5 Strange Facts About Joe Biden

Being a long-standing politician as well as the 46th president of the United States means that every aspect of Joe Biden's life is under the microscope. It's pretty common knowledge that he had a stutter as a kid, suffered incredible losses in his adulthood, and is hopelessly devoted to his family, even as the president. However, there are a couple of facts about the POTUS that aren't as popular.

While his love for sunglasses is well-known, few people are aware that the US president has a pair of Ray-Ban aviators on him at all times. This little quirk dates back to the sixties when he was just 19. A teenage Joe took a job at a pool and, as outdoor lifeguards are advised to, began wearing sunglasses to reduce the sun's glare and improve his vision. It was also at this lifeguard job that Joe befriended Marty, Corn Pop, and Mouse, who encouraged his prankster antics.

Despite his immensely serious role as president, Joe Biden is known to love a good joke. This love for humor goes back to his high school days when he began to cultivate a reputation as a prankster. However, when Joe began working as a lifeguard, he became the perfect prank target for other college kids who used the pool. Marty, Corn Pop, and Mouse would try to distract him to gain free entrance and intentionally rile him up with "yo mama" jokes.

Ironically, while Joe was the target at the pool, he was a relentless prankster on campus. He once drenched a dorm director with a fire extinguisher, which earned him probation, but he did nothing to break the habit. It's no wonder that he soon became close friends with the prankster pool patrons. One fun fact about Joe and Jill Biden's lovey-dovey relationship is that they share a love for practical pranks.

On Valentine's Day in 2009, Jill Biden pranked Joe by filling his windows with painted hearts and "Joe loves Jill" just before he had a meeting with a senator. The Biden granddaughters even report that the FLOTUS isn't above scaring people with dead snakes. Perhaps couples that prank together stay together?

Weird humor aside, the president has had quite an impressive career journey. After his time as a lifeguard, Joe Biden worked as an attorney before turning to politics in 1970. With pointers from his African American friend Mouse, whose real name is Richard Smith, Joe won enough votes from the Black community to be elected to the county council in 1970. He was voted into Delaware's Senate when he was just 29 years old.

This is definitely uncommon because the American constitution mandates that senators be 30 years or older. However, Joe's election was legal because he would turn 30 before the swearing-in ceremony. He was elected on November 7, 1972, thirteen days before his 30th birthday.

Sadly, disaster struck the Biden household weeks later, on December 18. Joe's first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, their two sons, Beau and Hunter, and their infant daughter, Naomi, were involved in a car accident. The crash killed Neilia and Naomi, injuring Beau and Hunter. Joe Biden was sworn in as senator at his son's hospital bed. He also traveled from Delaware to Washington and back every day so he could see his children.

Now a Democratic leader, it's hard to imagine that Joe Biden had anything in common with Donald Trump. However, in 1974, the then-senator made it clear to the Washingtonian that he wasn't pro-choice: "I don't think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body." He also said that he wasn't pleased with the Roe vs. Wade Ruling: "I don't like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far."

In 1982, Biden voted with Republicans to allow states to decide whether or not to fund abortions. He called it "the single most difficult vote I've cast as a U.S. senator" (via The Washington Post). He also said in 2006 that he believed that abortions should be limited and were incredibly difficult on women: "And I think we should focus on how to deal with women not wanting abortion."

However, by 2007, Biden's stance on the matter was slightly different. He explained that he believed Roe vs. Wade was a balanced product of the differing beliefs on abortion. Years later, at a VP debate in 2012, he supported the ruling again: "Life begins at conception ... I accept it in my personal life, but I refuse to impose it. I do not believe that we have a right to tell women they can't control their body. It's a decision between them and their doctor." Biden is now dedicated to protecting women's abortion rights.

Joe Biden has often called himself the "poorest man in Congress," and although this claim isn't exactly apt, there is some truth to it. When Joe began his senatorial duties in 1973, he, like other senators, was paid $42,500 a year. However, unlike other Congresspersons, he had no investments.

There are claims that he didn't even have a savings account. It's worth noting that Delaware's minimum wage that year was about $1.60 per hour (less than $3,500 a year), so Joe wasn't poor compared to the average American. However, in a 2005 report that ranked Congress politicians according to their wealth, Joe placed 570 out of 585 politicians with a net worth of -$47,494. In 2006, he was worth -$12,492 and ranked 614 of 636 (via Politifact).

However, things started to change for Joe when he became vice president in 2009. He began to earn over $200,000 and became a household name. After leaving the White House, Joe and his wife made more than $11 million in a year. This came from book royalties, speaking engagements, and side jobs. Now, thanks to their multiple sources of income, the Bidens are worth a small fortune.

Despite having a high net worth and rubbing elbows with some of the richest and most powerful people in the world, Joe Biden's favorite drink is the inexpensive orange Gatorade. Strange as it may seem, it's really not shocking, considering some other well-known facts about him: the president was a college athlete and doesn't drink alcohol.

He does, however, admit to an unabashed love of ice cream. According to Joe, his biggest weakness is chocolate chip ice cream, and his granddaughters attest to this. During an interview with PBS NewsHour, the Biden girls revealed that Joe did his best to bypass his wife's efforts at limiting his ice cream intake. "He likes ice cream in hidden ways," Naomi Biden joked.

After Joe accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on August 21, 2020, his grandkids gifted him a tub of Breyers chocolate chip ice cream. "Pop, tonight, you eat from the box," their note said (via X). In 2023, Joe Biden even got ice cream trending on Twitter.