President Joe Biden took a political break Monday to mark the anniversary of the deaths of his first wife and daughter.
The president and first lady Jill Bidenattended a private service at Joseph on the Brandywine in Wilmington, Del. They were joined by their daughter Ashley. Hunter Bidenhis wife Melissa and their son Beau were also in attendance.
Biden’s first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, and their 1-year-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident on this date in 1972. Both are buried in the church cemetery.
Neilia and Naomi were killed when their car was hit by a tractor-trailer while taking the children to pick out a Christmas TREE. Biden’s sons, Hunter and Beau, were also in the vehicle and were seriously injured. They were a year and a day apart, at 3 and 4 years old.
President Biden attended a private service Monday with his wife Jill Biden, son Hunter Biden, Hunter’s wife Melissa and their son Beau
Joe Biden in 1972 with his wife Neilia, his daughter Naomi and his sons Hunter and Beau
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive at Saint Joseph on Brandywine Catholic Church on the anniversary of the deaths of Neilia and Naomi
Hunter Biden walks through St. Joseph Cemetery at Brandywine Catholic Church
Beau later died of a brain injury cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. He is also buried in Joseph on the Brandywine. Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa named their young son Beau in honor of Beau Bide.
The deaths of his first wife and young daughter haunted Biden’s early political career. He had just been elected to Senate – winning his first election in November 1972 – at the time of the accident.
Biden often tells the story of their deaths — praising the first responders who helped his family — and admitting that he had thought about resigning from the Senate before he was even sworn in.
On the advice of other senators, he remained in office. He took the Senate oath at the Wilmington hospital where Beau and Hunter Biden were being treated after the accident.
As a senator, Biden began making a daily commute between Wilmington and Washington, D.C. — it takes about 90 minutes by train — so he could be with his young sons while they recovered. His sister Valérie and other family members helped him.
Biden married Jill Jacobs in 1977 and they had a daughter, Ashley.
He continued his practice of commuting throughout his tenure as senator and vice president. As president, he regularly spends weekends in Wilmington, where he and Jill have a home.
President Joe Biden – with Jill Biden – regularly attends mass on the anniversary of the deaths of his first wife and first daughter
President Joe Biden with first lady Jill Biden, daughter Ashley Biden, right, and son Hunter Biden, walk to the church cemetery where family members, including his son Beau, his first wife and his first daughter, are all buried
President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and Hunter Biden – along with their wife Melissa and son Beau – leave Saint Joseph at Brandywine Catholic Church.
Jill and Joe Biden with Hunter Biden and son Beau
Biden was sworn into the Senate in 1973 at the Wilmington hospital where Beau and Hunter Biden were being treated after the accident that killed their mother Neilia and sister Naomi.
These are the remains of the car in which Neilia and Naomi Biden were killed
Hunter Biden was three years old at the time of the accident that killed his mother and sister
Senator-elect Joseph Biden and his wife Nelia cut his 30th birthday cake at a party in Wilmington on November 20, 1972, with their sons Hunter and Beau
Biden left the White House on Sunday to travel to his home state for the anniversary. He usually goes to church on December 18 to mark the passing of Neilia and Naomi. Hunter Biden named his eldest daughter Naomi in honor of his late sister.
The president and first lady were leaving dinner with their campaign team on Sunday evening when a car crashed into their motorcade in downtown Wilmington.
Biden appeared frozen in shock as a car slammed into an SUV that was part of his motorcade before Secret Service agents rushed him into a vehicle and chased him from the area Sunday evening.
A group of journalists and photographers filmed the dramatic footage showing the president being rushed into the back of his armored SUV by Secret Service agents, unsure whether the crash was part of a deliberate attack.
The wreck happened just as Biden was exiting a building. As the loud bang rang out, Biden muttered ‘Wow!’ like him looked towards the sound, seeming surprised.
The Secret Service seemed just as stunned as the man they were protecting, appearing slow to react, taking nearly ten seconds to get the nation’s leader safely into his vehicle.
The car involved in the accident was a silver copper Ford sedan with Delaware plates. He slammed into the side of a black U.S. Secret Service SUV that was protecting the motorcade.
The sedan attempted to continue into the closed intersection before Secret Service personnel intervened and surrounded the vehicle with weapons drawn, ordering the driver to put his hands up.
The driver’s name has not been released.
