foreign governments on our political opponent. that's something he raises the bar for, the trump campaign clearly has a different view of that and every time they get called on it, erica, as you know, they have some answer why they think it's perfectly okay. >> have a feeling we'll be fact checking more of those. good to see you, thank you. >> good seeing you. >> thanks for joining us. cnn's special report "fight for the white house joe biden's long journey" begins right now. >> announcer: the following is a cnn special report. he's gone from a young politician with swagger. >> they said we think you should run for the senate. i said i'm not old enough. >> to a young father suffering great loss. >> my brother looked at me and said she's sad, isn't she? >> he's an irishman with a life story that reads like a greek tragedy. >> how can you experience the worst thing imaginable twice in one lifetime? >> his career has been long and often controversial.

>> do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> i do. >> that has a new twist. >> i think joe biden is the person who should be elected. >> a senator, a vice president, finally his party's nominee on his third try. >> character is on the ballot. compassion is on the ballot. >> tonight, do you see yourself as the polar opposite of donald trump? >> i hope so. >> a cnn special report. fight for the white house, joe biden's long journey. ♪ ♪ it's a good night. it's a good night. and it seems to be getting even better. >> more than 30 years after his first run for the presidency. >> joe biden with a lead tonight and a lead overall in the

delegate race. >> on his third try for the white house. >> we are very much alive. >> it was the sweet super tuesday that joe biden had always dreamed of. setting a clear path to the nomination finally at age 77. >> it was like okay, let's buckle up. we're going to go. >> it was a really good feeling. it was glorious. >> glorious and unusual to say the least. >> fact, no one has ever come in fourth in iowa and fifth in new hampshire and gone on to become the democratic presidential nominee. >> to do as poorly has he did in the first two contests to have the day he had on super tuesday was highly, highly unusual, defied the laws of politics. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. >> it's a day joseph biden junior has been waiting for for

decades. how long has joe biden wanted to be president of the united states? >> i first met him in 1972 and clearly, he was not ruling out the possibility. he was 29 years old. >> there is also a story about the nun holding up a paper little joey wrote when he was 12 years old saying he wanted to be president. >> well, if a nun said it, it has to be true. >> and still is. but the brass ring has some big strings attached. >> he becomes president he's likely to inherit a country facing the worst infectious disease crisis we've seen since 1919. the worst economic crisis we've seen since the great depression. the worse racism crisis since 1968. it's a triple threat of crisis at once, all combined. >> biden described himself as a transitional candidate but a triple threat could require drastic urgent action.

>> the economy cannot survive if we don't get control of covid. that's going to be the thing that's going to affect every single thing that gets done. >> from the beginning when he was just joey from scranton, pa, biden wanted to be the one to get things done. >> joe biden was always the lead dog. he had to be number one. he was in the number one position. >> a natural leader his friends say. >> we always follow joe. >> and a natural talker. >> an old joke about joe that if joe biden were standing next to an electric light pole, he'd strike up a conversation. >> his family was large, tight knit and irish catholic. >> big family. constantly playing pranks on each other. >> with at least nine of them in this modest home. joey was the eldest of four. then came valerie, jimmy and frankie. the children's maternal

grandparents lived there, too, along with an aunt, sometimes an uncle and their parents. joseph r. biden senior and kathryn eugene finnegan biden. >> my mom was fierce in her commitment to family. she told us growing up that there is family and there is family and there is family. >> i remember going to my mother once. i guess i was in fifth grade saying mom, i love you more than anything and she said joey, i know how much you love me but remember, you're closer to your brothers and sister than you are to me. i said how is that, mom? she said you're the same blood. you're closer to them. they're with you all the time. >> mom said we were a gift to one another. we believed her. >> let me ask you about your sister who has been incredibly supportive to you. what role has val played in your life? >> she's been my best friend my whole life. she's been on the handlebars of

my bicycle. i guess it's -- excuse me -- since she was 3 years old. i never went a place i didn't take her. taught her how to play ball. >> to this day. >> to this day and all the way through. >> there are all these sayings joe and i have for our mom and dad. dad said it not how many times you get knocked down but how quickly you get up and dad was all about resilience. >> especially after losing his job when biden was young. >> they were forced to move away from their childhood home to find opportunity in wilmington. they had to reinvent themselves there. it made him very close to his family, as families often become much closer during adversity. >> faith helped, too. >> family and faith were the book ends. we were an irish catholic middle close household. our family values of taking care of one another, treating people with respect, being resilient,

those values coincided with the catholic social doctrine that we learned every single day at school. there but for the grace of god go i, you are your brother's keeper. it was a seamless way of life. >> a seamless way of life for a determined young joe biden. >> richard ben cramer writes about your brother as a child and said joey was always quick with a grace born of cocky self-position. he didn't like some kids his age double think himself. once joey set his mind, it was like he didn't think at all. he just did. >> the more serious version of what he set his mind to do is he stuttered terriblebly. he couldn't string more than three or four words together at a time. he determined that he was not going to be defined by a stutter. >> teenage boys can be pretty harsh, even cruel, and he used

to get tease aid ld a lot. hey, b, b, b, b, biden. they called him stutter head. >> the summer before joe biden's junior year poetry helped him lose his stutter. >> i would do poetry to try to say make young men grow up in libraries. >> that's emmerson. >> yes, that was emmerson and the reason i did it was to try to get a cadence to how you speak. when you are able to change the cadence of what you do and say, it seems you'll be able to overcome it somehow. >> i think all of us were surprised in late august and september when we went back to school he wasn't stuttering anymore. >> the high school was an elite catholic school he worked hard to attend because he viewed it as a gateway to success. he was on the football team. >> he was a half back. he made key plays in some of the games. >> off the field, friends

remember a time he stood up for a buddy. it happened when he went to a diner with some classmates including the only black kid in the class. >> the restaurant's policy that we don't serve, they didn't use the word black at the time. he must have said negros. frank said i'll leave. joe said sit down. if they don't serve you, they won't serve any of us. this is 1961 before the civil rights act and voting rights act and before there was much sense sie sensitivity i would say at least for teenage boys, white boys about civil rights issues. >> biden says he learned about the reality of race relations here while lifeguarding in a black neighborhood in the early 1960s when delaware was very divided, racially and culturally. >> the polish neighborhood, irish neighborhood, black neighborhood. >> he stood out but worked hard to fit in.

>> once you come in the neighborhood and somebody like you, you become like brothers. you become deep friends and stuff. that's how joe and i became. >> i was about probably 9 when i first met him. i was one of the ornery kids in this pool. they called me dennis the men e menace. >> he could grow up to become dennis the mayor of wilmington. >> joe saw an opportunity. the door was open and he was going to get in. he is going to make friends and talk to people and know this community and have this community trust him because know joe had as stir ratiopirations places. >> long before he went into politics, he was politicking and planning his surprising next moves. up next, success. >> i will never, ever think anything is impossible again in my entire life. >> followed by tragedy. >> i remember looking up and saying god, i was so angry. so angry,.

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go go go ♪ go go go go on a real vacation. visit go rving.com or your nearest rv dealer. by early 1964 joe biden was a student at the university of delaware full of confidence but low on cash. when he and two buddies decided to head to fort lauderdale for spring break. >> the first day we went on the beach, it was like 10,000 guys and 20 girls.

the odds just did not look good for us. low and behold a plane goes by with a sign saying round trips to nassau $28. joe, what do you think? got to go. let's go. >> they arrive to discover the college women on private hotel beaches, which they couldn't afford. >> we found some of the hotel towels on the fence. we grabbed them and put them around our shoulders and waist and walked in like we stayed there all along. >> they were there for a few minutes when they spotted a young woman they all wanted to meet. a 21-year-old senior at syracuse university. >> i'm saying let's flip a coin and while i'm trying to figure it out, i'm looking at my hands, he takes off. he's got a 50 yard dash on both of us and by the time we get over there, he's sitting there chatting her up. >> when i met nelia, god's truth, i knew i was going to

marry her. i ra eloque i really did. the second night i said i think i'll marry you. she said i think so. >> he said frank, i'm in love and going to syracuse law school. >> just as planned biden made it to syracuse law school and married neilia hunter. after graduation he returned home with his wife to work at a law firm. national guardsmen were still patrolling the streets of wilmington in the wake of rioting that followed martin luther king's murder. >> wasn't good at all. we looked like a city under seeing siege by the military. >> he saw a country torn apart by race. a city literally on fire. the national guard occupied wilmington delaware longer than any city in america after the riots and in that moment a young joe biden said i can help. >> biden was a believer in his own ability to convince anyone of anything but no amount of

self-confidence or ambition was big enough to deliver a senate seat at age 27. so, he ran for the county counsel. as usual, he enlisted his sister. so how did you get involved in the politics of it. >> he always picked me first. it was just a natural thing to do. he was going to go in the politics. i was going with him. he ask everybody we knew to help us and we asked them to ask ten people to help us. this is where we delivered -- we knocked down every door. >> he won and a year later, biden found his real opening while attending a political convention in delaware. >> i went to the motel to shave for the evening and i got a knock in my door and in walks four people. they said we got to talk to you, joe. i had a towel around me just shaven. they said we think you should run for the senate. i said whoa, i'm not old enough. >> a judge in the group set him straight. >> said joe, you obviously didn't do well on constitutional law. it says you have to be 30 to be

sworn in, not 30 to be elected. >> it wfwas arrogant to run against a well-liked republican senator named kale boggs. >> what is your last name? >> miller. >> i know the miller farly. >> he had been governor and member of congress for two terms and running for a third term in the united states senate. kale boggs was loved. i mean, he was loved. >> once again, biden asked valley valu valley to run the show. >> i can't run a statewide campaign. i don't know how to do that. remember, he's 28, 27, i'm 25, 26. he said don't worry about it, valerie, we'll figure it out. >> she reached out to a local democratic party ted kaufman. >> you're running on civil rights and environment. you're running on tax reform.

and those are really good issues. silence. i said but i don't think you have a chance at winning. >> you said what? >> i don't think you have a chance of winning. you don't have a chance. kale boggs is incredible. you've been in this for two years. you look like you're 25 years old this is a race to run. in order to make these issues you care about, i say you can do that but there is no chance you can win. >> and his reaction to that was? >> well, just come and help me. just come and help me. we'll see. we'll see. >> biden was confident he could talk his way into voters' hearts but what kaufman saw was bleak. >> on labor day, we did a big time polling. you know what the number was? 47% for boggs, 19% for biden. >> but it was also the first year 18-year-olds could vote and young voters saw a candidate who was promising that he understands what's happening today. 50 years later, this time as a

political elder trying to connect with young voters, it's still his mantra. >> they have a funny feeling that kale boggs just his heart wasn't in it. he was talked into running one more time by richard nixon. >> joe wants to talk to you for a few minutes and vote that democratic et november. >> and then. >> we snuck up on him. boggs, this is a nixon landslide. nobody expected a democrat to win and that was the truth. >> we won by 3100 votes. on election night, i remember as if it was yesterday. i said i will never, ever think anything is impossible again in my entire life. ♪ happy birthday >> he turned 30, the eligible age to serve three weeks later. he and neilia had a picture perfect young family. a baby named naomi and two

toddler boys. the young family was moving to the nation's capitol. >> for six weeks we were on top of the world. i man, he was the dragon slayer. we were the bright young hope for the democratic party and it was completely joyful. >> on december 18th, ne erkneil supposed to go to washington but stayed behind to buy a tree and christmas gifts. >> i went with biden to interview staff. senator bird offered joe to use his office, which we did. >> and then came the phone call. >> it was jimmy biden and i picked up the phone and jimmy biden said come home now, there's a terrible accident. with neilia and the boys, and the baby, all three. >> you flew back. >> we didn't say a word. we just -- it was a bumpy ride. i remember that.

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one week before christmas 1972, joe biden and his sister travelled to d.c. to hire staff. his wife neilia stayed in delaware with their three children to buy a tree. >> the memory that i have that's most vivid is walking in the russell building with the echo of just our shoes. >> i remember looking up in the rotunda saying god. i was so angry. i got a call from a first responder, and i said what happened? he said well, there was a tractor trailer and your wife and daughter are dead. >> neilia and the biden's baby

naomi were killed when a truck hit their station wagon. >> the boys were very badly injured. they were hospitalized. hunter with a frank toctured sk and beau was in a body cast with both arms, both legs, you had to pick him up and carry him this way. >> biden thought their bedside, not the senate wheis where he ot to be. >> your brother is clearly considering not being sworn in. he doesn't want to be senator. >> he spoke to the governor to p replace him. >> the senate majority leader mike mansfield changed biden's mind. >> he said your wife worked really hard for you to get elected and cared a great deal about it. get sworn in, and just stay six months. >> if in six months or so there is a conflict between my being a

good father and being a good senator, i promise you i will contact the governor as i had earlier and tell him we can always get a another senator but they can't get another father. they send the secretary of the senate to the hospital room to swear me in so i couldn't change my mind. >> so help you god. >> i do. >> congratulations, senator. >> the family and a close few friends there. hunter holding on to beau's hand. it was heartbreaking. >> the biden family was devastated, but they had to move on. so valerie moved in. >> they were such a gift to me. the whole family was broken hearted. and we just, you know, the big thing, take care of one another, not because it's the responsibility but because it was a gift. >> and while valerie subed in for mom, her brother also

changed his plans. >> the reason that joe started to commute, he said they've lost their mom and they lost their baby sister. i cannot take them away and lose mom and dad and uncle jimmy and frankie and aunt val so he will commu commute. after the accident, i mean, the bond was like steel rods among the three of them. >> steel bonds with his boys and mo molten anger over the loss of his wife and baby. >> you said you went around looking for fights and wrote you understand why people consider committing suicide. >> i thought about what it ought to be like to do to the memorial bridge and jump off and end it but i didn't ever get in a car or do it or close. what saved me was really my boys. >> on capitol hill he found

support he didn't expect from senate elders of both parties. >> these old bulls all took him in and helped buffer him from that grief. helped him carve a path towards real meaning and value and that experience. he saw their humanity before he saw their politics in many respects. >> biden's senate was a much less polarized place and in a 1974 interview, he recoiled it being pigeon holed by special interest groups as either liberal or conservative. his political connections were always personal. >> he'll talk about a republican opponent in private with a great deal of empathy and compassion. >> those relationships were built by a series of just quiet moments sitting down next to someone without any particular point to it. just to see how you're doing, what's going on.

>> he kept the personnel close and became the eulogizer to the senate and a tribute for a republican segregationist. >> i tried to understand him. i learned from him. and i watched him change oh so suddenly. >> he delivered some sermon eulogy. >> yes, he did. at straom thurmond's request. when you can hold on to your own political believes and have the respect of people whose political belief is totally different, that says something. >> over time, biden developed an almost pastor hand of consoling others in public on the campaign trail. >> someone who has been through it and says i know how you feel. you kind of look and you say i

guess i can make it. they made it. >> he did it privately, too. >> in the middle of his campaign for the presidency, my dad had passed away. joe was the first one to call. he's running for office. you can leave a voice mail. >> right. >> yeah. he's a good man. >> one evening i heard some crying, and i went out to see what was going on. i heard the vice president's voice and i heard him consoling somebody. he was still in the west wing working and had bumped into a staffer who was giving a tour to a widow who had recently lost her husband. he was walking down the hall, and that was his instant reaction. >> people talk about your empathy and your pastoral nature what peop when people are suffering. did that begin after the accident? >> i think it really began in an

earnest way with my stutter because it is the most humiliating thing in the world for someone. how do you walk up to the girl to go to the eighth grade dance saying would you got to the, the, the, the, the and there are always a bump of chumps that make fun. >> he found himself in the middle of a political struggle in the 1970s and '80s when he took a controversial stand against court ordered bussing. >> i happened to be one of those so-called people labeled liberal on civil rights but oppose bussing. >> if you're a biden, that's going to be a tough issue for you because of that big empathy, that big heart. is this good for kids? you know, is this the right way to get kids to get along, to get parents to get along? is there another way. >> i'm going to direct this to vice president biden. >> that decision became in the democratic debates raised by his now running mate. >> you also worked with them to

oppose bussing. and you know, there was a little girl in california who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day, and that little girl was me. >> if you go back and look at the polls back then, the vast majority of black people were against bussing. i was against bussing. >> you were? >> yes. the first real serious discussion i ever had with my wife was over bussing. because i thought court ordered bussing put too much of a burden on the students. i believed in neighborhood concept schools, rather than being bussed, and when i express that publicly, my wife took me to the wood shed in such a way that i would never forget it.

>> while biden's political life was hard, back at home he was trying to get his personal life in order. >> everybody had somebody for me, you know. they were very nice about it. >> by 1977, he had found someone he wanted to marry, jill jacobs. >> i had asked her five times to marry me, five. five times. she would say no every time i asked her. >> i knew what the boys had been through. they lost their mother and they lost their sister. i had to be 100% sure that this marriage would last until death do us part because i loved the boys so much that i thought, they can't lose another mother through a divorce.

>> two years later, they have ashley. she not only married joe, she married the boys, she married the biden family and married the state of delaware. >> and she may have saved his life. >> i said, what do you mean giving him last rights? he's not going to die. [ sigh ] people ask ... what sort of a person should become a celebrity accountant? and, i tell them, "nobody should." hey, buddy. what's the damage? [ on the phone ] i bought it! the waterfall? nope! my new volkswagen. a volkswagen?! i think we're having a breakthrough here. welcome to caesar's palace. thank you. ♪

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joseph r. biden. >> by the mid '80s joe biden was a senator going places. >> he was young and dynamic and people said this is the next kennedy. this is a guy who will be president of the united states some day. >> was biden ready? >> it was funny about '88. i wasn't sure how much he wanted to run. >> was he conflicted? i think he was. it was a full-time commitment and joe really was, you know, joe who took the train home at night to be with his kids and you can't do that when you're running for president. >> but what senator can resist

the presidential lure? >> he didn't get up in '88 and say i'm running for president. i was so many people came and said you got to think about this. you got to do it. >> and so amtrak joe moved onto the presidential track in a wide open and competitive race announcing his candidacy at the wilmington train station. >> today i announced my candidacy for president of the united states of america. >> just a few weeks after his announcement, some unexpected news took him on a detour. >> it is a surprise retirement this summer of swing vote justice lewis powell. >> biden was chairman of the senate judiciary committee and would lead the confirmation hearings to replace justice lewis powell. the crucial swing vote on the court tee to major major decisions roe versus wade.

>> civil rights issues and opportunity. >> president regan took the opportunity to nominate an icon of the right. >> i today announced my intention for the united states appeals judge. >> reaction from the left was swift. >> civil rights group promise efforts to block confirmation. >> the campaign was pushing us to come out against boric early. we knew if we did that, all we would end up is the 45 liberals in the senate and we wouldn't win. >> so biden found himself running two campaigns, one against robert borc and another for president and pulling him in different directions. >> my name is joe biden. i'd like to be the democratic nominee for president of the united states of america. >> in iowa an early caucus state that mattered most biden was bunched with others but his

attention was split. >> there was a mismatch between the expectation of joe and what was going on in the campaign. the sort of basic stuff wasn't getting done. >> but that was nothing compared to what unfolded next. >> live from the iowa state fairgrounds in des moines. election '88. >> at the end of a key debate at the iowa state fair, biden used some of the stump speech that included quotes from british politician, a life story but it wasn't biden's life and delivered without any attribution. >> why is it joe biden -- >> what am i? the first in 1,000 generations. >> the first in his family. >> to be able to get the university. >> ever to go to a university.

>> i mean, he had given that speech 25, 30 times and in every case he had attributed to kenny. he didn't plagiarize. >> i don't think anybody in the campaign saw it as a major thing when it happened. >> it was after a staffer from the michael due caucus campaign leaked the story on the eve of the borc hearings. >> biden finding himself on trial charged with political plagiarism. >> how did it feel to have your integrity challenged? >> losing my family is the worst thing that happened to me. >> the controversy fed the narrative biden was more show than substance as the borc hearings began. >> i believe, judge, i think i read everything that you have written. >> biden zeroed in on the controversial opinions like his critique of the supreme court's decision to strike down a state law banning contraceptives. >> does a state legislative body

or any legislative body have a right to pass a law telling a married couple or anyone else, telling them they can or cannot use birth control? >> i don't know what rational the state would offer or the challenge the married couple would make. >> the problem with borc, he would never admit there is a right to privacy under the constitution. >> biden may have been swaying public opinion on borc but his presidential campaign was imploding with more charges. >> first there came reports he lifted the phrases of other speakers without identifying them and new charges that as a student of law at syracuse university, he used five pages from a published law review article without quotation or attribution. >> i knew i had one of two choices, leave the borc hearing and save my campaign if i could by going out and making my case

and i thought that what -- i don't want to go down in history as the guy that saved his political life, let borc get in the court. >> so he was out. >> all of my energy and skill is required to deal with president regan's effort to reshape the supreme court. i've concluded that i will stop being a candidate for president of the united states. >> i can remember how devastated i felt and how devastated joe felt. i mean, no one had ever assailed his character before. >> it was a big blow to him. some people, they never would come back from that sort of ending of a campaign. >> and unless i say something that might be somewhat sar tas ti -- sarcastic, i should go to the borc hearing. >> he was about to go into the media room and i said joe, you

have to go in and win. you have to win this one. >> if you look at the next paragraph of that talk. >> borc was pummeled by biden and others and left to fight largely on his own by president regan. >> he thought he was smarter than biden and he thought he could beat biden and he was wrong. >> the yeayay 42, nay 58. >> four years before his death, borc said as a whole biden wasn't fair. >> the democrats including biden spent the time making the charges by me. >> democrats praised biden but others blamed him for permanently politicizing judicial confirmations. >> well, he really presided over the inauguration of the politics of personal destruction in the judicial confirmation process. >> and now the ideology of the

judge is front and center. how are you going to vote on these? >> for some, borc was a verb, a short hand for getting. >> reporter:ed a-- railroaded ad remains to this day. >> a good old fashioned attempt to borcing. >> what do you say when they say it was about his ideology. >> it was legitimate. nothing went after borc's character. >> his pham sees it as a life f saver. >> his pulling out probably saved his life. he never would have stopped. >> right as the campaign would have been in full gear, biden collapsed after an event in new york. he made it home and jill rushed him to the hospital. >> he looked so gray, and i thought oh my god. >> my brother had an aneurysm and an aneurysm didn't have any

calculations whether joe was n running or not running. the aneurysm was in his brain and it erupted. >> there were two aneurysms, both extremely dangerous. >> there was a better than even chance i was not likely to make it through the first operation. >> the situation was so dire, a priest came to give the 45-year-old biden his last rights. but was interrupted. >> i ran into the room. the priest was at the bedside and i said get out. because he is not going to die. and the priest, i think i just shocked the priest, and he just ran out of the room. >> biden had two surgeries and a tough recovery. seven months later, he returned to the senate and more controversy. >> do you swear to tell the whole truth. coming up, anita hill on a possible president biden. >> would you be willing to work with him? it's been 75 years

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it was terrifying. >> professor, do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> i do. >> it was really scary, because it was something that hadn't happened before. and the stakes were so high. >> at stake, a seat on the supreme court for clarence thomas. >> the man in charge? joe biden. >> i expected for joe biden to have a fair hearing. joe biden's leadership was very weak. >> almost 30 years later, thomas sits on the supreme court. biden is the democratic nominee for president. and anita hill has made a decision. >> i think joe biden is the person who should be elected in november? >> you're going to vote for joe biden?

>> yes. >> would you be willing to work with him? >> my commitment is to find solutions. i am more than willing to work with him. >> is it just the fact that he's running against donald trump or is it more about joe biden? >> it's more about the survivors of gender violence, that's really what it's about. >> hill an attorney is now a professor of gender politics. she was 35 when she testified before biden's committee. accusing thomas of sexually harassing her when she worked at the eeoc. her testimony was graphic. >> he referred to the size of his own penis as being larger than normal. >> her motives dissected. >> do you have a martyr complex? >> no, i don the. >> and additional witnesses who may have cob rated her story

were never called to publicly testify. >> the idea that anyone who is saying what i had to say is going to be heard with the sort of out the window, the republicans were in control. and joe biden lost control. >> some say you let the republicans take over? >> i don't believe i did. but i wish i could have done it by the rules. you can't call people out of order. i wish i could have done better for her. i believed her, i believed he should not be in the court. >> sexual harassment is a serious matter, and in my view, any person guilty of this offense is unsuited to serve not only -- >> biden led the floor fight against thomas and lost. >> as a black american, as far as i'm concerned, it's a

high-tech lynching. >> his reporters still seize about the hearings. >> if these come out in the public i will be your biggest defendant. quite the opposite. he repeatedly was saying one thing, talking out of one side of his mouth to one group and the other side to another. >> what does this tell you about joe biden? >> he's someone who wants to try to please everyone. >> even when hill received a call last year? she remained unsatisfied. >> i'm very sorry if she felt she wasn't treated fairly. and, you know. an apology to be real and sincere has to take responsibility for harm. that was what i wanted to hear. that if i had done better, and this is joe biden speaking.

if i had done better, maybe there woe be less violence today. >> she's heard him talk on tv. >> she did not get a fair hearing, she did not get treated well. that's my responsibility. >> what it says to me is, maybe the next step is, these are the things i'm going to do to make it good. >> but the story of biden and women's issues is not just about hill. when the thomas hearings ended. >> i was determined to do two things. make sure never again would there not be women on the committee. so that year i went out and campaigned for two women, dianne feinstein and carol moseley brown. they join the committee if they got elected.

and they did. i was determined to continue writing and passing the violence against women's act. >> it was an idea born one year before the thomas hearings. >> some in the legal academy who decided that women in the 1950s were basically making up rape, there were fancy lawyers, liberal and conservative who would say, domestic violence is as american as apple pie. prominent liberal lawyers. >> overall, the toll on women's lives and health is devastating. >> biden held senate hearings for victims to share their stories. >> and in 1983, my husband stabbed me 13 times and broke my neck while the police were on the scene. i nearly died and i'm permanently paralyzed. >> they all had the same story.

and what was the story? i don't believe you. this doesn't happen. and they said they did not believe it was a crime. >> biden believed it was, and spent four years pushing the bill. but it would ultimately take more than violence against women to get enough senators on board. >> so biden and president bill clinton, looking for a win, combined the issue with a comprehensive crime bill. >> at that time, there was a large amount of concern growing violent crime in the country. >> violent crime rates had been steadily rising for a decade, and there was political pressure to do something. >> democrats felt like they needed to show they were tough on -- >> no, as a matter of fact, violent crime had risen exponentially. mainly because of the crack epidemic. >> it was a good political issue? >> no, it was more than that.

it was a danger. his solution was a big bill. >> $30 billion. it had the assault weapons ban in it, it had the drug courts in it. the bill passed with bipartisan support in 1994 but times have changed. biden worked with the police unions to write that bill, he's promising to reform policing. he wants to fix other parts of the measure that democrats charge led to incarcerations targeting people of color. >> tough on crime meant tough on people who look like me. the core of the bill was to criminalize behaviors that really should have been addressed through addiction services, employment services.

>> i'll accept responsibility for what went right, i'll also accept responsibility for what went wrong. >> the obama administration worked to reduce the prison population, and reverse mandatory minimum sentences and he wants to do more. >> we have to change the prison system from one of punishment to rehabilitation. >> we get into this false debate, is this a true evolution or flip-flopping. we really want the person to be believing in what they're doing. that's not what politicians do. . the politics on this have changed. he's political enough to read the country at this moment and deliver on the changes we want at this moment. >> with a career that spans more than five decades, biden has found himself apologizing and rethinking during this dane. not only on the crime bill and

not only to anita hill, but to a group of women who made him uncomfortable by being too handsy. >> the boundaries of personal space have been reset. i hear what they're saying, i understand it. i'll be much more mindful. >> anita hill has decided to believe biden has changed. >> do you see some irony here that i am going to vote for joe biden? and i might want to work for him? >> do i think it's ironic? yes, it's not just about me, it's not just about joe biden, it's about millions of people in this country and around the world that we can be a model for. and i would love to be a part of that. >> and if it means voting for joe biden, so be it. up next, joe biden changes his mind.

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becoming a student of arms control and personally connecting. >> the focus he brings to it is always, how do i put myself in the other person's shoes. if i'm asking for something that they can't possibly give, we're not going to get anywhere. >> he also delivered blunt talk. what he told slobodan milosevic. >> i pointed out that genocide was happening. i had a come to you know what meeting with milosevic in his office. i told him, i'm going to spend the rest of my career seeing that you are tried as a war criminal. >> we had a private dinner. during the dinner, he really lit into the united states. biden looked at him and came down on the table with his hands like that. and he said, this dinner's over. >> that's it?

>> that was it. and he walked out. and so everybody's -- well, i guess the dinner's over. >> that was 2008 and biden's clear signal to karzai was, shape up. back in 2001, after 9/11, biden had backed karzai in building a new government and supported george w. bush's invasion into afghanistan. and a year later, biden also supported the bush administration when it turned toward a new target, iraq, looking to stomp out terrorism there. >> by seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. >> these weapons must be dislodged from zam or saddam hussein must be dislodged from power. >> why did joe biden vote for the resolution. >> voting for the resolution is

one thing, voting for war is another. he thought the best way to deal with it was to get the inspectors back in. the inspectors were in, bush went to war anyway. >> it's a hard thing to say when you're giving an authorization of force. that's hard power not soft power. diplomacy is soft power. i don't buy that. >> there were no weapons of mass destruction. >> good to see you. >> joe biden and dig lugar and i were the first senators into baghdad. after a couple years, this became clear to him this was going nowhere. >> the iraq vote was a mistake. >> it's a vote that has dogged him for years from both sides. >> i did everything i could to prevent that war, joe saw it differently. >> why do you think he changed that mind on that vote? >> the same reason hillary clinton changed her mind. if it had been a huge success,

nobody would be regretting their vote. >> can you explain to people when you would use force? >> yes, when there's a vital u.s. interest at stake or when we have a treaty obligation that we've committed that we would keep. now, conversely, i'm not going to send my kids or anybody else's child to a place where our interests are not essential and where we cannot get it done. >> so the man who voted against the first iraq war in 1991 and then changed his mind about the second iraq war deciding it was a disaster, ran for president in 2008 to end it. >> i wanted him to run, and the kids said, you know, dad has to run. and i felt that joe would be the only one who could end that war. >> are you running for president? >> i am running for president. i'm going to be the best biden i can be. >> it wasn't enough. >> we made a gigantic

miscalculation. once obama caught on, there wasn't room on the track for anyone but hillary and obama. >> they locked up a lot of money and support. it wasn't just joe biden. >> we were doing so well. collectively, i think we had 2%. >> but it wasn't just the competition that sidelined biden. the competition was formidable. it was biden himself. >> we have the first sort of mainstream american who is ar tech u lat and bright and clean and nice looking guy. i mean, that's a storybook. >> it was unfortunate, because it was his announcement day, and he was simply trying to compliment senator obama. >> it didn't come off that way and was classic careless biden,

putting him into full damage control mode right out of the gate. >> let me tell you something, i spoke to barack today. >> i bet you did. >> to this day, his words can be cringe worthy. and sometimes problematic. >> if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or trump, you ain't black. >> biden apologized for that off the cuff mistake. his friends say when you talk a lot that's bound to happen. >> does he talk all the time? >> yes. yes. >> constantly. all the time. >> he -- there is no ability to effect that. you have to go with the flow. >> certainly on the floor of the senate, he would go on for long long periods of time. >> why is that such a steady critique of you. >> because probably i talk too much sometimes. >> after biden's short lived presidential campaign collapsed. long windedness took a back seat

as obama considered him as a running mate. >> obama was coming with very little washington experience, he was joe biden with 36 years in in the united states senate. >> and 36 years of being his own boss. >> he was a senate man. he loved everything about the senate. >> when he asked me if i would do it, i said, no, i didn't want to be vice president. my view was, i was a fairly powerful united states senator i thought i could help him more as the chairman of the foreign relations committee. >> he called me. i said that's great. he said i don't know. i said, i'll call the kids we'll talk about it. >> my mom looked at me, joey, let me get this straight. the first black man in history has a chance to run for president he wants you to run with him and you told him no. >> game, set, match. >> that was it. >> ladies and gentlemen, my friend, barack obama, the next president of the united states

of america. >> from that moment on, biden was all in. as long as he could have weekly meetings with the president and serve as his chief adviser on all matters. >> biden said, i don't want a portfol portfolio, all i want to know is when you make the big decisions that i'm going to be in the room and obama joked i want your advice, i just want it in 10 minute increments, not 60 minute increments. >> for decades he's brought change to washington, but washington hasn't changed him. >> the man of the senate, the two-time presidential also ran, finally became a winner, alongside a partner who was at the top of the ticket. >> this is a moment so many people have been waiting for. >> i want to thank my partner in this journey. a man who campaigned from his heart, the vice president elect of the united states joe biden.

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i joseph robert biden do solemnly swear -- >> vice president joe biden swore on his family bible to defend the constitution. >> against all enemies, foreign and domestic. >> his top adviser without portfolio, his job quickly began with one huge assignment. economic recovery. >> 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008, the largest 1 year drop since 1945. >> the global economy, our economy is sinking. >> the view through the windshield was the ground. the economy was going straight down. the obama administration proposed a massive stimulus bill. biden's job, coral the senate republican republicans needed to get it done. >> in the senate it faced a filibuster, it really fell on

joe biden's lap. to get to those three votes we had 60 votes on the nose. >> let me presume to say, thank you, we owe you a good deal. >> four weeks after the inauguration, the administration pumped $787 billion into a teetering economy. it was risky business. with some democrats complaining it wasn't enough and republicans arguing it was too large. >> we have no assurance it will create jobs or revive the economy. in short, we're taking an enormous risk, an enormous risk with other people's money. >> the president of the united states. [ applause ] >> i would ask president biden to lead a tough oversite

committee. nobody messes with joe. >> it had to be free of any problems, scandals, and it had to be fast and furious. you had to move unbelievably fast, no problems and no slipups. >> over the next seven years, the economy grew, though relatively slowly. millions of jobs were added. >> the following year, biden was on the hill again, this time to help find the votes for the affordable care act. >> the affordable care act is passed. >> his role in obamacare was principally as an arm twister. >> in the end, biden may be remembered as much for what he whispered to his boss when the legislation passed. >> the president of the united states of america, barack obama. >> thank you. >> and then there was the time

biden jumpeded gun on the president, announcing his own support for gay marriage on a sunday show. >> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men and women marrying women are entitled to the same rights. >> biden's utility went beyond diplomacy. obama tasked him to follow assignments in afghanistan and iraq. >> during the transition, president-elect obama said why don't you go to iraq and afghanistan to get the freshest possible information to inform our review. >> so, that's what they did. biden returned from the trip believing afghanistan was a complete mess and told the president. >> there was not unity of mission, unity of purpose. he said, mr. president, the first thing we need to do is

make sure we have a clear set of objectives and strategy, and that everyone agrees on it. >> the first order of business was sending 25,000 additional troops to afghanistan. to ensure the country's upcoming elections would be fair. then came a request for even more troops. >> stan mcchrystal came back to washington and asked for 40,000 u.s. troops. >> the military brass were on board but not biden, who never stopped raising questions and clearly got on their nerves. >> you had gates, mullen, petraeus, hillary clinton. the vice president is saying to that vast array of experienced people, stop. wait a minute, we have to rethink this. >> i think he was saying, slow

down. >> there's no rush to judgment here. >> the vice president would play the skunk at the picnic. he would be the bad cop. why do you need that many resources, i don't believe that. explain that. >> i would be the one taking them on. the president was new, they knew he didn't have foreign policy experience. if they went after him and it was a mistake, it would be a costly mistake. >> it became total kblcomplicit with president obama. they would confer and he would say, joe, it would be good if you pressed on this or prodded on that. that allowed the president to sit back and hear everyone out. >> the debates inside the situation room grew more and more tense especially with the military brass. >> there's always an attitude that we're the ones that put our lives on the line, we're the military experts.

we expect that when we make a recommendation that you'll give difference to those that have military experience. the vice president is not one to do that. that's why some have been critical of joe biden. >> one source of the tension was biden's concentration on the terrorists. >> the reason we're in afghanistan in 2009 and today has to do with al qaeda, and terrorists that can reach out of afghanistan to strike us or our allies. he was laser focused on the terrorism problem. >> how many boots on the ground would that have required? >> 10 or 15,000 in that range. >> biden lost the fight, unable to convince obama who opted for the pentagon plan. the president committed 30,000 troops and told the brass to get the additional 10,000 from

allies. robert galts who declined to be interviewed for this profile wrote this about biden in his memoir. i think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and security issue over the past four decades. when asked about that quote this summer, gates chose to steer the conversation to his assessment of biden's character over policy disputes. >> i have a lot of policy disagreements with the former vice president. i think one of the things people will be weighing this fall is the character of the two contest an thes. >> he was looking for a way to end the iraq war. >> we are committed to building an enduring partnership between

iraq and the united states. >> biden's goal, convince iraqi prime minister that the u.s. be allowed to leave a small military presence behind. he refused. >> did he not push hard enough on that? >> they say they did, they pushed and pushed and pushed. >> no. >> they did not push with any conviction. >> president obama ended wars. what they did was skedaddle. >> your dream of an independent and sovereign iraq is know reality. >> in december 2011, the obama administration stuck to a schedule agreed to by president bush and with drew. >> ultimately we left a vacuum there, and we paid a price for

that. >> militant isis fighters are less than 40 miles away from the capital of baghdad. >> that forced the united states to go back in to iraq, in order to make sure they didn't take over the entire country. >> u.s. troops returned to fill the vacuum temporarily. >> the controversy over the growth of isis still remains. >> up next, the biden who returned from iraq to face another battle. >> they say 1% of people survive, and we kept thinking, why can't he be the one%. student loans don't have to take over for the rest of your life. with sofi it's possible to get them paid off and start new. ♪

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joining us from wilmington, delaware, is vice president joe biden. >> it was a monday in may like any other. >> criticism coming this morning about the choice of elena okayingen to be the supreme court justice. >> i'll never forget it. the vice president had gone home for the weekend and he was doing

tv to support the president's nomination to the supreme court. >> we're joined by joe biden. >> we got back to the vice president's house, there was this commotion behind us. and fran person who was the person's aide stuck his head in the window and said beau's down. we're like, what? the motorcade behind us took off. >> his eldest son beau had been taken. >> no one knew at that point if he was alive. as the day progressed, the diagnosis was a stroke. >> i remember a moment in the hospital waiting room looking at the vice president and jill biden sitting together holding hands. with just unbelievable anxiety and grief on their face and thinking, this is so unfair that this would be happening to him

after what he's been through. gradually the news got better that day. and the stroke, what they thought was a stroke resolved itself. >> it appeared resolved a week later when beau left the hospital, it wasn't. the real problem would be hidden for three more years. >> can you describe biden's relationship with beau. >> incredibly close. it was more than just father/son. they were almost alter egos. >> you can see the love and the pride all quiet and unspoken between them. he was a humble decent person, beau was. >> the natural person to introduce his father to the nation in 2008. >> please join me in welcoming my friend, my father my hero,

the next president of the united states, joe biden. >> beau served in iraq with the national guard. and was the attorney general of delaware, contemplating a run for governor. he was bound for bigger things. and not just because of his last name. >> i thank you for being there for me. >> there was no question he could earn it himself, here was this incredible national you just had to get out of the way and let him shine. >> i knew he would follow in his father's footsteps, he loved politics even as a little boy. >> did you think he was going to run for president some day? >> oh, absolutely. absolutely. >> by 2013, beau biden was married with two young children. >> and then he had this incident while he was traveling with his

family, and ends up at the doctor's office, it was after that initial visit with the doctor that we heard from the vice president that he needed to see a specialist at md anderson in houston. >> md anderson, a top cancer hospital. >> do you remember when biden called you? >> yes, i do. >> you could tell from his voice that they had had a challenging conversation with the doctor. >> the diagnosis was deadly. gliobastoma. an aggressive brain cancer. the chances for long term survival near zero. >> it was hard. we just kept hope he was going to make it. 1% of people survive.

we kept thinking, why can't he be the 1%. after the workday i would head to walter reed hospital. joe would head to walter reed, he would be there until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. he would come home, grab a couple hours of sleep or fall asleep at beau's bedside, shower and start the next day. >> i said to him, i find it remarkable how you're able to deal with it. the reality is, i dealt with this before, i know how this story unfolds. >> friends and family say, during this time i leaned heavily on his faith. >> i would see him in meetings, fingering his rosary beads. i knew he was praying for him. joe on occasion would come in to saint anne or st. patrick's, he

would come in after mass had started and just slip in the back with his detail. and be there and then he'd leave before it ended so he didn't disrupt anything. i remember looking back and sort of stealing a glance at one point. and he was praying hard. >> biden also got support from his boss. >> the only person i told about how bad off beau was and he kept the confidence was barack. >> for years the president and vice president had a weekly lunch appointment. and when beau got sick, the struggle became their shared conversation. >> did they become closer? >> they absolutely became closer. add people do, right? when they experience great life events together. >> so close that when the vice president mentioned he might sell his home to help his son. the president made a stunning offer. >> i said if beau resigns,

there's nothing to fall back on, his salary. but i worked it out, jill and i will sell the house, we'll be in good shape. he said don't sell that house, promise me you won't sell the house. he's going to be mad at me saying this, i'll give you the money. >> while the vice president tried to help his son, the son tried to help his father. i actually believe and i'll believe it until the day i die, that the thing that beau was most afraid of is not dying, he was afraid of the impact it would have on his dad, that it would really take liz dad out. >> did he tell you that? >> oh, yeah, oh, yeah. all the time. >> it's something the vice president wrote about in 2017 in his book, "promise me, dad." >> beau made me promise just before he died, he said dad you have to promise me you're going to be okay. he said, dad, look at me, give

me your word as a biden, dad, you're going to be okay. >> are you okay? >> i am. because it is still emotional. but i knew what he meant. he was worried i'd walk away from everything i worked in my whole life. he knew i'd take care of the family. he never wondered about that, but he didn't want me walking away. >> beau biden died on may 30th, 2015. he was 46 years old. >> beau biden was an original. he was a good man. a man of character. a man who loved deeply and was loved in return. >> is it true you keep beau's

rosary with you? >> i got it in my pocket. >> all the time? >> i keep it all the time. he had it when he passed away. it was more gold, you can see it's worn. >> that was the spring of 2015. and as ever in joe biden's life, another political deadline loomed. would he run for president again in 2016? >> we had a talk. he wanted -- you know, do you think i should run for president. it turned into a talk about beau. how would he get through it, and how would he do it. >> when you left that meets, did you think he was going to run? >> i thought he was going to wrestle with it, but i thought he was not yet in a place where there was a floor. there was this moment where we started talking, and you could

see there was no bottom. there was just this whole. >> the decision wasn't just about beau, it was getting late in the race for the democratic nominati nomination. hillary clinton had already captured key support and big money. >> thank you all very much. >> have you made your decision yet? >> i can't hear you. >> have you made your decision yet? >> and as biden wrote in his 2017 memoir, obama's political team thought the race wasn't winnable, and obama himself was not encouraging. and so -- >> as my family and i have worked through the grieving process, i've said all along that it may very well be that that process by the time we get through it closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president. i've concluded it has closed. >> thank you all very much.

>> joe biden was 73 years old. and it seemed the presidency was out of reach for good. >> did he think it was over then? the notion of running for president? >> yeah. >>. >> yeah. >> then the president gave biden another job. >> last year vice president biden said that with the new moon shot, america can cure cancer. >> obama gave biden his moon shot. so tonight i'm announcing a new national effort to get it done and because he's gone to the mat for all of us on so many issues, i'm putting joe in charge of mission control. >> and then this. >> i'm pleased to award the presidential medal of freedom.

>> with nearly 50 years of public service under his belt, and the nation's highest civilian honor around his neck, joe biden thought his time in washington was over. up next -- >> beat trump. >> so he wouldn't be running if it weren't for donald trump? >> absolutely not.

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thank you very much, everybody. >> as the curtain dropped on the obama administration. >> joe biden was beloved by everyone in this chamber, even those he drove crazy from time to time. >> republican senators who didn't want to talk with us about joe biden heaped praise on him. >> i do trust him implicitly. he doesn't break his word, he doesn't waste time telling me why i'm wrong. he gets down to brass tacks and he keeps in sight the stakes. >> a retirement party senate

style. where the compliments flowed freely because biden would never run again. even biden believed it. >> then along came charlottesville. >> jews will not replace us. veins bulging. spewing hate. >> but you also had people that were very fine people. on both sides. >> he said there were fine people on both sides. and i thought, god. >> so he wouldn't be running if not for donald trump? >> absolutely not. jill and i would have tripped him. >> that's why today i'm announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. >> it was april 2019. and joe biden, then age 76, had come full circle. from one of the youngest men ever elected to the senate, now seeking to become the oldest person to take the presidential

oath. donald trump clearly saw biden as a threat. so much so that he was impeached by the house. >> article 2 is adopted. >> reporter: over a phone call he had with the ukrainian president asking him to investigate biden and his son hunter. >> what biden did is a disgrace. what his son did is a disgrace. >> reporter: at issue was hunter biden's five-year stint on the board of a ukrainian energy company, burisma, which began while his father was vice president. >> biden and his son are stone cold crooked. >> reporter: president trump claimed joe biden used his considerable influence to force out a ukrainian prosecutor whom trump says was investigating hunter. >> he said is that he wouldn't give i think it was billions of dollars to ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor who was looking at his son -- >> reporter: there is zero evidence that this is true. biden did want the prosecutor

fired, but that's because he was widely viewed as corrupt. and biden was leading an anti-corruption campaign backed by the u.s. and western allies. >> there was this ongoing relationship between hunter biden and the board and joe biden and the country of ukraine and there are those who would say that just on itself is a conflict of interest you shouldn't do that. >> reporter: last year hunter biden told abc news he made a mistake. >> did i make a mistake? well, maybe in the grand scheme of things, yeah. but did i make a mistake based upon some ethical lapse? absolutely not. >> do you ever think you should have just told hunter to get off the board even if it was only a matter of optics? >> optically, had i known earlier, i wish -- you know, we both wish it hadn't happened that way. but the fact is all the people that testified under oath in the impeachment hearings acknowledged that there wasn't a single thing biden did, either one, that was illegal,

inappropriate. there was no evidence of that. but it would have been easier, would have been a lot easier. >> reporter: the attacks clearly got under biden's skin. >> you're selling access to the president just like he was. >> you're a damn liar, man. that's not true. and no one has ever said that. >> reporter: and ethical questions continue to be raised by republicans. >> there's no way as a vice president that i would let my son do that. no way. i mean, and i would make a point to make sure that it didn't happen. because i just think that that's wrong. >> thank you. >> reporter: by february democrats were heading to the polls, and biten's fate was up to the voters. >> this 15.6 is a disappointment for biden, currently running fourth. >> reporter: fourth in iowa. fifth in new hampshire. soon came south carolina. >> and did you think that it was looking pretty bleak? >> yeah. i thought that. >> reporter: and so just days before the primary influential congressman jim clyburn, hoping to give biden a boost, endorsed

him. >> but i want the public to know that i'm voting for joe biden. south carolina should be voting for joe biden. >> reporter: it worked, big-time. >> sweeping blowout win for the former vice president joe biden. 46 counties in south carolina. 46 county victories for joe biden. >> my buddy jim clyburn, you brought me back! [ cheers ] >> he won by 29 points and he wouldn't have done it without you. >> a man of enormous integrity. >> there's no doubt about that. >> well? people say that. >> reporter: the decisive results in south carolina quickly collapsed the democratic field. >> they don't call it super tuesday for nothing. >> reporter: so biden, who started the race as the front-runner, was back at the top of the heap and the world. but the next week covid forced him and everyone else back to

earth and back inside their homes for months. >> travel restricted, schools shuttered, sports seasons totally canceled. >> reporter: millions of jobs were lost. the death toll mounted. >> black lives matter! black lives matter! >> reporter: then came racial tensions after the death of george floyd at the hands of minneapolis police. >> i know what it means to have that black hole in your chest where your grief is being sucked into it. >> empathy is joe biden's superpower. and he applies it to everything. and i think he fully intends to apply it to the country and to the challenges that we're facing right now. >> reporter: as biden continued to rise in the polls, trump's attacks dug deeper, taking on his opponent's acuity and age. >> they're going to put him into a home and other people are going to be running the country. >> reporter: trump and biden are

contemporaries. both born in the 1940s. and biden is less than four years older than trump. >> look, he's almost -- he's approaching 80 years of age. i don't know of anybody that hasn't lost a step when you're approaching your 80th year. you do. and he has. >> i've got to -- >> i think it's ridiculous. i mean, if you follow joe on the campaign trail, i mean, he's usually the last one to leave a rally or rope line and then when he comes home he's on the phone, he's doing briefings. >> compare him to the alternative. when i saw the current president come down the steps the other day, he's lost a few steps. >> reporter: what do you say to people who watch you on tv and they say he's not the old biden i knew and he's lost a step after all these years and it worries me? what do you say to those folks? >> watch me. i say watch me. >> good evening. >> reporter: more than 21 million people watched joe biden accept the democratic nomination. >> so it's with great honor and

humility, i accept this nomination. for president of the united states of america. >> reporter: with his historic running mate kamala harris by his side biden saw a ticket that looked like the future. republicans were quick to paint harris as part of the left wing, pulling her silver-haired elder in that direction. drawing a caricature of biden as an empty vessel captured by radicals. >> he's a trojan horse with bernie, aoc, pelosi, black lives matter, and his party's entire left wing. >> biden is a trojan horse for socialism. >> reporter: at his convention biden saw himself as the man to lead the way out of the pandemic. by believing in science and understanding the pain it has caused. >> mean, cruel and unfair life can be sometimes. >> reporter: and he made the case for a resilient america,

moored by hope and decency. >> the calls for hope and light and love. hope for our future. light to see our way forward. and love for one another. >> reporter: two conventions. two alternate universes. two very different men. >> are joe biden and donald trump polar opposites? >> 100%. joe biden in character and in policies is the polar opposite of donald trump. >> reporter: and is that a good thing in this election? >> 120%, yes. and i think i'm shaving 10% or 15% off. it could be 150%. polar opposites. >> joe doesn't read his compassion off a teleprompter. >> reporter: do you see yourself as the polar opposite of donald trump? >> i hope so. ♪

>> announcer: the following is a cnn special report. president donald j. trump. the unconventional, unpredictable businessman was no different in his first term. >> proud of the extraordinary progress over the last four incredible years. >> reporter: shattering norms. >> it is completely disruptive and different than anything you've ever seen before. >> reporter: breaking boundaries. >> he would turn on them in a really aggressive way. in a way that i'd never seen or heard of presidents doing before. >> reporter: and demolishing expectations and behavior for a president of the united states. >> does working for president trump ultimately mean you have to agree with him all the time? if you want to keep your job. >> reporter: a president who

seems to thrive in division. >> donald trump! >> he's a racist! >> donald trump! >> he's a racist! >> reporter: whether those who hate him or celebrate him. a look now at the moments that defined president donald j. trump's first term. the issues he vowed to tackle. >> build that wall! >> repeal and replace obamacare. >> these massive tax cuts will be -- >> rocket fuel for the american economy. >> get ready because you're going to be working your asses off. all right? >> reporter: the crises he has faced. >> we will defeat the virus and emerge stronger than ever before. >> reporter: hear from the people who were there. >> i was in the early meetings in the oval office. >> reporter: in the rooms where it happened. >> why does he seem to like putin? >> reporter: this is a