2023-04-25 13:53:00
Joe Biden is the oldest sitting president in US history. In 1972 he criticized the age of his opponent
In this December 12, 1972 file photo, Joe Biden, the newly elected Democratic Senator from Delaware, speaks in Washington, DC. (Henry Griffin/AP/File)
President Joe Biden, who at 80 faced questions about his age and mental acuity as he launches a re-election campaign for president, once ran a campaign that heavily attacked his opponent’s age.
In 1972, Biden, then 29 and a local Delaware councilman, was running against incumbent Republican Sen. Cale Boggs, 63, a two-term former governor and the state’s senior senator.
“Cale doesn’t want to run, he’s lost that old twinkle in his eye that he used to have,” Biden said of Boggs, who originally wanted to retire but was persuaded to run for re-election.
Biden used his opponent’s age against him so explicitly that a local reporter dubbed his approach “Dear Daddy.”
Biden was running to become one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate.
In 1972, Biden’s ads in local newspapers and on the radio insisted on one phrase: “he understands what is happening today.”
The ads addressed Boggs’ age by mentioning past historical issues of Bogg’s “generation,” such as Joseph Stalin ruling Russia, jazz musicians using heroin, the development of the polio vaccine, and the taxes of the 1940s.
“Cale Boggs’ generation dreamed of conquering polio, Joe Biden’s generation dreams of conquering heroin,” read one newspaper ad. “For Cale Boggs, an unfair tax was the 1948 poll tax. For Joe Biden, an unfair tax is the 1972 income tax,” read another.
A radio ad pointed out that Boggs was too focused on past threats from Russia while ignoring domestic problems like crime.
“One of the biggest differences between Cale Boggs and Joe Biden is the things they care about,” the radio ad read. “In the days of Cale Boggs, when Stalin ruled, Americans had visions of Russian soldiers on our streets. In the days of Joe Biden, Americans have visions of American criminals on our streets. Joe Biden, understand what is happening today.”
The approach drew pushback from Sen. William Roth, a Delaware Republican with whom Biden would work closely for the next 30 years, according to the News Journal and media commentary at the time.
Biden ultimately won that race, with the Associated Press declaring, “Biden stressed age to beat Boggs.”
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