A presidential historian said Jill Biden has played a key role in Joe Biden’s decision to run for re-election.
In contrast to past first ladies like Bess Truman and Lady Bird Johnson who wanted to leave Washington, Jill Biden enjoys her role and wants to stay in power.
“She is the vital part. Dr. Jill Biden is it,” Douglas Brinkley said.
Brinkley noted that Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson both decided not to run for second terms partly due to their wives’ desires to return home.
In contrast, Jill Biden teaches in Virginia and sees the White House milieu as her home, not wanting to relinquish it after withstanding attacks.
“You know, if you go back to 1952, Harry Truman could have run, and he didn’t. Why? Well, the Korean War and, you know, other reasons. But — but Bess wanted to go back to Independence [Missouri] — she didn’t like it in Washington,” he said.
“If you cut to ’68, Lyndon Johnson was – quit in March of ’68 and people will say because of Walter Cronkite. No,” he said. “The big thing was his health was bad, he had a bad heart, he was smoking, high blood pressure, tension, and Lady Bird Johnson didn’t want to stay in. And she wanted – let’s go back to Texas and convinced Johnson to step down.”
“That’s not the case with Jill Biden. She likes power. She wants to stay. She wants some sense of revenge,” he added.
The historian said reports of Biden opening the nomination to other candidates seem “childish” given Jill Biden’s influence and enjoyment of her position.
“She teaches in Virginia Community College. This milieu around our building here, this is her home. And the idea of relinquishing it all after you’ve taken the slings and arrows of the last years of attacks, and at the last minute, just when you get all the delegates you’re going to say, I’m going to open it up to a bunch of people — it’s very childish when you read those kind of reports,” Brinkley said.
Jill Biden’s support for remaining in Washington has been a driving factor in Joe Biden’s decision to seek another term.
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