Adam Entous: The Untold History of the Biden Family

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Now, like Gorbachev, Biden is very much a product of his family history. But one we know little about. Investigative reporter Adam Entous has looked into the president’s ancestors in a piece for “The New Yorker” magazine. And he told our Michel Martin what shaped the man in the oval office.

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MICHEL MARTIN, CONTRIBUTOR: Adam Entous, thanks so much for joining us.

ADAM ENTOUS, THE NEW YORKER, “THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE BIDEN FAMILY” AND INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Great to be here.

MARTIN: So, you know, Adam, honestly, this is one of my favorite kinds of stories which I call hiding in plain sight. I mean, meaning that Joe Biden’s been in public life for decades. And I think it’s fair to say, we don’t know any of this. You describe it as a rags to riches to rags story. Which is kind of something that the president has alluded to when he’s talked about his origins, you know, not that he does so very often. But when he wrote about it in his book, you know, promises to keep. How so? Like, in a nutshell, how is a rags to riches to rags story? Like, what’s happened?

ENTOUS: Yes. So, basically, his — Joe Biden’s father is — you know, his family is not rich, but they’re connected to a family through marriage that is rich, the Sheenes. They get rich, initially as war contractors in World War I. And then between the wars, they’re in the gray vault business, and they make a fortune making gray vaults and selling those in Baltimore and Washington. And then during World War II, they make a far bigger fortune as war contractors, right? And then Joe Biden and Richard Ben Cramer, in their books, don’t really explain what happens. They just say, the money — the war ended, and the money was gone, and then the family ended up in Scranton without any money. And that’s the beginning of the story that we all know of Joe Biden, sort of, growing up, not poor but not wealthy, sort of, lower middle class, if your will, in terms of income, and sort of the beginning of his climb back, I don’t know know if you want to call it riches but certainly to fame and greatness in terms of politics.

MARTIN: The Sheenes, like, what role did they play in the life of the Bidens? And why is, like, what happened to them so critical to this, kind of, I don’t know, head-spinning turns of fortune, if we can call it that?

ENTOUS: So, what you had is these two families are coming together through marriage. There are these two sisters, the Robinette sisters. The Robinettes are a prominent family in Baltimore. They perceive themselves as, kind of, English aristocrats. These two sisters, one of them marries Joe Biden — Joseph Harry Biden, which is the president’s grandfather. And the other one marries Bill Sheene Sr., who’s from Boston. And the Sheenes also believe that they are a prominent aristocratic family, right, with English roots.

ENTOUS: And so, you know, basically, these two families are sort of joint through marriage. The Bidens are sort of the lesser, in terms of stature, in terms of finance. They are kind of a — you know, I would say that Joseph Harry Biden married up when he marries — you know, into the Robinette and Sheene families. And the idea is, is that, you know, they are going to rise together, right? And — but the Biden’s move, they move, initially, to Wilmington and then, later to just Scranton because Joseph Harry Biden, the president’s grandfather, worked for a company, Amoco, an oil company, and he was moved around. And he was like a salary man, very loyal to this company and he never really made a lot of money any had a drinking problem and so, he struggled it. They lost their house in Wilmington. But down in Baltimore, the Sheenes were making it rich and they were living large. And the president’s father had this double life. At home, he didn’t really have much. But when he was in Baltimore with his cousins and his best friend, Bill Sheene Jr., the son of Bill Sheene Sr., the patriarch of the family, he, you know, as the best polo ponies, he’s, you know, driving the fanciest cars. They have private airplanes. You know, they have estates that they go and stay at. And so, you have — you know, Biden’s father sort of has kind of, you know, becomes — you know, kind of — something of an aristocrat himself. And so, you know, basically the Bidens were kind of riding off the — you know, on the coattails of this better off family. And they did that until basically everything falls apart.

MARTIN: Why does it all fall apart?

ENTOUS: Yes. So, that was like the challenge, OK? Biden in his book, and Richard Ben Cramer, just say, it falls apart. They don’t say how or why, right? And I was curious, why does it fall apart, right? And Bill Sheene III, this is the living guy that I find from that family, he tells me his mother would refer to the World War II business as blood money. And I didn’t really understand what she meant and neither did he. He just knew that she thought there was something inappropriate about the business, right? And then, he told me that his dad would tell him that for years, the IRS would follow him. And I was again, like, OK. These are bread crumbs, right? So, what I start to do is I go to the Maryland State Archive and they have these books which include IRS liens, tax liens. And I look for the Sheenes in this book anid I find the tax liens, right, initially. And so, I can see that the IRS was chasing after them, right? And then, what I do is I go to the National Archive in College Park, Maryland, outside of Washington. And I’m trying to figure out what actually happened, why blood money, you know? And so, what I find is that they were getting big contracts from the U.S. – – the United States Maritime Commission. And I look at that chart and it’s basically for companies that were found to have taken what they refer to as excessive profits. And this was something Roosevelt was hot and heavy over. He would give speeches of it long before the war. Basically, it’s a remnant from what happened in World War I where there was the backlash, these people were lining their profits — pockets, excuse me. If you look at that chart, it — they — it’s supposed to be around 8 to 10 percent, right? And I noticed when I looked at that chart that that particular company had a like 48 percent profit. And so, then I was like, OK, all right. Now, I know why —

MARTIN: There were profit. So, they were accused of profiteering. Were they punished for that? Is that what kind of made the whole thing fall apart?

ENTOUS: Yes. They were punished for that. Basically, there — it’s — you know, it’s — you know, they had to repay two thirds of their — of what they took. And so, what I can see now that I found out that was that, basically, the family was scrambling, the Sheenes in particular were scrambling to basically repay this money. They had bought all these estates. And I was able to find, you know, in property records these mansions. I mean, we are talking — we are not talking about small mansions here. The one that they owned in Old Westbury was something out of Downton Abbey.

MARTIN: But is there any evidence that Joe Biden’s father was directly complicit in this conduct or was he sort of collateral damage?

ENTOUS: Honestly, I don’t know. Certainly, he is not named as a party that I — at least, that I was able to find where the government is coming after him. I see the government coming after the Sheenes, right? I do not see the government coming after Joe Biden Sr. But the implications are clear, which is that once the Sheenes basically had to give up everything they had, there was — you know, Joe Biden, as he writes in his book, you know, he had basically nowhere else to go. And then, the Bidens have to move to Scranton and start from scratch, right, with menial work. You know, and — you know, fixing boilers and selling penance at the free markets, right?

MARTIN: OK. So, you know, the other thing you point out is the alcoholism, obviously, is a through line. I mean, the president is not shy about talking about the fact that he doesn’t drink and he really encouraged his siblings not to drink and he encouraged his kids not to drink. And, you know, we know how some of this turned out. We know one of his sons has a very, you know, difficult time with substance abuse. And we know that, you know, Beau, his son, who died from a form of brain cancer did not. And so, this is kind of a through line, you know, through the family. Does — did he know about the travails that his family had had because of alcohol? Is that, you know, part of why he feels so strongly about it?

ENTOUS: Yes. I mean, I think that — so, this is, again, something that is shared between the Bidens and Sheenes, right? Both of these families have the same problem, which is like, you know, clearly inherited alcoholism, right, particularly on the male side. And, you know, I think that — is in some way, that’s, again, where Eugenia, the president’s mother, sort of plays this very important role in, you know. distancing. So, after everything goes south at the end of World War II, right, and the years following, where the government is coming after the Sheenes, they blame a lot of these problems on alcoholism. But basically, the lesson that comes out of this experience, that one that Biden’s grew up believing and hearing is not about the impropriety that befall — that it — that is involved in the company going south. But the idea that the Sheenes drank them money away, that they basically — that this opportunity that the Bidens and the Sheenes had for a life of security and wealth and prominence was destroyed because of the weakness of some members who were drawn to drinking to excess. And so, you know, when Joe Biden is — you know, he makes this decision when he is young, that he’s not going to drink, right? I’ve never — you know, he didn’t — he wouldn’t talk to me for this story. So, I don’t know — you know, I mean, he said, like you mentioned, that he, you know, decided at a young age, I don’t really understand, you know, exactly why he makes that decision. Like, is he — you know, he’s — basically, he seen all these relatives undone by alcoholism, is there —

MARTIN: So, you know what, let — so, let’s take a step back for a minute, Adam. You uncovered these fascinating details about the president’s ancestors and their sort of journey to the American story. So, I guess, the question I have for you is that now, that you’ve uncovered this and reflected on all of this, what does it say to you? Is it important? Does this matter?

ENTOUS: Well, I mean, you know, obviously, he is president, right? And having an accurate history of the president’s past I do think is in the public interest, obviously. You know, obviously, this was — I was writing a narrative, right? And so, telling a story that, frankly, had sort of been lost to history because, you know, people sort of took for granted that the story that had been repeated over and over again both within his family and then publicly when he introduces himself as a presidential candidate, that the version that we were told was incomplete, right, very incomplete. And so, providing an accurate — you know, an accurate version of that history that helps shed light into what motivates and what — you know, what motivates the president. And, you know, frankly, as you know, this — the issues with Hunter Biden played — maybe not a decisive role in what happens in 2020 election and it might have influence in the future election if his — if Joe Biden decides to seek a second term. You know, understanding again how the — I would almost call it a family curse, you know, of alcoholism that ripples its way through the family. You know, part of the exercise for me was talking to Hunter. And, you know, him thinking, I think, that he was something of an outlier, right? And realizing, like, history just keeps on repeating itself.

MARTIN: You are peace ends, I have to say, on a very poignant note. I mean, we know what happened to the Biden side, right? The — he becomes president of the United States, very much helped by his sister Valerie, who has been a critical piece of his political campaigns. We know that his sons have had kind of a — and his daughter too, with Jill, Ashley, have had struggles of their own, which they addressed. On the Sheenes side, you know, which had lived so large. I mean, do you want to share —

ENTOUS: Yes, yes. Absolutely. So, like, you know, obviously, I found that, you know, Joe Biden’s older cousin who — Bill Sheene III, an RV park in Florida. After I went to the grave site and saw the correct spelling, I tracked them down. And so, yes, part of it — part of the reporting here was figuring — I — you know, I envisioned this story as East of Eden, y9ou know, that kind of a story. You have the Hamiltons and the trans, right? And, you had the Bidens and the Sheenes, right? And so, I was curious, like, what happened to the Sheenes, right? And frankly, what happened to the Sheenes is very similar to what happens to the Bidens, right, which is they had no money after this. And their alcoholism is just ripping them apart, right? They are completely ravaged by alcoholism. And what happens is, is that some of the Sheenes move to Wilmington and they actually live not far from where Joe Biden grew up. And occasionally, they would bump into Joe Biden at the supermarket or at a restaurant or a bar. You know, they would see each other in Wilmington. And the Sheenes had this — they would walk away from these encounters feeling that the Bidens wanted nothing to do with them. And that there would be an interaction, according to one of the Sheenes, where she would say, hey, Joe — when — Senator Biden — you know, I’m Trudy Sheene, you know, Bill III’s wife. And according to Trudy, Joe Biden would respond by saying, I know who you are. And then, that would be it. And there was a sense of coldness that the Sheenes perceived, right? Whether that was intentional or not, I don’t know. But it was certainly perceived by the Sheenes as this coldness. And so, basically, what happened is, is the Sheenes watched as the Bidens rose to prominence while they themselves found themselves, you know, ravaged again by alcoholism and poverty. And one side is rising. It’s the opposite of what happens earlier, right, because it’s the Sheenes that bring the Bidens up in the prewar story. And in the post war story, it’s the Bidens are rising and the Sheenes are falling. And the Sheenes, you know, frankly, I think resent that the Bidens didn’t want to have a relationship with them anymore. And, you know — and basically, what happens is, is Bill Sheen III dies. And then can’t have — they don’t have the money to bury him at the cemetery. And then, Bill Sheene III’s daughter, Amy, has this quote that she tells me, which is — you know, I asked her, like, how do you sum up the story of the Bidens and the Sheenes? And it was — it’s the kicker, the last quote of the story. And she says something to the effect of, you know, they ended up in the White House, and we ended up in the trailer park. And so, you know, this is — so, that’s the way I decided to end the peace, with one family in the ashes and the other one at the pinnacle.

MARTIN: Adam Entous, thanks so much for talking with us about this. This is a fascinating report.

ENTOUS: All right. I really — grateful to be here. Thank you.