for change, too. maybe we all can. >> i am john bern, thank you for watching. the following is a cnn's special report. >> he's gone from a young politician with swagger. >> he said i think you should work for the senate. >> i said i am not old enough. >> my brother looked at me. >> he's an irishman with a life story that reads like a greek tragedy. >> how can you experience the worse thing imaginable twice in a lifetime. >> his career is long and controversial. >> do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> that now has a new twist. >> i think joe biden is a person that should be elected in november. a senator, a vice president,

finally his party's nominee on his third try. >> character is on the ballot. compassion is on the ballot. >> do you see yourself as a polar opposite of donald trump? >> i hope so. a cnn special report, fight for the white house, joe biden's long journey. >> it is a good night, it is a good night. it seems to be getting better. >> more than 30 years after his first run for the presidency. >> joe biden with the lead tonight and the lead overall in the delegate race. >> on his third try for the white house. >> i am here to report, we are very much alive. >> it was the super tuesday that joe biden have always dreamed

of, setting a clear path to the nomination finally at age 77. >> it was like okay -- let's buckle up, we are going to go. >> was it a really good feeling? >> it was glorious. >> glorious and unusual to say the least. >> facts, no money has ever come fourth in iowa and fifth in new hampshire and become a democratic nominee. to do as poorly as he did the first two contests. >> to have a day he had for super tuesday was highly, highly unusual. the five laws of politics. >> thank you, thank you. >> it is a day joseph robin biden jr. 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 surely he was not going out with possibility. he was 29-years-old.

>> there is stoa story when joe wrote when he was 9-years-old saying he wants to be president. >> it still is. the brass ring has a big string attach. >> he becomes vice president, facing the worst infection disease since 1919. >> worst economic crisis since the great depression. the worst racism crisis since 1968. it is a triple threat crisis all at once and all combined. >> biden has described himself as a transitional candidate. >> i want top speak to that now. >> a triple threat could require drastic urgent action. >> the economy can't survive if we don't get control of covid. that's going to be the thing that's fwoing to affect every single thing that gets stopped. >> from the beginning when he was just joey from scranton,

p.a., biden wanted to be the one getting tinhings done. >> joe biden was the lead dog, he had to be number one. >> a natural leader. >> we always follow joe. >> and a natural talker. if joe biden was standing next to an electric light post, he'll strike a conversation. >> his family was large, tight-knit and irish cat-knit. >> playing pranks on each other. >> with at least nine of them in the modest tone. >> joey was the oldest of four then came valerie, jimmy and frankie. joseph r. biden sr. and katherine finnegan biden.

>> my mom was fierce of her commitment of family. she told us dprgrowing up there family, family and family. >> i remember my mother once i guess i was in fifth grade, mom, i love you. joey, i know how much you love me but you are closer to your brothers and sisters than you are with me. how is that mom? you are the same blood. they're with you all the time. never forget that. >> mom says that we were a gift to one another. and you know we believed her. >> let me ask you about your sister who has been incredibly supportive to you. what role has she played in your life? >> she's my best friend my whole life. she's my handlebars on my bicycle. excuse me. since she was two-years-old. i taught her how to play ball.

>> until this day. >> dad says to us it is not how many times you get knocked down. it is how quickly you get up. especially after losing his job when biden was young. >> they're forced to move away from their childhood home to find opportunities in wilmington. it made him very close to his family as families become closer during adversity. family and faith were the bookends. we are an irish family. our family values taking care of one another and treating people with respect and being resilient. those values coincide with the catholic doctors that we learn everyday in school. you are your brother's keeper.

it was a seamless way of life. a seamless way of life for a determined young biden. >> joey was always quick with a grace born of cocky self-profession. he didn't double sink himself. once he set his mind, he did not think at all. he just did it. >> the more serious version of what he set his mind to do is he stutters terribly. he would string words together. he determined that he's not going to be defined by stutter. >> teenage boys can be very harsh and even cruel. you used to get teased a lot. >> hey, biden. they called him stutter head. for short, they called him substitustut. >> poetry helped him lose his

stutter. >> i would do poetry. >> that's emerson. >> the reason i did it was try to get acadenthe cadence of how speak. all of us were surprised in late august and september when we went back to school that he was not 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 some key plays in some of those games. >> off the field, friends remembered 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 did not

use the word black at the time. they must have said negroes. if they are not going to serve you, they're not going to serve any of us. this was 1961, before the voting rights act and before there was much sensitivity i would say. at least for teenage boys, white boys about several rights issues. >> biden says he learned about the reality of race relations here while life guarding a black neighborhood in the early 1960s when delaware was very divided, racially and culturally. >> he stood out but worked hard to fit in. you become deep friends. that's how joe and i became. >> i was nine when i met him.

>> i was one of the army kids in school. they call me dennis the menace. >> he would grow up to be the mayor of wilmington. >> i know joe had as sppiration going places. >> up next, success. >> i will never ever think anything is impossible in my entire life, followed by tragedy. >> i remember looking up and say, god, i was so angry. so angry.

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with the diamond credit card. by 1964, joe biden was a student of the university of delaware. still full of confidence bullough but low on cash. when he and his buddies decided to hit fort lauderdale.

>> the first day, we went to the beach, 10,000 guys and 20 girls. >> the odds did not look good for us. round trip, 28 bucks. >> jeff, what do you think? let's go! >> they arrive to discover college women on hotel beaches which they could not afford. they were there just a few minutes when they spotted a young woman they all wanted to meet. amelia hunter. a 21-years-old senior at syracuse university. >> let's flip a coin and while i am trying to figure out and talking to them, he just takes off. by the time we got over there, he's already chatting her up. >> when i met amelia, i knew i

was going to marry her. the second night, i said i think i am going to marry her. >> just as planned, biden made it to syracuse law school and he married amelia hunter a year later in the summer of 1966. he returned home with his wife to work at the law firm. it was not good at all. >> the whole country was torn apart over race. a city that was literally on fire. the national guard occupied wilmington, delaware longer than any city in america. it was in that moment that the young biden says i can help. >> biden was a believer in his own ability to convince anyone

of anything. no amount of self-confidence or ambition was able to deliver a senate seat at age 27 so he run for town's counsel. he enlisted his sister. >> how did you get involvedpoli? >> it was a natural thing to do. he was going with politics and i was going with him. >> he asked everybody to help us. >> he won and a year later, he went to delaware. >> i got a knock at my door and i said we got to talk to you joe. they said we think you should run for the senate. i said -- no, i am not old enough. >> the judge in the group set him straight.

joe, you will do very well with the constitutional law. you have to be 30 to sworn in and not 30 to be elected. >> what is your last name? >> miller. >> governance was three terms and congress is three terms. he was loved. >> once again biden asked valerie to run the show. >> i remember saying to joe, i can't run. i don't know how to do that. remember he's 28 or 27 and i am 25 or 26. he said don't worry about it. we'll figure it out. >> she reached out to a local party activist, ted kaufman.

>> you are running on civil rights and tax reform. those are good issues. >> i don't think i have a chance. >> he said what? >> i don't think you got a chance at winning. you don't have a chance. you have been in this for two years and you look like a 25-years-old. this is a race to run in order to make these issues you care about. there is no chance. >> and his reaction to that was? >> well, just come down. we'll see. we'll see. >> biden was confident he could talk his way into voters' hearts. what kaufman saw was bleake. >> 47%, 19% at the bar. >> it was the first year 18-years-old could vote.

50 years later, still his mantra, trying to connect with young voters. >> his heart was not in it, he was talked to run one more time by richard nixon. >> i want to talk to you a few minutes. >> we snuck up on him. everybody expected no democrats winning and that's the truth. >> on election night, i remember just like yesterday, i said i will never think anything is impossible again in my entire life. >> he turned 30 the eligible race to serve three weeks later. he and neilia had a picture

perfect family. the family was moving to the nation's capitol. >> for six weeks we were on top of the world. >> we were in the bright young hope of the democratic party and it was completely joyful. >> on december 18th, neilia decided to stay behind to buy a tree and christmas gifts. >> i went with joe, they offered to use joe's office which we did. >> then came the phone call. >> i sacome home, there is a terrible accident with neilia and the boys. >> and you flew back? >> we just -- it was a bumpy

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one week before christmas 1972, joe biden and his sister traveled to d.c. to hire staff. his wife stayed in delaware with their three children to buy a tree. >> the memory that i have is walking in the russell building with the echo of just our shoes. >> i remember looking up. god, i am so angry. >> i got a call from first responders and i said what happened. well, tractor trailer and your

wife and daughter are dead. >> neilia and the biden's baby, naomi were killed when the truck hit their station wagon. >> the boys were very badly injured. they were hospitalized and hunter had a fractured scar and beau was in a body cast. >> biden was by their bedside. >> your brother was clearly considered not being sworn in. >> yeah. he wanted the governor to replace him. >> the majority leader changed biden's mind. >> he said, your wife works really hard to get you elected. get sworn in and just say six

months. >> within six months of a conflict of being a good father or a good senator, i promise you i can always get another senator but not another father. >> they swore me in at the hospital. >> so help me god. >> i did. congratulations. >> the family and close friends were there. hunter holding onto beau's hand. it is heartbreaking. >> the biden family was de devastated. they had to move on so valerie moved in. >> they were such a gift. the whole family was brokenheart brokenhearted. we just, you know, the big thing was take care of one another and

not because it is responsibility but because it was a gift. while valerie subbed in more mom. her brother also changed his plans. >> the reason that joe started to commute, he says they lost their mom, they lost their baby sister. i can't take them away and it was mama and dada and aunty so he'll commute. the bond among the three of them were steel. >> steel bond with his boys and the anger with his wife. >> you wrote considering suicide? >> i thought what it would be like to go to the bridge and jump off and end it all. i didn't.

what saves me was my boys. >> on capitol hill he found support he did not expect from senate elders of both parties. >> these old boys took him in and helped buffer him from that grieve and helped him towards a path towards real meaning and value and that experience. he saw their humanity before he saw their politics in in respects. biden's senate was a much polarized place. he were coiled to be pigeon h e holed. >> 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, just sitting down next

to someone. just to see how you are doing and what's going on. >> he kept the personal close and over the years becoming the eulogizer at the senate. >> i try to understand it and i learn from him and i watched him change. >> he delivered the eulogy. >> yes, he did. >> i think when you are holding onto your own political believes, and have the respect that people -- that says something. >> biden develops in consoling

others. in public and the campaign trail -- someone been through it and says they know how you feel. he did it privately, too. >> in the middle of his campaign of presidency, my dad passed away. joe was the first one to call. he'll leave a voice mail. >> super mad. one evening and i went out to see what's going on. i heard the vice president's voice and i heard him consoling somebody. he had bumped into a staffer who was giving a tour to a widow who recently lost her husband. it was walking down the hall and that was his instant reaction. >> people talk about your

empathy and your pastorial nurture. did it begin after the accident? >> it began with my stutte stutter -- how do you walk up to the girl to go to an eighth grade dance and stutter. >> he found himself in the middle of a political struggle when he took a controversial stand against corridor bussing. >> i happen to be one of those so-called, people were labeled as a civil rights opposed bussing. >> if you are biden, that's a tough issue for you because of that big empathy and big heart. >> is it good for kids? is this the right way to get kids to get along and parents to get along. is there eanother way. >> that decade's old decision

became raised by his now running mate. >> you also worked with them to oppose bussing. and there was a little girl in california who was part of the second class to integrate to public schools, she was bussed to school everyday. that little girl was me. if you go back to look at the polls, the vast majority was against it. i was against bussing. >> you were? >> yes. >> the first real serious discussion i ever had with my wife was bussing because i thought corridor bussing puts too much of a burden on the students. i believe in neighborhood concept, schools rather than being bussed. when i expressed it publicly, my

wife took me in a way that i would never forget. >> while biden's political life was crazy, back at home, he was trying to get his personal life in order. >> by 1977, he had found someone he wanted to marry, jill jacobs. >> i had asked her five times to marry me, 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 love the boys so much that i thought they

can't lose another mother through a divorce. >> so years later they have ashley. she not only married joe but the boys and the bidens and the state of delaware. she may have saved his life. >> i said -- what do you mean, he's not going to die. we'll lok and remember the moment that things, for one strange time in our lives, got very quiet. some lost work and invented new ways to get by. others were busier than ever, and found strength they never knew they had. we sheltered with the people who matter most, sometimes finding how far apart we'd drifted. we worried

over loved ones, over money, over our planet. and over take-out. and we found a voice one the noise out there had kept quiet. when the world starts spinning again, let's remember this time where none of us felt secure, and fight for a future where everyone can. because when the world seems like it's standing still... that's the perfect time for us to change it. look at that embarrassing you. that wall is your everest. but not any more. today let's paint. behr. exclusively at the home depot.

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the unfair money bail system. he, accused of rape. while he, accused of stealing $5. the stanford rapist could afford bail; got out the same day. the senior citizen could not; forced to wait in jail nearly a year. voting yes on prop 25 ends this failed system, replacing it with one based on public safety. because the size of your wallet shouldn't determine whether or not you're in jail. vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail.

by the mid '80s, joe biden was a senator going places. >> he was young and dynamic. people say this is the next kennedy. this is a guy who'll be the president of the united states one day. >> was biden really ready? >> i was not sure how much he really wanted to run. >> was he conflicted? >> i think he was conflicted.

he was a full-time commitment. joe really was joe when took the train home at night to be with his kids and you can't do that when you run for president. >> what senator can resist the presidential? >> he did not get up in '88 and say i am running for president. >> it was so many people. >> so amtrak joe moved onto the presidential track in a wide open competitive race announcing his candidacy at the train station. >> as today i announce my candidacy as president of the united states of america. >> a few weeks after his announcement, unexpected news took him on a detour. >> a surprise retirement this summer. biden was chairman of judiciary

committee and would leave to replace justice powell. key to major decisions like roe v. wade. >> abortions along with other women and civil rights issues and many supreme court watchers say. president reagan took the opportunity to nominate an icon of the right. >> i would like to announce my intention to nominate the united states court of appeals. reaction from the left was swift. biden found himself running two campaigns. they were pulling him in different direction.

>> i would like to be the democratic nominee. >> there was a mix match between the expectations of joe and what was going on in the campaign, this sort of basic stuff was not getting done. that was nothing compares to what unfolded next. >> live from the iowa state fairground in des moines. biden used some of his stunt speech. politically compelling but it was not biden's life. it was delivered without any attributions. >> why is it that joe biden --

>> why am i the first? >> why am i the first to go to a university? >> he given that speech 25 or 30 times and in every case he attributed to kenneth. he did not plagiarizplagiarize. >> it was. the story was leaked right on the eve. >> joe biden finds himself on trial charged with political plagiari plagiarism. >> how did it feel to have your integrity challenged? >> the controversy fits the narrative that biden was more show than substance. the board hearing began. >> i think i read everything that you have written. >> biden zeroed in on bork's

opinion. >> does a state legislative body have a right to pass a law telling a married couple or anyone else, telling them they can't or can use birth control. >> i don't know what rational the state would offer or a challenge a married couple would make. >> biden's own campaign was imploding with more charges. >> then new charges as a student of law at syracuse university, he used five pages of a public

law article without quotations. >> i know i wanted two choices, save my campaign if i could by going out and making my case and i thought i don't want to go down in history as the guy saving his political life. >> so he was out. i 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. no one had ever -- >> it was a big blow to him. some people they never come back from that sort of ending of a campaign. and unless i say something that may be sarcastic.

i should go to board hearing. >> he was about to go into the meeting 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. >> he was left on his own by president reagan. >> he thought he was smarter than biden and he thought he could beat biden and he was wrong. >> the nomination is not confirmed. >> in a 2000s interview, four years before his death, he toll cnn, as a whole, biden was not fair. >> the democrats including biden spent the time making the most cruel charges about me.

>> he presided over the inauguration of the politics of personal destruction in the judicial confirmation process. >> the idea of the judge is front and center, it is about how you are going to vote sns. o borik became a new verb. >> it was a good old fashion. >> it was about his constitution. >> so biden won one fight and left another. his family now sees it as a life safer. >> maybe this is rationalization? his pulling out probably saved his life. he never would have stopped. >> the campaign would have been in full gear, biden collapsed after an event in new york, he made it home and joe rushed to

the hospital. he looked so gray and i felt oh my god -- >> my brother had an uerism. >> the situation was so dire, a priest came to give the 45-years-old his last rights but was interrupted. >> i ran into the room, the priest was at the bedside and i said get out because he's not going to die. the priest, i think i just shot the priest and he just ran out of the room. biden had two surgeries and a tough recovery. seven months later he returned

todd t to the senate and more controversies. coming up. anita hill on a possible president biden. >> would you be willing to work with him? >> that life of the party look walk it off look

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. it was terrified. >> do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> it was really scary because it was something that has not happened before and the stakes were so high. >> a seat on the supreme court for clarence thomas. >> the man charged joe biden. >> i expect that 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 that should be elected. >> you are going to vote for joe biden. >> yes. >> would you be willing to work with him? >> my commitment is finding solutions. i am more than willing to work with him. >> is it about the fact that he's running against donald trump or about joe biden? >> it is more about the survivo survivors. >> hill, an attorney is now a professor of gender politics. she was 35 when she testified before biden's committee accusing thomas sexually harassing her when she worked at the commission. her testimony was graphic. >> he referred to the size of his own penis as being larger than normal. >> her motive dissected.

>> do you have a moral conflict? >> no, i don't. additional witnesses corroborated her story were never called to publicly testify. >> the idea that anyone who would say what i had to say is going to be heard because the republicans were in control and joe biden lost control. >> some say you let the republicans take over? >> i don't think i did. i wish i could have done it differently. certain rules you can't call people out of order if they are asking questions related to the issue. i wish i could have done better for her. the truth is i believed her. i believe he should not be in court. >> sexual harassment is a serious matter. in my view guilty is unfitted to

serve. >> biden led the floor fight against thomas and lost. >> as far as i am concerned, -- >> thomas denied his allegation and his supporters still seized about the allegation. >> it really happened so he repeatedly was saying one thing and talking one side of his mouth. >> what does it tell you about joe biden? he's someone who i think is like wants to try to please everyone. >> even when hill received a call from biden last year, she remained unsatisfied. >> what i heard on the phone call was an apology was something like i am very sorry. an apology to be real and

sincere has to take responsibility for harm. that's what i wanted to hear. had i done better, maybe there would be less harassment in the workplace today. >> but, hill has watched the vice president talked more about the hearings on tv and she says it is encouraging. >> she did not get a fair hearing and did not get treated well and it is my responsibility. >> maybe the next staff is. these are the things that i am going to do to make it good. but the story of biden and women's issues is not just about him. when the thomas' hearing end ended -- >> i was determined to do two things. so that year i went out and

campaigned for two women. diane feinstein and carol bron. i was determined to continue and finish passing the women's act. >> it was an idea born one year before the thomas' hearing to beef up protection for women including a provision allow them to sue their attackers in federal court. >> some in the legal academy who decided that women in the 1950s were basically making up rape. they were fancy lawyers and liberal and conservative who would say domestic violence is american as apple pie. >> prominent, liberal lawyers. >> biden held senate hearings for victims to share their stories.

>> my husband stabbed me 13 times and broke my neck. i knew he died and impa am am paralyzed. >> they all had the same story, i don't believe you. they did not believe it was a crime. >> biden believed it was and spent four years pushing the bill. 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 combine the issues with a comprehensive crime bill. >> at that time there was a large amount of concern about growing violent and crime in the country. violent crime rates had been steadily rising for ra decade ad there was political pressure to do something. >> as a matter of fact, violent

crime risen exponentially. mainly because of the crack epidemic. >> was it a political issue? >> his solution was a big bill. >> it was $30 billion. >> the bill passed with bipartisan support in 1994. times have changed while biden wo worked with the police union for that bill, he now promised to reform policing. that tough on crime, phony rhetoric got a lot of people elected but destroying community like mine. >> tough on crime means tough people looking like me.

>> the core of the bill was to criminalize behaviors through employment services and addiction services. >> i will accept responsibility for what's right but i will accept responsibility for what went wrong. >> biden says the obama administration works to reduce the prison population and reduce mandatory sentences and he wants to do more. >> we have to change the prison system from punishment to rehabilitation. >> we get this false debate about is this a true evolution or flip-flopping. we had this kind of weird thing where we want the person to be believing what they are doing. politics have changed. he's political enough to read the country at this moment and deliver on the change that we want at this moment. >> with a career that spans more

than five decades, biden found himself apologizing and rethinking during this campaign. not only on the crime bill and not only to anita hill but a group of women who said he made them uncomfortable by being too ha handsy. >> i get it and i hear what they are saying and i understand. i will be much more mindful. >> anita hill has decided to believe biden has changed. >> do you find some irony here that i am going to vote for joe biden and that i may want to work with him? >> do i think it is ironic? yes. this is not about me. it is not just about joe biden. it is about millions of people in this country and around the world that we can be a model for. and i would love to be apart of

that. and if it means voting for joe biden, so be it. >> up next, joe biden changes his mind. >> the ir now, i've got fifty employees. when the pandemic hit, i was really scared about losing my business. but osmar, my financial advisor from northwestern mutual, he told me, brother we got your back. his financial planning helped to save my business. if i could talk to my younger self, i would say, you're going to be proud of yourself.

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from maybelline new york. get lasting hydration, fuller looking, glossy lips from our hydrating formula with hyaluronic acid. new lifter gloss in 10 shades. only from maybelline new york. (groans) hmph... (food grunting menacingly) when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. ♪ tum tum-tum tum tums with tums smoothies. we'll look back and remember the moment that things, for one strange time in our lives, got very quiet. some lost work and invented new ways to get by.

others were busier than ever, and found strength they never knew they had. we sheltered with the people who matter most, sometimes finding how far apart we'd drifted. we worried over loved ones, over money, over our planet. and over take-out. and we found a voice one the noise out there had kept quiet. when the world starts spinning again, let's remember this time where none of us felt secure, and fight for a future where everyone can. because when the world seems like it's standing still... that's the perfect time for us to change it.

biden looked at him and came down on the table with his hand 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 saddam hussein or saddam hussein must be dislodged from power. >> why did joe biden vote for the resolution? >> yeah, so, voting for the resolution is one thing, voting for war is another. he voted for tough diplomacy. he thought the best way to deal with it was to get weapons inspectors in iraq. they went back in and bush went to war anyway. >> yeah, it's a hard thing to say when you're giving an authorization of force. there's not tough diplomacy. that's hard power, not soft power. so, i don't buy that. >> there were no weapons of mass destruction. >> good to see you. how are you doing? >> joe biden and i were the first senatorsbaghdad. after a couple years, it became clear to him that this was going

anywhere. >> the iraq vote was a mistake. >> it's a vote that's dogged him for years for both sides. >> i did everything i could to prevent that war. joe saw it differently. >> why do you think he changed his mind on that vote? >> the same reason that hillary clinton changed her mind, the same reason that others did. if it had been a huge success, then 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 joe biden, i'm going to try to be the best biden i can be. >> it was not enough. >> we made a gigantic miscalculation. once obama caught on, there wasn't any room for anyone over than hillary and obama. >> we were doing so well. collectively, i think we had 2%. >> but it wasn't just the competition that sidelined biden, although the competition was formidable. it was biden himself. even on day one, talking about barack obama. >> you got the first sort of

mainstream african-american who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. >> yeah, it was unfortunate. it was his announcement day and he was simply trying to compliment senator obama. >> it didn't come off that way and was classic carless 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 cringeworthy and sometimes problematic. >> if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or trump, then 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. there is no ability to affect

that. so, you just have to go with the flow. >> 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 backseat as obama considered him as a running mate. >> obama was coming with relatively little washington experience. here was joe biden with 36 years in the united states senate. >> 36 years of being his own boss. >> he was a senate man. >> when he asked me if i'd do it, i said no. my view was, i was a fairly powerful united states senator. i thought i could help him more as chairman of the foreign relations committee. >> and he called me, i said, that's so great! and so, he said, well, i don't know. i said, i'll call the kids and we'll talk about it. >> went home, got the family

together. my mom looked at me, said, joey, let me get this straight. the first black man in history has a chance to be elected president. says he wants you to run with him and you told him no, honey? >> game, set, match, all over. >> that was it. >> like the hand of god. >> ladies and gentleman, 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 portfolio. all i want to know is that when you make the big decisions, that i'm going to be in the room and obama joked, well, i want your advice, joe. i just want it in ten-minute increments, not 60-minute increments. >> for decades, he's brought change to washington, but washington hasn't changed him. >> and so, 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. lief: new advil dual action. advil targets pain at the source. acetaminophen blocks pain signals. new advil dual action with acetaminophen.

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i, joseph robert biden do solemnly swear. >> he swore on his family bible to defend the constitution. >> against all enemies, foreign and domestic. >> biden was obama's top adviser without portfolio, but his job quickly began with one huge assignment. economic recovery. >> 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008. the largest one-year drop since 1945. >> the global economy. our economy is sinking. >> i mean, the view through the windshield was the ground.

the economy was just going straight down. >> the obama administration proposed a massive stimulus bill. massive, at least, by 2009 standards. biden's job? corral the senate republicans needed to get it done. >> recovery act passed the house on a straight party line vote, but on the senate, it faced a filibuster, that meant we needed three republican votes to get it passed and it really fell onto joe biden's lap to go up to capitol hill and persuade the three republicans. we got to 60 votes right on the nose. >> let me presume to say, thank you, we owe you great deal. >> so, just four weeks after the inauguration, the administration pumped 7$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. >> i've asked vice president biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort, because nobody messes with joe. >> to implement the stimulus, it had to be free of any problem, scandal, and it had to be fast and furious. you had to move unbelievably fast with no problems and no slipups. >> over the next seven years, the economy grew, though relatively slowly. unemployment dropped by half and millions of jobs were added. >> good morning, folks. how are you? >> the following year, biden was on the hill again. this time, to help find the votes for the affordable care act. >> the patient protection and affordable care act is passed. >> his role in obamacare was

principally as an arm twister. >> but in the end, biden may be remembered as much for what he whispered to his boss when the legislation passed. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states of america, barack obama. >> this is a big [ bleep ] deal. >> and then there was the time biden jumped the gun on the president. announcing his own support for gay marriage on a sunday show. >> i'm comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, all are entitled to the same exact rights. >> but biden's utility went beyond domestic policy, as obama tasked him to handle assignments in afghanistan and also iraq, where the administration had promised to end the war. >> during the transition, president-elect obama said, why

don't you go to iraq and afghanistan in january 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 and he said, mr. president, the first thing we need to do is make sure that we have a clear set of objectives and clear strategy and everyone agrees on it. >> one point of agreement was that the first order of business was sending 25,000 additional troops to afghanistan, to ensure the country's upcoming elections would be fair. but then came a request for even more troops. >> based on an assessment by the new commander in afghanistan, stan mcchrystal, he came back to washington and asked for an additional 40,000 u.s. troops. >> the military brass were onboard, but not biden, who

never stopped raising questions and clearly got on their nerves. you had gates, mullen, petraeus, mcchrystal, hillary clinton. the vice president is saying to that vast array of experienced people, wait, stop. wait a minute. we have to rethink this.

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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 bo left the hospital. but it wasn't. the real problem would be hidden for three more years. >> can you describe biden's relationship with bo? >> incredibly close.

he was more than just father/son. they were almost alter egos. >> you could just see the love and the pride. all quiet and unspoken between them. he was such a humble, decent person, bo 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 vice president of the united states. joe biden. [cheers and applause] >> bo served in iraq with the national guard. >> the attorney general of the state of delaware bo biden. >> contemplating a run for governor. he was bound for bigger things, and not just because of his last name. >> and i thank you from the

it was no question that he could earn it, himself. he was the incredible natural, right? who you just had to get out of the way of and let him shine. >> i knew he would follow in his father's footsteps. i mean, he loved politics, even as a little boy. >> did you think he was going to run for president, someday? >> oh, absolutely. absolutely. yeah. >> reporter: by 2013, beau biden was married with two young children. >> then, he had this incident while he was traveling with his family, and ends up at the doctor's office. and 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. >> reporter: md anderson. a top cancer honespital. >> do you remember when biden called you? >> yes, i do. you could tell, from his voice,

that they had a very challenging conversation with the doctor. >> reporter: the diagnosis was deadly. glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. the chances for long-term survival, near zero. >> it was hard. i mean, it was hard. we just kept hope that he was going to make it. you know, they say 1% of people survive, and we kept thinking why can't he be the 1%? after the workday, i would head to walter reed hospital. joe would head to wallter reed. he would be there until 2 or 3:00 in the morning. then, he would come home, grab a couple hours of sleep. or fall asleep, you know, at beau's bedside, and then shower and start the next day. >> i said to him, i find it remarkable how you're able to deal with this.

he said, you know, the reality is i've dealt with this, before. i know how this story unfolds. >> reporter: friends and family say, during this time, he leaned heavily on his faith. >> i'd see him in meetings, fingering his rosary beads. i knew he was praying for him. joe, on occasion, would come in to st. anne's or st. patrick's. he'd 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, you know, disrupt everything. i remember looking back and sort of stealing a glance, at one point. and he just -- he was praying hard. >> reporter: 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.

>> reporter: 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. as people do, right, when they experience great, life events, together. >> reporter: 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. and i said but i worked it out. i said jill and i will sell the house. we'll be in good shape. and he got up. 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. he said i'll give you the money. >> reporter: and while the vice president tried to help his son, the son tried to help his father. >> i absolutely believe and i will believe it, until the day i die, that the thing that beau was most afraid of was not dying. what he was most afraid of is

the impact it would have on his dad. that it would really take his dad out. >> did he tell you that? >> oh, yeah. oh, yeah. all the time. >> reporter: it's something the vice president wrote about in 2017 in his book "promise me, dad." >> beau just made me promise, this was just before he died. he said, dad, you got to promise me you're going to be okay. i said, beau -- he said, dad, look at me. look me in the eye, dad. give me your word, as a biden, dad. you're going to -- 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 at my whole life. the things i cared about. he knew i'd take care of the family. he never wondered about that. but he didn't want me walking away.

>> reporter: 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? >> 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. >> reporter: 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, and he just kind of wanted, you know, do you think i should run for president? it, inevitably, turned to a talk about beau. how would he get through it? how would it happen, you know, without him? >> so when you left that meeting, did you think he was going to run? >> i thought he was going to really, really wrestle with it. but i thought that he was not, yet, in a place where there was a floor. there was this moment where we started talking, and you could just see there was no bottom. there was just this hole. >> reporter: the decision wasn't just about beau. it was getting late in the race for the democratic nomination. hillary clinton had already captured key support and big money. >> have you made your decision, yet? >> can't hear you. >> have you made your decision, yet? >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: joe biden was 73 years old, and it seemed that the presidency was out of reach, for good. >> did he think it was over, then? the notion of running for president? >> yeah. oh, yeah. >> 2016. >> oh, yeah. >> then, the president gave biden another job. >> last year, vice president biden said that, with a new moonshot, america can cancure cancer. >> obama gave biden his

moonshot. >> 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, over the past 40 years. i'm putting joe in charge of mission control. >> reporter: and then, this. >> i am pleased to award our nation's highest civilian honor. the presidential medal of freedom. >> reporter: 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. joe and i would have tricked him. one day

we'll look back and remember the moment that things, for one strange time in our lives, got very quiet. some lost work and invented new ways to get by. others were busier than ever, and found strength they never knew they had. we sheltered with the people who matter most, sometimes finding how far apart we'd drifted. we worried over loved ones, over money, over our planet. and over take-out. and we found a voice one the noise out there had kept quiet. when the world starts spinning again, let's remember this time where none of us felt secure, and fight for a future where everyone can. because when the world seems like it's standing still... that's the perfect time for us to change it.

when covid hit, i happened futo be the main bread winner. sixty percent of my nannies got laid off. i had to furlough my office team. dave is my financial advisor at northwestern mutual. he's like a father to me. he reached out to me. and then reminded me that years of planning with him set me up for success. i was able to rehire my staff. and now i can prepare more for the future. (groans) hmph... (food grunting menacingly) when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. ♪ tum tum-tum tum tums with tums smoothies. that includes temperature scan, and sanitizing everythingfe. and all of our staff wearing gloves and masks. not that mask. this mask. that's the visionworks difference. visionworks. see the difference.

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>> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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 tax, and he keeps, in sight, the stakes. >> reporter: a retirement party, senate style. where the compliments flowed freely because biden would never run again. even biden believed it. >> then, along came charlottesville. and these people coming out of fields with torches and contorted face, their veins bulging and 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 it weren't for donald trump? >> absolutely not. jill and i would've tricked him. >> 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 has 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. >> what 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 -- 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 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 -- we -- we both wish it hadn't happened that way. but the fact is all the people who testified under oath, in the -- in the impeachment hearings, acknowledged that there wasn't a single thing biden did, either one, that was illegal, inappropriate. there's no evidence of that. but it would've been easier. would've been a lot easier. >> the attacks clearly got under biden's skin. >> you're selling access to the president just like he was. >> damn liar, man. that's not true and no one has ever said that. >> reporter: and ethical questions continued to be raised by republicans. >> there is no way, as the vice president, that i would let my son do that. no way. and i -- i would make a point to

make sure that it didn't happen because i just that that's wrong. >> reporter: by february, democrats were heading to the polls. and biden's fate was up to the voters. >> 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 carolinans should be voting for joe biden. >> reporter: it worked, big time. >> sweeping, blowout win for former vice president joe biden. 46 counties in south carolina.

46 counties, victory for joe biden. >> he won by 29 points and he wouldn't have done it, without you. there's -- there's no doubt about that. >> well, some 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 down to earth, and back inside their homes, for months. >> travel restricted. schools shuddered. sport seasons just totally cancelled. >> millions of jobs were lost. the death toll mounted. 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. >> 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 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 coming down the steps the other day, he's lost a few steps. >> 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 unit united states of america. >> with 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. >> i know how mean, cruel, and unfair life can be, sometimes. >> reporter: and he made the case for a resilient america, 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. >> 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. >> do you see yourself as the polar opposite of donald trump? >> i hope so. the following is a cnn special presentation. >> reporter: in trying times, it's easy to get discouraged. >> even now, especially now, the human spirit. >> i'm a problem solver.

>> changemakers are out there. >> i realize i need to try to make things different. >> redefining what is possible. >> we don't have to live this way. >> reporter: and lifting up humanity. >> these are their stories. these are the champions for change. >> good evening and welcome to "champions for change." i'm alisyn camerota. >> and i'm john berman. tonight, you are going to meet some people who are changing the world. they're not celebrities. they're not political leaders. maybe, you've never even heard of them. >> these are unsung champions who have rolled up their sleeves and taken on some of the tough problems facing humanity. so let's begin in the mountains of kentucky. an area struggling with unemployment and opioid addiction. >> but the region also has rich traditions of craftsmanship and music and a local artisan has found a way to turn that heritage into a culture of recovery. >> there is a lot of beauty in