Jill Biden

Wife of Vice President Joseph Biden and Second Lady (since January 2009)

Why She Matters

When Jill Biden sees a problem, she fixes it.

In 1993, spurred by the loss of a friend to breast cancer, she started the Biden Breast Health Initiative, an organization that teaches high school-age women ways to protect against the disease. After Hurricane Katrina, Jill Biden collected a truck of books to donate to a New Orleans school.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Delaware Technical and Community College, professor
Birthday: June 5, 1951
Hometown: Hammonton, N.J.

Alma Mater: University of Delaware, BA, 1976; West Chester University, M. Ed., 1981; Villanova University, MA, 1987; University of Delaware, D. Ed., 2008
Spouse: Joe Biden
Religion: Presbyterian

Path to Power

Jill Jacobs was born in Hammonton, N.J., the oldest of five sisters. She grew up in Montgomery County, Pa., where her father was a banker and her mother stayed home.

She spent much of her time in high school planning dances and working - she accepted her first job at age 15 because she said she wanted her own money.

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Jacobs married soon after graduating from high school and quickly divorced. She told her mother she would never date again and turned her attention to her studies at the University of Delaware, where she earned her undergraduate degree.

Jacobs was a 24-year-old senior when then-Sen. Joe Biden called to ask her on a date. He had first noticed Jill in a train ad about Wilmington parks for which she had posed as a favor to a friend. The Senator tracked down her phone number and called Jacobs the next day to ask her on a date.

She was reluctant to go, initially telling Biden she had plans. But Joe Biden asked her to change them, explaining he was only available for one night. Jill agreed, but warned that she wasn't impressed by his title.

She was, however, impressed that the Senator arrived in a suit and shook her hand when he left. She called her mother later that night to say she had been on a date with a "true gentleman."

The Senator and Jacobs dated for nearly two years before Beau and Hunter, then seven and six, followed their father into the bathroom and told him he should propose to his girlfriend. He did, five times before Jill finally accepted. Jacobs told the News Journal that she understood a marriage to Biden would include "Joe, the boys, and the state of DelawareI had to take my time."

The couple was married on June 17, 1977, at the U.N. chapel in New York City. Beau and Hunter came along on the honeymoon.

Jill Biden began teaching high school English, but took time off after she gave birth to daughter Ashley in 1981. She earned a master's in education with a specialty in reading from West Chester University in 1981, and a master's in English from Villanova University in 1987.

Biden returned to teaching in the late 1980s as a reading specialist. She also volunteered as a part-time educator at an adolescent psychiatric hospital.

She began teaching English composition and developmental writing courses at Delaware Community College in the early 90's. Friends have said she is an incredibly hands-on teacher. She makes a point to meet with all of her students individually.

Biden earned her PhD in education from the University of Delaware in 2007. When she submitted her doctorate, she used her maiden name and wouldn't allow her husband to watch her defend it because she didn't want to "sway opinions."

However, Joe Biden did find a way to celebrate his wife's accomplishments. When she returned home, she found signs in the driveway that read "Congratulations Dr. Jacobs-Biden" and "Dr. and Senator Biden live here."

When Joe Biden first ran for president in 1988, Jill travelled with him to his events. She was more independent during his 2008 run, travelling frequently and speaking in front of large crowds.

Mrs. Biden continued to teach during her husband's campaign, visiting Iowa and Nevada on the weekends. She told reporters she had mastered the art of changing clothes in tiny airplane bathrooms. She was a well-liked speaker. Richard Vague, a Philadelphia investor and longtime Biden supporter, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the future Second Lady has a knack for "finding people struggling to attract attention to have a question answered."

After the Senator dropped out of the 2008 presidential contest, the Bidens returned to their life in Delaware. A few months later, when Joe Biden picked Jill Biden up from a root canal appointment, he told her he had been asked to accept the Democratic nomination for vice president. Jill Biden said she was thrilled, telling her husband "you deserve this, and this is so wonderful."

When Joe Biden announced his nomination, he introduced his wife by saying "my wife, Jill, who you'll meet soon, who's drop-dead gorgeous. My wife, Jill, she also has a doctorate degree, which is a problem." The statement drew fire from some women's groups, who accused Biden of saying that his wife shouldn't have a graduate degree.

Jill Biden continued teaching throughout the vice presidential campaign, missing only one class to attend Biden's vice presidential debate. When Barack Obama won the presidency, Biden's colleagues decorated her office with photos of her husband.

Biden will probably continue to teach once she moves to Washington. Montgomery College, one of the largest community colleges in the D.C. area, has already extended an invitation. "We would love it," Elizabeth Homan, a spokeswoman, told the New York Times.

Biden says she will not give up her Delaware home. "In D.C., we're so close that I would be lucky enough that we could take advantage of both places," she told The News Journal. She has said she is looking forward to sampling Washington's Italian restaurants and the National Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. She plans to fill No. 1 Observatory Circle, the vice president's residences, with candles and plants.

The Issues

Jill Biden is involved in a variety of issues from improving literacy to increasing breast cancer awareness. Her advocacy work has always focused on pragmatic solutions that will quickly improve the quality of life for recipients.

In an interview with Time magazine, she said her role model was Eleanor Roosevelt, a "true humanitarian and champion of Women's Rights and Civil Rights." She imagined adopting a similarly activist role as the wife of a White House official. "For years, Joe has had to listen to me go on about the problems in our education system," she said. "I don't see how him becoming President would change that."

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When Joe Biden first ran for president in 1987, Jill Biden said she would help women balance their positions as spouses, mothers and wage earners as First Lady. As Second Lady, she said she will focus on education, health care, and military families.

Education

As a long-time teacher, Biden has watched her students struggle to pay for college. She has called on government to make public universities, particularly community colleges, more affordable for the middle class. She would also like to develop a program that provides students who have started college the financial resources to finish their degree.

She wrote her dissertation on ways to retain students in community colleges.

She has called on the federal government to increase funding for No Child Left Behind. She would also like to improve early childhood education.

Biden says teachers must emphasize teaching children how to be healthy. She would like to develop programs that teach the dangers of obesity, smoking and breast cancer.

Military Families

Biden, whose son Beau was deployed to Iraq this year, understands the challenges faced by military families. In February 2008, she joined Boots on the Ground, a non-profit organization that raises money for military families.

Not only did she drum up big donors, she was also a conscientious volunteer, spending her weekends collecting change at a supermarket and running a fundraiser. With Mrs. Biden on board, the organization raised almost $30,000 in one week.

"When she came to us initially, we thought she was just going to lend us her name," co-founder Shirley Brooks told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "But it turns out that she was a volunteer who got down into the trenches with us to fund-raise."

Charlotte Brainard, a fellow English professor at Delaware Technical Community College, remembers telling Jill Biden about a friend whose husband had been deployed to Iraq, leaving her to raise four children. Though Biden didn't know the woman, she showed up at her door with a turkey dinner and a bouquet of flowers.

The Network

The Bidens are not part of D.C.'s inner circle - they have never lived in Washington and rarely attended Embassy dinners or Kennedy Center functions. Instead, Jill Biden has remained close to Biden's sister, Valerie Biden Owens, as well as many longtime aides to the Senator who now have jobs in the White House. These veteran staffers include Ted Kaufman, who will take Biden's old Senate seat; Mark Gitenstein, who is now leading Biden's White House transition effort, Ron Klain, Biden's new chief of staff, and Thomas E. Donilon, Biden's new White counselor.

Jill Biden and Michelle Obama hit it off immediately, and stayed in touch throughout the campaign.

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Additional Resources

Murray Shailagh, "Familiar Faces at Biden's Side; Many in the Candidate's Close-Knit Team, Including Old Friends and His Sister Valerie, Have Been His Political Guides for Years," Washington Post, July 21, 2007
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1660946_1661078_1660804,00.html
Lee, Carole, "Jill Biden: Untraditional, Unapologetic," Politico, Nov. 27, 2008
Seelye, Katharine, "Jill Biden Heads Toward Life in the Spotlight," New York Times, Aug. 24, 2008
Cooper, Helene, "For Biden, No Portfolio but the Role of a Counselor," New York Times, Nov. 25, 2008
Farrell, Joelle, "Colleagues see a caring, giving Jill Biden," Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 28, 2008.
Bosman, Julie. 'Amtrak Joe' No More. New York Times, Nov. 23, 2008.
Farrell, Joelle, "Colleagues see a caring, giving Jill Biden," Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 28, 2008
Rosenbaum, Jason. Jill Biden laments higher-ed cost. Columbia Daily Tribune, Oct. 17, 2008.
Seelye, Katharine, "Jill Biden Heads Toward Life in the Spotlight," New York Times, Aug. 24, 2008
Seelye, Katharine, "Jill Biden Heads Toward Life in the Spotlight," New York Times, Aug. 24, 2008
Gaouette, Nicole, "Jill Biden has a low-key appeal; The senator's wife avoids the spotlight but is comfortable in its glare. 'People love her,' an observer says," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 27, 2008

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