US president, then an inexperienced Delaware senator, lost first wife Neilia and 13-month-old toddler Naomi in a car accident just before Christmas 1972, devastating losses that shaped his life and career in Washington
Joe Biden’s ongoing recovery from the traumtic deaths of his first wife and youngest child more than half a century ago has dramatically shaped his career, from the ways in which he speaks to crowds about grief and mourning to his views on healthcare.
Though not unique to his brand of politicking, the president has famously framed his ideas through the lens of his past and we can expect him to return to themes drawn from his own biography as he returns to the campaign trail in 2024, seeking a second term in the White House.
While out shopping just days before Christmas in December 1972, his 30-year-old first wife Neilia Hunter and 13-month-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident after a tractor-trailer carrying corn broadsided the family’s Chevrolet station wagon.
Campaign literature featuring the young senator-elect from Delaware littered the streets.
Their two sons, Joseph “Beau” Biden III and Robert Hunter Biden, survived. More than 40 years later, Beau died following a brain cancer diagnosis.
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