On Sunday, President Joe Biden and his family observed a somber anniversary as Naomi, their infant daughter, and Neilia, his previous spouse, tragically lost their lives in a car accident half a century ago.
The first lady, Jill Biden, and the first gentleman, Joe Biden, attended a private memorial Mass at the family’s church in Brandywine, Wilmington, Delaware. They said goodbye to their loved ones in honor of their memory. The White House was where they expressed their heartfelt condolences.
According to traveling reporters, the Bidens went to the adjoining cemetery where the older son of President Biden, Beau, and Naomi, Neilia, who died of brain cancer, are all buried.
Biden, along with his older brother Hunter and his daughter Ashley, was injured in a deadly wreck that occurred in 1972. Additionally, Biden’s son Hunter, and his grandchildren Natalie, Maisy, Finnegan, and Naomi, were also injured in the accident. These events took place on Sunday, while Biden was serving as President.
According to the travel pool, on Sunday, two members of the family brought along big wreaths to the church graveyard.
After weeks of crashing in 1972, he won his first Senate race, partially defining his career in Congress.
During his 2020 campaign, Biden recounted at a gathering in Newton, Iowa, “I was in Washington hiring personnel when I received a call from a first responder. They connected me with a rather young lady. She was extremely anxious and conveyed, ‘You need to return home. Your wife and three children were involved in an accident. A large truck collided with them while they were shopping.'”
He continued, stating that if it weren’t for the jaws of life and a rescue team saving their lives, his two sons would not be alive today. Additionally, he sadly mentioned that his daughter and wife lost their lives in the incident.
Beau and Hunter Biden were seriously injured after the wreck. Their dad took his oath as a senator by their hospital bedsides.
Nixon expressed, “I understand that this is an extremely sorrowful day for you, but I desired to inform you that all of us present at the White House were contemplating about you and beseeching for you and also for your two offspring,” as stated in a recording at Nixon’s presidential library. Following the accident, the then-President Richard Nixon contacted Joe Biden.
“Best of fortune to you,” Nixon continued, regarding Joe Biden’s spouse, “I am confident that she will be observing you henceforth.” Joe Biden expressed his gratitude, stating, “I deeply value your kind words.”
Over the past few decades, Joe Biden has spoken about how his experience of loss has helped him relate to the sadness, anger, and anguish that others feel when they go through the torrent of losing someone.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden sent a letter of apology to a woman before the election in 2002, just a month before his husband Viral continued to send letters to her office after he was late. These anecdotes of his empathy have drawn headlines over the years.
He wrote to her, “I know how difficult it can be to believe that time heals, but from my own experience, I know how meaningful even a few words can be at such a time.”
Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, especially while the nation struggled, he related his personal encounter to his political endeavors during an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late-night program in 2020.
“‘However, there will arrive a moment, remind yourself, merely be reminded that the moment will arrive when you’ll consider your spouse, partner, offspring, child, mother or father, and you’ll experience a grin on your mouth before you experience a teardrop in your eye,'” he uttered then. “The duty of the presidency is to express, ‘Mourn. There’s a cause to mourn. You’ve encountered immense bereavement.'”