To the long list of traits dividing the two leading candidates for president of the United States, add this: what they’ve said — or not said — about their dads. President Joe Biden has used his time in the White House to talk repeatedly about the profound influence of his father. Former President Donald Trump spoke much less during his time in Washington about his dad, and typically in admiring but less sentimental terms.
On this Father’s Day, the Biden administration is likely to issue a proclamation recognizing dads in general, and presidential father Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. in particular. The younger Biden has repeatedly invoked his father — crediting Biden Sr.
, for example, for planting the seeds of his loathing of antisemitism, inspiring his support of paid family medical leave and firing his determination to put an end to human trafficking. Trump credited Fred Trump Sr. as a tough patriarch but powerful influence in his life: instilling a belief in hard work and the conviction that private business gets a job done much better than government ever can.
Those views are recorded in the American Presidency Project , a comprehensive digital archive of documents and communications based at UC Santa Barbara. The database includes a search engine that makes it easy to find all manner of esoterica, including what all 46 presidents said about their dads. The history of presidential fathers is wildly divergent, including doting dads, such as Prescott Bush, father of G.
