Book Review: Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, by Joe Biden (2017)

Book cover of Promise Me, Dad, by Joe Biden, 2017.

Joe Biden, Vice President from 2009-2017.

In December, I heard former Vice President Joe Biden speak at the Orpheum Theatre about his new book, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose. It was an emotional evening, as Biden spoke about his son Beau’s death from brain cancer. That’s the main subject of Promise Me, Dad, but readers also get glimpses into Biden’s duties as Vice President, and Biden’s thinking as he ultimately decided not to pursue the Democratic nomination for President in 2016.

Promise Me, Dad is that very rare thing—an amazingly honest book written by a national politician. But then I think Joe Biden is an amazingly honest person. What you see is what you get with him. Promise Me, Dad is also a very moving book. Biden clearly had a very close relationship with Beau, and I can’t imagine how hard it was for him to watch Beau slowly be weakened by an awful disease. Even though there was little hope, Beau Biden signed up for every experimental treatment that was out there, hoping for a miracle. 

The book also sheds light on Biden’s relationship with Barack Obama, and it becomes clear that they developed a very close friendship. As Biden said about the memes that celebrate his friendship with Obama, “They’re basically all true.” However, Biden originally told Obama no when Obama wanted to vet him for Vice President. When Biden was very close to saying yes to the Vice Presidency, he said to Obama, “I want to be the last guy in the room on every major decision. You’re President. I’m not. I get it. But if it’s my experience you’re looking for, I want to be the last guy to make the case.” (p.64) 

One of the best anecdotes in the book is Biden’s meeting with Vladimir Putin. This was during the period when Putin was Prime Minister, rather than President, due to term limits. As they were meeting in Putin’s office, Biden turned around and was suddenly face to face with Putin. He said, “Mr. Prime Minister, I’m looking into your eyes. I don’t think you have a soul.” Putin replied, “We understand each other.” (p.95) 

A key passage in Promise Me, Dad, is when Biden describes his own political philosophy: “I believe all politics is personal, because at bottom, politics depends on trust, and unless you can establish a personal relationship, it’s awfully hard to build trust.” (p.129) Biden demonstrates that again and again in the book, as he details his relationships with foreign leaders, and his attempts to build trust with them. 

Will Joe Biden run for President in 2020? He’ll be 77 years old in 2020, and 78 years old on January 20, 2021—that’s older than Ronald Reagan was when he left office in 1989. But you never know, and as Promise Me, Dad shows, Joe Biden is a man who just keeps going when he’s facing adversity.