“I’m not going to change,” Joe Biden said in his 2008 vice presidential debate with Sarah Palin. “I have 35 years in public office. People can judge …
Storyboard
A Half-Century of Joe Biden’s Stances on War, Militarism, and the CIA
The new president’s paper trail reveals a man who has often betrayed his own bedrock principles.
“I’m not going to change,” Joe Biden said in his 2008 vice presidential debate with Sarah Palin. “I have 35 years in public office. People can judge …
Joe Biden first ran for U.S. Senate in 1972 as the Vietnam War was entering its waning years. He was not a tenacious anti-war voice, nor did he …
As a first-term senator, Joe Biden signed on as a co-sponsor to what would become one of the most hotly contested and debated laws governing U.S. …
Joe Biden supported the Hughes-Ryan Amendment of 1974, which was passed in response to the lawlessness of the Nixon administration and sought to rein …
Joe Biden campaigned aggressively for President Jimmy Carter, but he has frequently made clear that he was never a big fan of the famously liberal …
When President Ronald Reagan named a veteran U.S. spy and covert operator, William Casey, to be his CIA director, Joe Biden waged a one-senator …
Joe Biden was one of the staunchest promoters and defenders of Israel in Congress throughout his decadeslong career. On June 7, 1981, the Israeli air …
Joe Biden was an opponent of Reagan-era plans to sell advanced fighter and surveillance aircraft to Saudi Arabia on the grounds that it would …
After the Soviet Union began its 1979 invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, Joe Biden supported some of President Jimmy Carter’s responses, …
In public, Joe Biden was neither a public cheerleader for nor an opponent of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. But in a private meeting of the …
On October 25, 1983, President Ronald Reagan authorized a secret invasion of the tiny Caribbean island nation of Grenada. The U.S. had consistently …
On October 23, 1983, a series of buildings used by a U.S.-led multinational military force in Beirut were attacked with two truck bombs driven by …
Toward the end of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, in late 1979, a military junta in El Salvador consolidated its power following a coup against the …
Joe Biden was a prominent and outspoken opponent of the Reagan administration’s dirty wars in Central America throughout the 1980s, specifically in …
In the years following reforms to CIA oversight in the late 1970s, the agency persistently sought to circumvent the restraints that were imposed. In …
In June 1985, Joe Biden cast a losing vote against the repeal of the 1976 Clark Amendment that barred the United States from supporting the …
On April 15, 1986, President Ronald Reagan authorized Operation El Dorado Canyon, a series of airstrikes targeting the Libyan government of Muammar …
By the mid-1980s, the Reagan administration was coming under pressure over its support for the apartheid regime in South Africa, with growing calls …
As the Reagan administration entered its second term, it began to dramatically escalate covert U.S. involvement in dirty wars in Central America and …
As Joe Biden prepared to launch his first failed bid for the presidency in May 1987, he gave a major foreign policy address. Speaking at the Harvard …
In December 1989, President George H.W. Bush decided that the United States no longer needed Panamanian strongman, longtime CIA asset, and …
In August 1990, the George H.W. Bush administration began a massive military buildup in the Persian Gulf following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. …
After the initial campaign against Iraq appeared to be successful and popular among the U.S. public, Joe Biden switched his position, walking back …
Throughout the 1990s, Joe Biden remained one of the most ardent supporters of the Israeli government in the U.S. Senate. In 1991, in the aftermath of …
Throughout the eight years of the Clinton administration, Joe Biden’s rhetoric on Iraq became increasingly belligerent. President Bill Clinton began …
Joe Biden was among the most aggressive of any American politician in advocating for the U.S. to respond militarily to the Yugoslav civil war. As the …
From 1993 to 1994, Joe Biden’s foreign policy agenda was almost solely focused on agitating for more U.S. military involvement in Bosnia. Meanwhile, …
One of Joe Biden’s most consistent positions during his time in the Senate was his demand that presidents abide by the 1973 War Powers Act, passed in …
Storyboard
