Joe Biden says his heart 'still skips a beat' looking at Jill. These photos show their love through the years.
- President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden have been married for 43 years.
- They talk about their love for each other in their memoirs, speeches, and interviews.
- They still find small ways of surprising and showing their affection for each other.
President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden have been married for 43 years, and they're not shy about sharing their feelings for each other in speeches, romantic gestures, and public displays of affection.
"I adore her," Joe Biden said in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning in August. "I'm gonna sound so stupid - I was saying the other day, when she comes down the steps and I look at her, my heart still skips a beat."
Jill Biden also chronicled their love story in her 2019 memoir, "Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself." She wrote that her husband's staff jokes that "the answer to 'Where's the vice president?' is always, 'Well, where is she?'"
Here are 30 photos that show their love through the years.
Joe Biden's brother introduced him to Jill Taylor Jacobs in 1975.
Both Joe and Jill had been married before. Joe's wife and daughter died in a car crash in 1972, leaving him a widower with two sons, and Jill and her husband filed for divorce in her junior year of college.
After their first date, Jill called her mother and told her: "Mom, I finally met a gentleman."
Joe proposed five times before Jill finally said yes, and they married in 1977.
Read more: Joe and Jill Biden have been married for nearly 44 years — here's a timeline of their relationship
He gave Jill a kiss as he announced his presidential campaign in June 1987.
He announced his presidential run in Wilmington, Delaware.
They attended a black tie event together in July 1987.
His short-lived campaign ended in September 1987 when he withdrew from the race after a series of controversies regarding his speeches and academic records.
Joe had two brain aneurysms in 1988. The couple posed outside the hospital when he was discharged after the first of two operations in February.
Biden wrote in his memoir "Promises to Keep" that he wore a Delaware sports hat to cover the scarring and staples in his head for the photo-op.
The Bidens shared a sweet moment in a hallway before the Iowa caucuses in January 2008.
Biden entered the race as a presidential hopeful, but eventually became President Barack Obama's running mate.
Joe put an arm around Jill as they chatted on the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
The convention was held in Denver, Colorado.
The couple hugged onstage on day three of the convention.
In his acceptance speech, Joe called Jill "the only one who leaves me breathless and speechless at the same time."
In September 2008, they shared a laugh as their granddaughter Natalie took the microphone while campaigning in Pennsylvania.
Natalie, now 16, is the oldest child of Beau and Hallie Biden.
Joe and Jill kissed after he took the oath of office and became vice president of the United States in January 2009.
Biden took the oath on a family Bible dating back to 1893.
At the inaugural ball that night, Joe planted a kiss on Jill's forehead as they danced.
Biden's red gown was designed by Reem Acra.
Read more: What 16 first ladies wore at their husbands' presidential inaugurations
Joe's face said it all as he hugged Jill at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
In his address to the convention, Biden called his wife "the love of my life and the life of my love."
Joe watched Jill deliver a speech before the 2012 election.
Jill introduced her husband at a rally in Sterling, Virginia, the day before the election.
They shared the podium at a Thanksgiving event for the Wounded Warrior Project in 2012.
They hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for injured soldiers being treated at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and their families for a fourth year in 2012.
Joe gave Jill a peck at an event packing care kits for members of the US military, veterans, and first responders in January 2013.
The National Day of Service was held as part of the presidential inauguration in 2013.
They walked hand-in-hand at the White House in November 2013.
They attended a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony honoring Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, and Bill Clinton, among others.
They shared ice cream at a hockey game in December 2016.
Joe Biden's love of ice cream is well-documented.
After leaving the White House, they attended a gala for Save the Children in October 2017.
The gala was held at the Museum of Natural History in New York City.
They spoke about supporting each other through their son Beau's cancer diagnosis on the Today show in November 2017.
Beau Biden was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in 2013. He died in 2015.
When Joe launched his presidential campaign in May 2019, Jill joined him onstage for a kiss.
He held his 2020 campaign kickoff rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jill joined him at a town hall in New Hampshire in November 2019.
She took a break from teaching for the first time since 1981 to support his campaign.
Joe nibbled on his wife's finger as she spoke to a crowd in Iowa in December 2019.
Jill was gesturing behind herself as she spoke, barely missing Joe's face as he pretended to dodge. Joe then leaned forward while her arm was outstretched and bit down on the tip of her index finger. She appeared to laugh it off.
Jill later tweeted a video of the hosts of "The View" discussing the moment, where Meghan McCain said, "I thought it was silly, and they clearly still love each other and are playful," and replied, "Guilty, we do still love each other!"
Jill fought off protesters who stormed the stage in March 2020, leading Joe to joke, "I'm probably the only candidate running for president whose wife is my Secret Service."
"Whoa, you don't screw around with a Philly girl, I'll tell you what," he said. "I thought I heard on the news on the way over that that the committee in charge of Secret Service decided they have to start providing Secret Service for us. I think that's because they're afraid Jill's going to hurt someone. I tell you what man, I married way above my station."
At the 2020 Democratic National Convention in August, Joe joined Jill in the high school classroom in Delaware where she used to teach English.
"Love makes us flexible and resilient," she said in her speech broadcast from the classroom. "It allows us to become more than ourselves, together, and though it can't protect us from the sorrows of life, it gives us refuge, a home. How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole: with love and understanding and with small acts of kindness."
Joe pointed to Jill after accepting the nomination at the 2020 DNC.
"No man deserves one great love in his life. But I've known two," he said in his acceptance speech. "After losing my first wife in a car accident, Jill came into my life and put our family back together. She's an educator. A mom. A military mom. And an unstoppable force. If she puts her mind to it, just get out of the way."
Jill helped Joe with his notes at a campaign event in Cleveland, Ohio, in September 2020.
They took an Amtrak train tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Jill Biden joined Joe onstage after his victory speech in November 2020.
As he has many times, he referred to himself as "Jill's husband" in the speech.
At his inauguration, Jill put her hands on his shoulders after he was sworn in as the 46th president.
Jill also held the family Bible for the ceremony, as she did when he was sworn in as vice president.
Joe gave Jill a masked kiss on the forehead as they arrived at the White House.
The couple's two German shepherd dogs followed a few days later.
At the celebration following the inauguration, Jill was spotted wearing a corsage that was a gift from Joe.
In an interview with People, Jill confirmed the corsage was a surprise from President Joe Biden and is actually part of a longstanding tradition the two started on Valentine's Day years ago.
"I love gardenias, and so Joe would buy me a wrist corsage of gardenias," Jill said. "It's just a tradition. He surprised me with it."
They pulled down their face masks for a kiss as Joe boarded Marine One in January 2021.
Biden was on his way to visit wounded service members at Walter Reed.
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