Joseph Biden was only 29 when this photo was taken, just a young husband and father about to embark on a year of great professional triumph and overbearing personal tragedy. Biden, shown here in July 1972 at his home in North Star, Del., with sons Hunter (left) and Beau, was a Democratic county councilman gearing up to challenge two-term Sen. Caleb Boggs (R). Biden won the race, but five weeks after the election, his wife and daughter (not pictured) were killed in a traffic accident. Both Hunter and Beau were badly injured. Although he contemplated not taking the seat, he changed his mind and was sworn in at his boys’ hospital bedside.