"View from the East Wing" | Reviewed by Bill Schwab

Jill Biden stepped into the role of First Lady of the United States in a turbulent time defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the January 6th Capitol insurrection. She recounts her White House experience of helping to reassure and steady a stressed and frightened nation, while maintaining her own identity.

Dr. Biden led a multifaceted life, balancing her career as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College with serving as a major representative of the United States in global diplomacy. She adeptly moved from grading essays to being a goodwill ambassador throughout the world. Concurrently, she was a wife and mother, backing her husband through vitriolic political attacks and providing a steady household influence during family tragedies.

"Once you lose a child, nothing can hurt you," was Jill Biden's response during a media interview, yet she describes her family suffering from profound grief after the death of her stepson Beau, and navigating intense public scrutiny during the arrest and legal wranglings associated with the drug addictions of her stepson Hunter. She was also deeply hurt when removed from her teaching position because her professorship was thought to violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. As the first First Lady with a full-time career, legal experts questioned whether she was financially benefiting from public funds while her husband was in office. After some deliberation, she was reinstated as a professor at NOVA.

Mrs. Biden reports she has been "a reluctant participant in politics," but as First Lady she was very involved in her husband's image, speech, press, and even the evenness of his gait more than any other presidential wife in modern history. She was very defensive of Mr. Biden's age. At 78 years old, Joe Biden was the oldest person to be President for the first time. While the age question was always there, the President kept showing that he was still able to do the job. As proof, she referenced his February 2023 "risky, physically demanding clandestine trip" to Ukraine — "further evidence that in spite of his age he still is very much up to the job."

The memoir explores the family's shock and the process of President Biden's decision to withdraw from the 2024 re-election race. Mrs. Biden comments on the President's poor debate performance by explaining she never saw him demonstrate that behavior before or after the debate. She contends his stumbling performance was an aberration.

One of any First Lady's presumed roles is to be the caretaker of the White House. She is to manage the White House staff and serve as hostess for state dinners among other duties. Mrs. Biden's account depicts many of the banal customs thrust on this position. The First Lady is expected to choose the Christmas decoration theme each year and decide on the color of the tulips that surround the White House fountains. Dr. Biden accepted these roles graciously, even though many of these traditional roles seem outdated. It is unlikely a First Gentleman would be expected to fulfill some of these trite traditions.

Mrs. Biden expresses her anger when she addresses the demolition of the East Wing where her office was located. The title of her book may be a swipe at the current President for the destruction of this historic landmark. "I could barely look," she admits. President Trump treated a major landmark "like an extreme fixer-upper on HGTV's 'Property Brothers.'"

As First Lady, Mrs. Biden advocated for military families, the Biden Cancer Moonshot, community colleges, and women's health research. To quote her, "I believe that service is the highest calling, that small acts of kindness matter, and that deep down we are more alike than different."

"View from the East Wing" is beautifully and intelligently written as one would expect from an English professor. It is a view into the powerful Executive Branch during the 46^th presidency. This memoir reveals a smart, empathetic woman devoted to her career, her country, and her family.

About the author: Jill Biden is the New York Times best-selling author of "Where the Light Enters" and four children's books. She served as Second Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Dr. Biden chairs the Milken Institute's Women's Health Network and continues advocating for the causes she supported while First Lady. In her personal life, she is a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who lives with former President Biden in Wilmington, Delaware.

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