Joe Biden, the former US Vice President, has defeated the incumbent Donald Trump in a nail-biting contest in the presidential elections, to become the 46th President of the United States.
Born in Pennsylavania in 1942, Biden has been a public representative for around five decades. Biden on Saturday became the President-elect of the United States after clinching victory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania which took him well past the electoral college threshold of 270 votes. The former Vice President would become the oldest president in US history at his inauguration, aged 78.
In his maiden public address as President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden on Saturday (local time) said that the mandate of the American people was to marshal the forces of decency, fairness, science, and hope.
"Americans have called upon us to marshal the forces of decency, the forces of fairness and marshall the forces of science, and the forces of hope in a great battle of our time. The battle to control the virus, the battle to build prosperity, the battle to secure your families healthcare, the battle to achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism," he said.
Here are things you may not know about Joe Biden:
1. In December 1972, Joe Biden's wife Neilia and their one-year-old daughter Amy were killed in a road accident. His sons Beau and Hunter also suffered injuries in the crash.
2. Biden took oath as Senate leader at his sons' hospital bedsides, after losing his wife and daughter in the car accident.
3. Biden is a huge car enthusiast and owns a 1967 Corvette Stingray that his father gave him as a wedding gift.
4. He played on his high school football team as both wide receiver and halfback on the team.
5. Joe Biden and Barack Obama, during their eight years in the White House, made sure to spend time together at their weekly lunches.
6. He co-sponsored the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 with Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. The law, which was incorporated into the larger crime bill, provided $1.6 billion to investigate and prosecute violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed victims to sue their attackers in civil court even if prosecutors didn’t proceed criminally.
7. Biden has two German shepherds, named Champ and Major. The two soon-to-become first dogs of the United States are going to revive a tradition that goes back to George Washington, who was the first President to have a dog.
8. He loves ice cream, and his favourite flavour is chocolate chip.
9. In 1972, at 29, he defeated incumbent Republican Senator Cale Boggs, becoming the fifth-youngest person ever elected to the U.S. Senate.
10. Joe Biden is only the second Catholic to be elected President of United States of America, after John F Kennedy.
