Vice President Joe Biden lost his son, Beau, on Saturday. Here are eight times he spoke about his love for his son during his career.
1. Biden giving his acceptance speech as President Barack Obama’s running mate after his son, Beau, introduced him at the 2008 Democratic National Convention:
“You know, folks, my dad used to have an expression. He’d say,’A father knows he’s a success when he turns and looks at his son or daughter and know that they turned out better than he did.’ I’m a success; I’m a hell of a success. Beau, I love you. I’m so proud of you. I’m so proud of the son you’ve become; I’m so proud of the father you are.”
2. Biden speaking at the Veterans of Foreign Wars 111th National Convention in August 2010:
“These homecomings are something I have long looked forward to, and I know many of you have as well. The day my son Beau returned from a yearlong tour in Iraq, and I watched him embrace his wife and children, was one of the proudest and happiest moments of my life.”
3. Biden in a 2008 statement just before leaving the Senate to run for president:
“It is no secret that I believe my son, Attorney General Beau Biden, would make a great United States senator, just as I believe he has been a great attorney general … if he chooses to run for the Senate in the future, he will have to run and win on his own. He wouldn’t have it any other way.”
4. Biden giving the commencement address at the United States Naval Academy on May 22, 2015:
“Class of 2015, you’ve been an outstanding class, surpassing even the academy’s high standards. You excelled on the field — 13 straight wins against Army football. Not bad. Not bad, except you’re the father of an Army major, Iraqi War veteran with a Bronze Star, who doesn’t like it at all. It’s hard. We always go to the Army-Navy game, and I tell you what, it’s a devastating thing to sit next to my son. But congratulations. It makes it very uncomfortable at home, though.”
5. Biden speaking at Tallwood High School’s graduation ceremony in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in June 2012:
“My son, Beau Biden, spent a year in Iraq, and I watched the impact on my grandchildren — the games missed, the birthdays missed, the Christmases missed, the empty seat at Thanksgiving dinner. So from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of a grateful nation, I thank all of you who are the brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, spouses of those who have put themselves in harm’s way in the last decade and beyond. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
6. In a 2008 vice presidential debate, Biden got emotional recalling what it was like losing his wife and daughter in a 1972 car accident where his sons Beau and Hunter were also critically injured:
“The notion that somehow because I’m a man I don’t know what it’s like to raise two kids alone, I don’t know what it’s like to not have a child you’re not sure is gonna … make it. I understand. I understand.”
7. Biden told a group of Gold Star military families over Memorial Day weekend in 2012:
“Our son spent a year in Iraq. When he came home, it’s going to sound strange to you, we felt almost a little guilty because he came home. Because there’s so many funerals I’ve attended, so many bases I’ve visited. And you know, not all losses are equal. Not all losses are equal.”
8. Biden giving the commencement speech at Yale University on May 17, 2015:
“My Yale Law School grad son graduated very well from Yale Law School. My other son, out of loyalty to his deceased mother, decided to go to Syracuse Law School. They’re a year and a day apart in their age. The one who graduated from Yale had doors open to him … My other son, it was a struggle; equally as bright, went on to be elected one of the youngest attorney generals in the history of the state of Delaware, the most popular public official in my state … (that was) Beau.’
