--- title: Watch Joe Biden's Heartfelt 2012 Speech About Death and Grief description: Vice President Joe Biden spoke about the loss of his family and the bonds the bereaved form after tragedy in 2012. canonical: https://time.com/3903700/joe-biden-grief/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-01T18:14:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:47:49.675Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch Joe Biden's Heartfelt 2012 Speech About Grief og:description: He talked about losing his wife and daughter. og:url: https://time.com/3903700/joe-biden-grief/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Joe Biden's Heartfelt 2012 Speech About Grief twitter:description: He talked about losing his wife and daughter. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Joe Biden's Heartfelt 2012 Speech About Death and Grief by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jun 1, 2015 6:14 PM UTC by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jun 1, 2015 6:14 PM UTC A video of a 2012 Joe Biden speech circulated Monday as the vice president privately grieved the loss of his eldest son, Beau. In his heartfelt and moving speech to the families of fallen soldiers, Biden discusses his own grief over the death of his daughter and wife in a 1972 car accident shortly after he had won his first race for the Senate. **_Read more_**_:_ [_Beau Biden, Son of U.S. Vice President, Dies at 46_](http://time.com/3902576/beau-biden-vice-president-son-dies-cancer/) Biden talks about his two sons, Beau and Hunt, nearly dying in the accident as well, and tells the families in the audience that the tragedy brought his family closer. “You know what you’re going to find out? Your relationship with your son and daughter, which was already close, is going to be like a bond of steel that runs through your chest and theirs and wraps you together,” Biden said. Beau, Biden’s son, died Saturday night after a long battle with brain cancer. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3903700/joe-biden-grief/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3903700/joe-biden-grief/"},"headline":"Watch Joe Biden's Heartfelt 2012 Speech About Death and Grief","datePublished":"2015-06-01T18:14:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:47:49.675Z","description":"Vice President Joe Biden spoke about the loss of his family and the bonds the bereaved form after tragedy in 2012.","url":"https://time.com/3903700/joe-biden-grief/","keywords":["Joe Biden","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3903700/joe-biden-grief/","name":"Watch Joe Biden's Heartfelt 2012 Speech About Death and Grief"}}]}] ```