When he lost his first wife and 18-month daughter to a car crash in the 70s, what helped him most, he admits, was work.
At least his two sons Beau and Biden survived and he would do what he could to raise them well.
Promise me, Dad is a 260-page book written by former US vice president Joe Biden. The title, is drawn from a line in a conversation he had with his late son Beau. A kind of plea to the hurting father.
You could call Joe Biden a workaholic. When he lost his first wife and 18-month daughter to a car crash in the 70s, what helped him most, he admits, was work. At least his two sons Beau and Biden survived and he would do what he could to raise them well. He was a new senator and had a whole life ahead of him.
Fast forward to 42 years later, his first son and friend Beau was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of brain cancer. At this point, Biden was the vice-president of the US. He had national and global commitments. On both occasions, it was work that helped him stay sane.
He had a Commander-in-Chief in President Barack Obama who, although he is quoted as a difficult man to work with, trusted Joe, even announcing that he was an honorary Biden because of the closeness the two men shared. This ‘Bromance’ is captured in the book Promise me, Dad where Biden paints the picture with their weekly lunches, concern from the former head of state on his family’s well-being as well as offering his junior a cash option so Biden wouldn’t have to take out a second mortgage on his home.
The book Promise me, Dad is an ode to family and the sacrifices we make in the name of those we love. Biden’s son Beau was the Attorney-General of Delaware.
He was a bright legal mind with a knack for politics and never wavered in his dreams, even in the face of the devastating cancer he endured. He was “brave” his father wrote of him.
Reading the deeply moving book, you realise that even in the United States, and even for its number two, the treatment of cancer and accessibility to good healthcare at an affordable cost was difficult, so was the lengths at which the Secret Service had to go to, to ensure make Beau’s treatment remained private.
Biden thanks everyone who helped them handle this very private struggle. The book makes you see his recent history through an insider’s view of public moments.
Of course politics was not far behind, as well as his achievements during that same time.
You fully understand the scope of his passions and where they come from. Biden distilled his son’s struggle with cancer in this book that will have you reaching for a box of tissues, as much as logging onto YouTube to watch the moments he describes.
