticket.
- Stay informed. Keep your pulse on the news with breaking news email alerts. Sign up here.
The events of the last three weeks led to an exit Biden never wanted, but Democrats felt it was essential to maximize their chance of winning in November.
Biden seems to have badly misread the breadth of his support. While many Democrats had deep admiration for the president personally, they did not have the same affection for him politically.
Douglas Brinkley, a historian at Rice University, said Biden arrived as a reprieve for a nation exhausted by Trump and the pandemic.
“He was a perfect person for that moment,” said Brinkley, noting that Biden proved in era of polarization that bipartisan lawmaking was still possible. Yet voters viewed him as a placeholder, and he could never transcend the text of his speeches to visually “embody the spirit of the nation with a sense of verve, energy and optimism.”
As his reelection campaign entered its final days, Biden was still trying to prove himself and rally voters around fears that Trump would doom American democracy.
There was never a “Joe Biden Democrat” like there was a “Reagan Republican.” He did not have adoring, movement-style followers, as did Barack Obama or John F. Kennedy. He was not a generational candidate like Bill Clinton. The only barrier-breaking dimension to his election was the fact that he was the oldest person ever elected president.
While he contemplated being in the Oval Office repeatedly from his perch as a senator from Delaware, voters rejected him again and again.
His first run for the White House, in the 1988 cycle, ended with self-inflicted wounds stemming from plagiarism, and he didn’t make it to the first nominating contest. When he ran in 2008, he dropped out after the Iowa caucuses, where he won less than 1% of the vote. In 2016, Obama counseled him not to run, even though he was Obama’s vice president. A Biden victory in 2020 seemed implausible when he finished fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire before a dramatic rebound in South Carolina.
He won the nomination and then did something rare in American politics: He defeated an incumbent president, Trump, who had been a catalyst for a seething sense of polarization. He then had to withstand the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who falsely claimed that the 2020 election had been stolen.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama, said history would treat Biden kinder than voters had, not just because of his legislative achievements but because he defeated Trump.
“His legacy is significant beyond all his many accomplishments,” Axelrod said. “He will always be the man who stepped up and defeated a president who placed himself above our democracy.
“That, alone, is an historic accomplishment.”
But Biden could not overcome his age. And when he showed frailty in his steps and his speech, there was no foundation of supporters that could stand by him. It was a humbling end to a half-century career in politics, yet hardly reflective of the full legacy of his time in the White House.
His record includes legislation that will rebuild the country in ways that will likely be seen over the next dozen years, even if voters did not immediately appreciate it.
“It takes time for it to happen,” Biden told BET News on Tuesday. But in that same interview, he also demonstrated why the calls for him to step aside had grown so much louder: He was unable to recall the name of his defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, referring to him as the “Black man.”
Those recent episodes stand in stark contrast to a list of accomplishments most presidents would envy and use as a sturdy foundation for reelection. The optimism about the country’s future that Biden says drove him might materialize following his departure from the national stage.
Harvard University economist Jason Furman, a top aide during the Obama administration, said Biden “came into office when the economy was in the throes of COVID and helped to oversee the transition out of it to an economy that is now growing faster than any of its peer economies, with less inflation than they have.”
Furman noted that Biden increased spending to make longer-term investments in the economy while keeping Jerome Powell as the Federal Reserve chairman, giving the Fed cover to hike rates and bring down inflation without disrupting the labor market.
In March 2021, Biden launched $1.9 trillion in pandemic aid, creating a series of new programs that temporarily halved child poverty, halted evictions and contributed to the addition of 15.7 million jobs. But inflation began to rise shortly thereafter. Biden’s approval rating as measured by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research fell from 61% to 39% as of June.
He followed up with a series of executive actions to unsnarl global supply chains and a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that not only replaced aging infrastructure but improved internet access and prepared communities to withstand climate change.
But the infrastructure bill also revealed the challenge Biden faced in getting the public to recognize his achievement because many of the projects will take decades to complete.
In 2022, Biden and his fellow Democrats followed up with two measures that reinvigorated the future of U.S. manufacturing.
The CHIPS and Science Act provided $52 billion to build factories and create institutions to make computer chips domestically, ensuring that the U.S. would have access to the most advanced semiconductors needed to power economic growth and maintain national security. There was also the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided incentives to shift away from fossil fuels and enabled Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
Biden also sought to compete more aggressively with China and rebuild alliances such as NATO. He completed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in the death of 13 U.S. service members, an effort that was widely criticized. The president also faced criticism over his handling of the southern border with Mexico as illegal border crossings led to concerns about his handling of immigration.
He also found himself embroiled in a series of global conflicts that exposed further domestic divisions.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 worsened inflation as Trump and other Republicans questioned the value of military aid to the Ukrainians. Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel sparked a war that showed divisions within the Democratic party over whether the United States should continue to support Israel as tens of thousands of Palestinians died in months of counterattacks.
Biden privately lectured aides to focus not on differences when listening to the public but to search for agreement. He hewed to the ideal of bipartisanship even when Democrats broke with the GOP.
And yet, just days before he dropped out of the race, Biden felt that his work was not done and his legacy incomplete.
“I’ve got to finish this job,” he told reporters after a NATO summit.
But the size of the stakes and the fear of a Biden loss resulted in a bet by Democrats that the tasks he began could best be completed by a younger generation.
“History will be kinder to him than voters were at the end,” Axelrod said.