“Art is connection,” Jill began reminding Biden. During a short trip to Lisbon, on his way back from a visit to Africa, the US First Lady underlined how “in a world that asks us to run from one moment to the next, from meeting to meeting, art makes us stop. It feeds our spirits when we long for something more. It outlines our joys and sorrows so we know we’re not alone. And even if it’s easy to get caught up in our differences, art can bring us together.” And in that it has a parallel with diplomacy: “Connection is also what diplomacy is about. Now, 60 years ago, the State Department recognized the diplomatic power of art by distributing works from embassies around the world.”
It was precisely to launch the program’s celebrations Art in embassies, made by President John Kennedy in 1963, that Jill Biden attended Catholic University. The invitation came from ambassador Randi Charno Levine, who thanked them, saying, “the collection you’ve created is a celebration of America’s complex and rich beauty.”
Citing President Joe Biden, the US first lady went on to explain that “diplomacy is not just a relationship between governments, but person to person, as my husband always says, heart to heart. There is a lot that can be born of what unites us .”
In a speech lasting just over five minutes, Jill Biden couldn’t help but let the teacher in her come out and say a “where are the students in the audience?” to launch. And he was applauded by the audience, who had waited two hours for his arrival, when he challenged the performers to stand.
Jill Biden was introduced by Ambassador Levine, who underlined the importance placed by the First Lady on education, “the touchstone of democracy”. Or did Dr. Biden, as she is known, decided not to continue teaching even after her husband’s election, becoming the first first lady to keep her job in the White House. And he shared how he saw her find time several times in the middle of her schedule to correct the students’ tests. Isabel Capeloa Gil spoke for the ambassador. The rector of Católica spoke about the values of education, art and diplomacy and also highlighted Jill Biden’s presence in Portugal as “a gesture of transatlantic friendship”.
With the national jersey
This was not Jill Biden’s first visit to Portugal. In July 2016, when she was “second lady”, she had already traveled through the Portuguese capital for a few hours. “It was a pleasure to stop in Lisbon on the way to Africa,” he said at the time, highlighting that he had “the opportunity to see the city and visit the Tower of Belém and the Jerónimos Monastery”. The wife of the then vice president was received at the time by Ambassador Robert Sherman, who welcomed the visit of Dr. Biden, a title the professor even uses on her Twitter account, to Portugal, where she “had the opportunity to share to see”. of the city, to taste the excellent wine and to experience the beauty of the city and the warmth and hospitality of the Portuguese”.
Portugal had just won the European Football Championship – Sherman revealed he was an ardent fan of the team and won the hearts of the Portuguese with his supportive videos – and Jill Biden posed next to the ambassador with the shirt signed by all the players he was presented with . He himself remembered the moment in 2021, the day after Joe Biden’s inauguration, by reposting the photo with the now First Lady. “Dr. Biden had heard many good things about Portugal and was looking forward to visiting the country,” Sherman recalled to DN. And he explained how the wife of the then vice president was “deeply interested in the Portuguese”, not least because “she knew from her experience in the US how sporting success can elevate an entire country”.
And already during that visit, Jill Biden drew the courage of a teacher and assured her that “teaching is not what I do. It is who I am.” Even if you need to balance teaching and working for causes like supporting veterans or cancer victims.
It was in the 1970s that Jill Biden entered academia. And in five decades she completed two masters and a doctorate in Educational Sciences, making her one of the first ladies with the most academic training.
Born Jill Jacobs, in Hammonton, New Jersey, in 1951, she met Joe Biden at the University of Delaware, where she was a student. Years later, in an interview with Vogue, Jill recalled that first meeting. “I was a senior, I used to go out with guys in jeans and a T-shirt. He knocked on the door in his sport coat and his loafers and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is never going to work.’ Me! But we got it right… Finally I went upstairs, called my mom at 1:00 AM and said, “Mom, I finally met a gentleman.”
But if she succumbed to the young senator’s charm, it would take five marriage proposals and an ultimatum before the young divorcée (she married at age 19) accepted to become the second Mrs. Biden. Despite the excellent relationship with Joe’s children, little Beau and Hunter, she felt the weight of becoming the mother figure for some boys who had lost their mother and little sister in a car accident on Christmas Eve 1972.
The wedding actually took place in 1977 and in 1981 Ashley was born, the only child in common who was at the Catholic audience yesterday. While Joe followed the political rise and Jill followed the academic career, tragedy remained close by. In 2008, Barack Obama chose the senator from Delaware for vice president, but in 2015 death would again knock on the Bidens’ door. At age 46, Beau Biden couldn’t resist brain cancer. He left behind a wife and two children.
Despite his son’s pleas before he died, Joe decided not to continue as a presidential candidate in 2016. He would do that four years later, against Donald Trump and won. By his side there was always Jill. What will it be like now that the president is running for a second term in the 2024 presidential election.
Yesterday in Católica, politics was ignored. But before she left the room to the applause and watchful eye of the Secret Service agents, the first lady gave a word of thanks to those who – each in their own way – are committed to democracy: “To every diplomat who for a better future, for every painter, every singer, every sculptor, who is lucky enough to see the hidden colors all over the world, thank you!”
Source: DN
