President Joe Biden and his family held a private memorial service Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the car crash that killed his first wife and young daughter.
Biden, who had just been elected to the Senate in November 1972, was not in the car when his wife, Neilia, 30, and 13-month-old daughter Naomi, were struck by a tractor-trailer on December 18. that year when they went out to buy a Christmas tree.
The couple’s two sons, Beau and Hunter, who were about to turn 4 and 3 at the time, were also in the car and were seriously injured.
The tragedy nearly led Biden, who was also 30 when the accident occurred, to abandon his fledgling political career. But following the advice of other senators, he stayed in office, commuting from Washington to Delaware.
Biden’s stark openness about grief and his ability to empathize with his fellow Americans who have experienced loss have become defining features of his political career.
Biden married Jill Jacobs in 1977 and they had a daughter, Ashley. Both women joined him Sunday, as did Hunter and many of the president’s grandchildren, among others, at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church. After the service, the family walked to the graves with two large crowns.
Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46. He is also buried in the cemetery.
Sources consulted by our sister network NBC, advanced that the plan could include the possibility that migrants present their applications in their country of origin.