Courtesy of the New York Times
By Will Stark and Hank Bartholomew
On January 20th, 2025, Joe Biden’s first term as President of the United States ended. For the last four years, the Pennsylvania native has led the nation through various challenges: the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine, the rise of extremist movements domestically, and widening political polarization. It’s hard to objectively look back at a president’s legacy when it is so fresh. Political loyalties and personal bias are hard to remove. But, to the best of our ability, here is a summary and analysis of Joseph R. Biden: a man who dedicated his life to service for his country.
For some, it’s easy to label the Biden administration as a failure, with the emergence of two major international conflicts, the largest influx of illegal immigrants since 2007, as well as a massive inflation spike in 2022. But that’s not the full story.
The other part of Biden’s legacy includes rebuilding a nation and its economy after a devastating pandemic, strengthening a crumbling democracy after a disastrous transition of power, and making strides in forward progress, socially and environmentally.
Presidency aside, Biden’s legacy on the nation is astounding. For over forty years, Joe Biden has served his country and has been pivotal in shaping the nation we recognize today.
Career
Biden was elected to the US Senate in 1973 at 29, putting him in the top five for youngest senators in United States history. As a Senator, he specialized in foreign relations, criminal law, and drug policies. Towards the end of his career, he chaired the Foreign Relations Committee. Joe was very vocal about sending support to protect Kosovo when it was invaded by Serbia in the 1990s, as well as creating resolutions that would establish a peaceful and united Iraq.
Biden first became acquainted with the Oval Office in 2008, when he ran as Vice-Presidential candidate with Barack Obama. Together they led several key initiatives that shaped the Obama administration and its legacy. Biden was instrumental in American Policy in Iraq as well as economic policies that hugely benefited the economy. For his eight years of service, then President Obama honored Vice President Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction.
Successes
Following a brutal mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where an eighteen year-old teenager massacred twenty-one individuals with an assault rifle, Biden signed into law the first significant gun legislation in over thirty years. The forty-sixth president established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which seeks to support local organizations that manage mental health and promotes coordination between schools and law enforcement. Similarly, in 2023, Biden awarded $286 million to school mental health professionals and organizations that promote student wellness. Barring action by the new administration, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention will continue to distribute one billion dollars of funding over the next five years.
In 2021, Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), a monumental piece of legislation that allocated roughly $1.2 trillion to fund infrastructure improvements across the country. The act will provide funding for a variety of upkeep projects, including broadband access, federal highways, public plumbing, electric grid renewal, highway safety and motor vehicle research, and new forms of energy, such as water and solar power. Furthermore, the construction of these projects has created hundreds of thousands of jobs; unemployment in the utilities sector hit a historic low of 2.5% in October of 2023. Eighty percent of the IIJA’s funding still has yet to be distributed, and barring potential action by the new administration, Biden’s legislation will continue to help fund American innovation and progress.
Since his son Beau’s death from brain cancer in 2015, Joe Biden has been a vocal and prominent advocate for cancer research and funding. In fact, Biden has almost certainly done more than any other U.S. President to combat the disease. After its first appearance under Barack Obama in 2016, Biden relaunched, in 2022, the Moonshot for Cancer Initiative, which seeks to end cancer by 2047. One of the initiative’s greatest accomplishments was the development of a central resource, the Cancer Research Data Commons, a databank that allows cancer institutions throughout the country to access instrumental data and information regarding cancer treatment. Furthermore, the Moonshot’s allocation of federal resources and funding has led to vast improvements in tumor mapping, immunotherapy treatments and drug resistance, cancer screenings, and cancer health and treatment and disparities. The initiative is a remarkable example of turning grief into action.
Failures
Capturing Biden’s legacy is tricky. Many successes, yes, but also many avoidable failures. He failed to bring peace in Ukraine and had controversial policies concerning aid to Israel in their crusade against Hamas. Biden’s administration was marred by dramatic inflation, which drove up living costs for Americans everywhere. An unsecured border let in historic amounts of undocumented immigrants. These factors combined give Biden’s legacy a darker shade; each of these points were constantly reiterated by political opponents in the most recent election and spawned doubts in voters’ minds in November.
However, the number of failures of the Biden administration that put them at fault is far more objective. Could Biden have prevented the invasion of Ukraine or the conflict in Gaza? Of course not. 2022 inflation has by many economists been declared an aftereffect of the pandemic, not solely government mismanagement. The emergence of crisis after crisis is not Biden’s fault and should not be attributed as such. However, as president of the United States, it was his sworn duty to handle and resolve such crises, to achieve the extraordinary, or at the very least make progress to the fullest extent of his ability. This failure lies at the center of Joe Biden’s emerging legacy.
Summary
Joe Biden was and is, quite simply, a servant of the nation. For almost his entire life, he has dedicated his efforts, even in the face of constant adversity, to improving and improving our nation. As his political career is likely to come to an end, we look back with thanks. Barack Obama was correct when he said that “to know Joe Biden is to know love without pretense, service without self-regard, and to live life fully”. Agree with him or not, Joe Biden dedicated his life to our country, and for that, we are incredibly grateful.
