Joseph Biden became the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday. The transition of power took place just two weeks after a violent siege of the Capitol Building by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
In his inaugural speech, President Biden declared that democracy had prevailed, as he took the helm of a deeply divided nation. Among those closely watching the president’s speech was former Springfield Mayor and longtime friend of Biden, Robert Markel.
Biden and Markel met during high school at Archmere Academy in Delaware. Markel joined Connecting Point‘s Ray Hershel to speak about this historic moment in the country’s history and reflect on the friendship he and Biden have maintained for the last 60 years.
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Zydalis Bauer, Connecting Point: Joseph Biden became the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday. The transition of power took place just two weeks after a violent siege of the Capitol building by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
In his inaugural speech, President Biden declared that democracy had prevailed as he took the helm of a deeply divided nation. Among those closely watching the president’s speech was former Springfield Mayor Robert Markle, a longtime friends of Biden’s. They first met during their high school years in Delaware and Connecting Point’s Ray Hershel spoke with Markle about this historic moment in our country’s history and the friendship that he and Joe Biden have maintained for the past 60 years.
Robert Markel, Former Springfield Mayor: We met when we were freshmen. We were in the same classes together. Joe had this severe stuttering handicap early on in his freshman and sophomore years. You know, teenage boys can be cruel. He was teased. It was clear he didn’t like it. I saw anger on his face sometimes, but he resisted any effort to take a swing at anybody.
And in the summer of his sophomore year, he spent the entire summer attempting to overcome the stutter. And he did. His classmates were astonished, when we went back for our junior year, that the stutter was ended. And we didn’t understand it. I do know that he spent practically every day in his bedroom reading out loud, mostly Ralph Waldo Emerson, and learning to pronounce words, learning to speak and enunciate clearly. And he did it. And that was just amazing to all of us.
He was also a very outgoing, gregarious fellow. He got to know everybody. He loved to talk to people. He connected with people. And not surprisingly, he became president of our class.
Ray Hershel: Wondered if you had one typical story, one story you could tell us, that sums up Joe Biden going back to his days in high school or earlier days? Is there one story that kind of tells the story of Joe Biden?
Robert Markel: Yes, seven or eight of us would hang out at a restaurant in Wilmington on weekends, after dances on Saturday night called The Charcoal Pit.
As I said earlier, Delaware is a very conservative state. They had mandatory legal segregation in the two counties downstate. New Castle County did not have legal segregation, but there was informal segregation. During senior week, we decided to go to the Charcoal Pit for lunch.
One person we took along with us was the only black student in our class. Now a very prominent physician in Philadelphia. He was also the salutatorian of our class. We went and sat in a booth at the Charcoal Pit. Six of us, the black student was sitting in the middle, I was on the end. We’re sitting there and waiting for service. There wasn’t any service.
Finally, the manager, whom I knew very well, came up and tapped me on the shoulder. He said, “Bob, come back here. I need to talk to you.” I said, “OK” walk back. He said that “we can’t serve you.” And I said, “Well, why?” He said, “we don’t serve” — and he probably said “negroes” during this period. And I said, “what?” I said, “this is a member of our class.” And I said, you know, “he’s — he’s with us.” I said, “what’s the problem?” “I’m sorry. It’s the policy of the restaurant. We do not serve Negroes.”
I walk back and I sat down on the end of that booth and I was I know I was flush in the face, I remember this vividly. We were all just sat there, embarrassed, not knowing what to do.
I had to explain what the policy was. Frank, the black student was sitting in the middle seat. He jumped up, pushed himself up, and he said, “let me out. I have a car. I’ll just leave.”
Biden, who sat across from us, said, “no” — and he probably swore a little bit — and said, “we’re all leaving. If they’re not going to serve you, we’re not going to stay here.”
And so we got up and left. And I think that shows the instincts that the guy has, he has an instinct for fairness, reasonableness, and certainly the kind of thoughts for his friends that I think will serve him well as president.
Ray Hershel: Bob, you had sent us some pictures showing that you each were members of each other’s wedding party, for example, so that friendship really, really was a close one. A t the time when he was in high school, did you feel that he had the political leadership, the ability to lead politically, that someday perhaps his career in politics would be a successful one? And did you ever dream that he could be president one day?
Robert Markel: Clearly, he had the ability to connect with people, to make friends, and to get himself elected. In 1970, he ran for the Newcastle County Council and won. And as it turned out, he was the highest elected Democrat in the state of Delaware, which was and even continues to be a very conservative, Republican-oriented state. And so,being the highest elected Democrat, they came to him and said, we need a candidate for the Senate. And so he ran. And again, in a very close election, he won by a razor thin margin against Senator Boggs.
Whatever Joe Biden accomplishes in terms of policy, foreign policy, domestic policy, one thing I think we can be sure of: he will restore dignity, respect, and civility to the Office of President.
And I think that’s something all Americans, even those who supported Donald Trump to the end, would tell you, yeah, “I like his policies, but I don’t like the midnight tweets and the attacks, the personal attacks against others” and so forth. Biden is not that way.
And I think we will see a president who helps to restore the image of the presidency that we all want. And who will make a very strong effort, as he said in his inaugural address, to bring us together. That’s a tall order, very tall order, there’s a very deep divide. I think it’s reasonable to doubt that that divide can be closed, but I think we have a president now in office who’s going to make a strong effort to do.
