Dr. Jill Biden, Joe Biden's wife, has been called one of his most important political assets. We think she's amazing just because of who she is, regardless of her husband. Over the years, Dr. Jill Biden has been fundamentally an educator. Even when she had other demands on her time and no financial reason to continue working as a professor, she remained wholly dedicated to her students. At home, as a mother of three in a blended family, she strove to keep the family bonds strong.
Here's more about her story.
Jill Jacobs and Joe Biden's Romance
When Jill Jacobs, 24, first laid eyes on Joe Biden, 33, it wasn't love at first sight, according to Vogue. Joe's brother had set them up on a blind date when the English major was nearly finished with her bachelor's. Jill recalled her first thoughts: “I was a senior, and I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts, he came to the door and he had a sport coat and loafers, and I thought, ‘God, this is never going to work, not in a million years.’"
Despite her initial trepidation, the couple hit it off. Jill found herself calling her mother that night after the date to tell her that she'd "finally met a real gentleman."
Before finding each other, both Joe and Jill were formerly married to their respective college sweethearts. Jill's marriage ended when she and her first husband grew apart. They divorced. Sadly, Joe lost his first wife when a tractor-trailer broadsided the station wagon Neilia Biden was driving. Their three children were in the back seat. Toddlers, Hunter and Beau, survived, but their 15-month-old sister Naomi didn't. Joe was devastated.
Three years later, he and Jill went on that fateful date and then the two continued seeing each other. He had to ask her to marry him five times before she accepted. She explained, “I said, ‘Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.’ Because by that time, of course, I had fallen in love with the boys, and I really felt that this marriage had to work."
Becoming A Family
When they did marry, Beau and Hunter, stood by the couple at the altar. The four of them went on the honeymoon together because Joe and Jill felt that all of them were marrying each other and forming a family. Now they were her sons.
Biden wrote the following about his wife in his book, Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics:
"I’ll never forget how it felt the first time I saw her open her arms and brace herself for a running hug from Beau and Hunter. . . . Jill was the parent who showed up at the boys’ grade school to serve hot dogs or work in the library. She drove them to sports and to Cub scouts. She cooked their meals. There were plenty of nights when it was just the three of them at dinner.”
A Working Mother
When Jill and Joe married, he was already a senator, but Jill was just starting out as a teacher. She always knew that she wanted to have her own career and independence.
Business Insider reports that she had her first job at 15 as a waitress. She later went to college, majoring in English, and then worked as a high school English teacher. When she was pregnant with her daughter, Ashley, she completed her first master's degree. After completing a second master's in 1987, she began teaching English at community college. Since then, she has completed a doctorate.
When her husband was on the campaign trail in 2007, she didn't leave her job to help him campaign. Reuters reports that she helped on the weekends, but graded papers on the bus between stops.
Even when Joe was vice president, Jill, continued working full time as a professor. It is the first time, that we know of, that the second lady held a paying job while her husband was in office.
Vogue reported that she maintained her political position a secret from her students. She asked her secret service entourage to dress like college students so that they remained unnoticed. She went by the name Mrs. B. When observant students asked if she was Joe Biden's wife, she elusively responded that she was a relative.
Of course, she had many responsibilities back at the White House during this time as well. She would return home, tired from a day in the classroom and get ready to meet and greet people at events that would last for hours. She used to love running five days a week for exercise, but had to give it up after her feet were damaged by spending so many hours standing in heels.
Jill Didn't Always Want to Be the First Lady
One of our favorite stories about Jill Biden is from the 2004 election. Jill told Vogue that she didn't want Joe to run that year, but people kept asking him. One afternoon, a group of people were at their house for a political meeting. They were pushing him to campaign. Jill was by the pool wearing a bikini and she knew she didn't want to be the first lady that year. To get her point across, she wrote "NO" on her stomach with magic marker and walked into the middle of the meeting. Jill recalls, "That got his attention. I won’t tell you who was sitting in that room, but they got the message.”
This time around, Jill is fully committed to helping her husband become president. She's paused her work for a few months to help with the campaign, but intends to go back to her students whether or not she becomes first lady. It would be the first time in history that the U.S. would have a first lady with a paying job. There's so much to this amazing woman--from her support for military families to her adamant belief that community college should be accessible for all. She's certainly a role model for mothers navigating the difficult waters of caring for a blended family and balancing work. She has our respect.
Sources: Biography of Jill Biden on Business Insider, Joe and Jill Biden’s Love Story Will Pull at Your Heartstrings Vogue, Jill Biden on the Campaign of a Lifetime Vogue, Reuters, Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics