As Donald Trump's presidency comes to an end, the White House welcomes Joe Biden to take the reins of the United States of America.
Republican President Donald Trump hailed his administration`s record as he left the White House for the last time on Wednesday, hours before President-elect Joe Biden assumes the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic.
Biden, 78, will become the oldest U.S. president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that has been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus as well as security concerns following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
The President Elect's political journey was beset by personal tragedies.
After he became the fifth-youngest senator in US history in 1972, a few weeks later Biden lost his wife Neilia and one-year-old daughter Naomi in a car crash, and his two sons, Hunter and Beau were seriously injured.
But he again suffered another personal tragedy. In 2015, one of his two boys Beau died of brain cancer at the age of 46.
Beau suffered a mild stroke in 2010, and three years later he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy which put the cancer in remission. However, it returned again, and he was hospitalised on May 20, 2015. He died 10 days later.
Just like his father, Beau got his law degree from Syracuse and rose through ranks to become the federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office.
He became Delaware attorney general in 2006, after a 2-year stint at a law firm.
Beau joined the military in 2003 and earned the rank of Major in the U.S. Army JAG Corps. He also served in Iraq for a year in the fall of 2008, and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service there.
Joe Biden on Tuesday bid a tearful goodbye to his constituency Delaware while honouring late son Beau and thanking the people for their support.
"When I die, Delaware will be written on my heart. I only have one regret, that he's (late son Beau) not here" said Biden, as tears rolled down his eyes.
Biden made his first presidential bid in June 1987 but withdrew his candidacy after a controversy over a speech. But unfortunately, his health declined due to a life-threatening brain aneurysm. He underwent two surgeries and took a seven-month leave from the Senate.
Again in 2008, after 20 years, Biden ran again for President but lost in the primaries for Democratic nomination, to Obama. However, Obama picked him as his running mate, and the duo went on to defeat their Republican opponents, John McCain and Sarah Palin, and again in 2012, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan.
In 2015, he did not file his nomination for the presidential primaries candidate as his son Beau died due to brain cancer.
on April 25, 2019, Biden announced his candidacy in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, and after toughing it out with 28 other challengers, he won the official Democratic Party nominee on August 17, 2020, and picked Kamala Harris as his running mate.
After defeating Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence, Biden is set to become the 46th President of the United States.
