Promises to Keep summary

It may surprise you to hear that the Democratic nominee for the presidency was a very mediocre student in college. He had the brains, but he wasn't motivated to put in the hard graft. In fact, like many of us, Joe Biden often ended up frantically cramming for exams just a few days before they began.

For his first two years at the University of Delaware, Biden was much more interested in hanging out with his friends in the student lounge than hitting the books.

Joe Biden will never forget the trial that changed the course of his career. The law firm he had just joined was representing a company against one of their employees – a welder – who’d been badly injured at work and would be permanently disabled. During the course of the trial, Biden’s boss found a loophole in the law which meant the company could avoid paying compensation.

His boss was doing nothing wrong. In fact, he was doing his job very well and following the letter of the law. But, as Biden saw the distress on the faces of the welder's family, he realized he couldn't spend his life practicing law in this way. While the ruling was legal, it didn't mean it was morally right. 

Biden’s entry into politics was not very auspicious. In 1969, local Democrats asked him to consider running for a seat on the New Castle County Council, a small Delaware district that was mainly Republican.

It seemed unlikely he’d win. Still, he decided to give it a try, and appointed his sister, Valerie, as campaign manager. She ran a meticulous campaign, canvassing every block in every neighborhood.

Biden was flabbergasted at being asked to run. After all, he was only 29 and just beginning his political career. But with the support of Neilia and his family, he decided to take it on. Valerie Biden was once again put in charge of the campaign, his younger brother took on fundraising, and Neilia was a constant ally.

From the start, theirs was an underdog campaign. They had no money, and funders weren't willing to invest in a candidate they were sure would lose. After all, no one had beaten the Republican incumbent for nearly three decades! Why did this young upstart think that he could?

Joe Biden's 30th birthday should have heralded one of the happiest years of his life. He was heading to the Senate in just a couple of weeks, where he’d begin what promised to be an illustrious political career. He and Neilia had just moved into their dream home in the suburbs of Wilmington. And they had three beautiful children.

But his life took an abrupt and painful turn when Neilia and the children were in a major car crash just before the Christmas of 1972. Neilia, and their youngest child, Naomi, were killed in the accident. Their sons, Beau and Hunter, were badly injured, and doctors warned that Hunter might be permanently affected by his head wounds.

The early months in the Senate proved rocky, to say the least. Biden was in a constant haze of grief and rage; it was all he could do to get through the day. He always showed up for work and went to important briefings, but he left to take the train home as soon as possible. He didn't make any effort to get to know his colleagues, and ended up eating lunch alone at his desk.

Luckily, that didn't stop his colleagues trying to get to know him. Mike Mansfield and Hubert Humphrey continued to check in on him at least once a week. Teddy Kennedy turned up to take him to the gym, and numerous colleagues invited him for dinner at their homes. Eventually, their efforts paid off.

In March 1975, two years after he became a senator, Biden went out on his first date with Jill Jacobs and felt something he hadn't experienced for a long time: joy. Biden had been given the number of the young school teacher by his brother, and called her up on a whim.

As they chatted about their lives and families, Biden felt a rare sense of connection and ease. He realized almost immediately that this was the woman he'd been looking for.

Biden thought that his years of political wrangling in the Senate had prepared him for the race to become the Democratic nominee. But when the time came – in 1987 – it was more grueling than he anticipated.

Biden’s relationship with the press was already shaky. When he’d joined the Senate, he’d felt they were invading his privacy to find out about the deaths of Neilia and Naomi. From then on, he'd avoided them as much as possible.

In the end, pulling out of the race was a godsend. Throughout the campaign, Biden had suffered agonizing headaches, sometimes having to take more than ten painkillers a day. He’d shrugged them off as stress and overexertion, but the real cause was much more sinister.

One night, after delivering a long speech, Biden returned to his hotel room and passed out. Doctors found an aneurysm lodged underneath his brain. If he’d still been actively campaigning, it’s possible it would have killed him before he could get a diagnosis.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon changed the United States in ways Joe Biden could never have imagined.

In the immediate aftermath, he was bowled over by the outpouring of solidarity from the rest of the world. He thought that the tragedy would bring opportunities to unite with other countries and fight terrorism on an international scale.