Former first lady Jill Biden will soon be offering her perspective about former President Joseph R. Biden’s decision to abruptly end his 2024 presidential reelection bid under pressure from fellow Democrats.
Mrs. Biden, who was by her husband’s side for five decades of his political career, has rarely shared her personal insights about Mr. Biden’s dropping out of a rematch with President Trump. Instead, she jotted them down for her anticipated memoir, scheduled to hit bookstores June 2.
She took to social media to explain that her book, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” will “set the record straight.”
“Parts of this story have been told, but not all of it,” she added.
The book is an account of her role as first lady, sharing “the good moments that lifted me and the difficult ones that challenged me.
“It was kind of cathartic for me to write it, and I wrote about all the, you know, sometimes painful — but other times, most of it really beautiful moments that Joe and I shared during his presidency,” she told The Associated Press.
Mrs. Biden said she also reflects on “how this chapter in our lives came to a close, when Joe made the unprecedented decision not to seek reelection and pass the torch.”
“I have put things in perspective,” she told AP, offering a “more balanced view” of her husband’s time in office.
Mr. Biden was the oldest president in U.S. history at 80 years old when he announced he would campaign for a second term. Finishing out a second term would make the former president 86, but he already faced doubts about his physical and mental fitness.
Democrats began to pressure him to step aside. After first insisting that he would continue his campaign, he exited from the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket.
Mrs. Biden’s memoir is anticipated to be released before her husband’s memoir, which was announced last summer with no publication date.
Her book will also recognize “challenges so many women face,” having juggled multiple roles while in the executive mansion: “work, family, my place in the community, my obligations to myself,” she said in a statement.
Mrs. Biden made history as the first first lady to continue her career — she carried on teaching at a community college — while residing in the East Wing.
