The Book of Joe, by Jeff Wilser: on Civil Rights

Joe Biden: 1962: only white lifeguard at pool of African-American kids

In 1962, while still at college, Joe made some extra cash as a lifeguard. A dozen lifeguards worked at the Prices Run swimming pool, but he was the only white guy. He was one of the only white people in the entire pool, which was filled with hundreds of African American swimmers.

Biden played hoops with the other lifeguards. Made friends. And perhaps for the first time, he began to see the world through a different, less privileged set of eyes. He heard stories of segregation at movie theatres, of naked racism, of how black people endured "a dozen small cuts a day."

He got along well with the community. Fifty years later, Joe returned to that swimming pool. Wearing a navy suit instead of swim trunks, he sat in the lifeguard chair. "I owe this neighborhood," he told the crowd. " I learned so, so much." By then the pool had a new name: The Joseph R. Biden Jr. Aquatic Center.

Joe Biden: Delivered eulogy for segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond

Despite those repugnant positions, Biden did his best not to vilify the man, and he watched as Thurmond's positions on race gradually evolved.

Biden believes in our ability to change so much, in fact, that he unwittingly used the word five times in one paragraph. "Strom knew America was changing, and that there was a lot he didn't understand about that change. Much of the change challenged many of his long-held views. But he also saw his beloved South Carolina and the people of South Carolina changing as well, and he knew the time had come to change himself."

Before Strom Thurmond died, he made sure to include one last detail in his will: The eulogy would need to be delivered by Joe Biden.

Joe Biden: Marriage is all about "who do you love", of whatever gender

The interviewer wanted to clarify. "And you're comfortable with same-sex marriage now?"

"I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying one another, are entitled to the same exact rights," Biden said. "All the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that."

Whether he had intended to or not, Joe Biden had just made history, and we all know what happened next.

Strom Thurmond: Openly segregationist; tried to block 1965 Civil Rights Act