History Is Made
Mini Fact: Kamala Harris is the first woman to serve as vice president of the United States.
On Nov. 3, Americans elected Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Kamala Harris as president and vice president of the United States. Just days ago, they were inaugurated, or sworn in, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Vice President Harris is the first woman to serve in that role. This is a historic time in our nation.
This week, let’s learn more about our first and second families.
Joe Biden
President Biden is the 46th president of the United States. Before becoming president, he served as vice president with President Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2017.
Biden was a senator from Delaware for 36 years before he became vice president. He ran for president twice before becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee in 2020.
Family life
Biden was born on Nov. 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He is the oldest of four children.
In high school, Biden played football and baseball. He also served as class president. He studied history and political science at the University of Delaware and got a law degree from Syracuse University.
In 1966, Biden married Neilia Hunter, and they had three children: Beau, Hunter and Naomi. But in December 1972, Neilia and Naomi were killed in a car accident. Joe Biden had just won his first election to the U.S. Senate. He thought about resigning, or quitting, his Senate job to take care of Beau and Hunter, but others encouraged him not to. Two years later, Biden met Jill Jacobs, a teacher, and they were married in 1977. They have a daughter, Ashley.
Beau Biden died in 2015 from brain cancer. Before he died, he served as attorney general for Delaware. He also served in Iraq with the Army National Guard.
Election issues
Voters cast their ballots on Nov. 3, or before in mail-in voting, but our country wasn’t sure at first who won. That’s because several states were too close to call.
Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania took longer to count their votes. Finally, on Nov. 7, Biden and Harris were declared to be the winners of the election.
Former President Trump filed a number of lawsuits to contest, or argue, the election results, but they were unsuccessful.