He was determined not to give up the race against Donald Trump. In the end, US President Joe Biden made the historic decision to step aside.
This has happened in American politics in recent turbulent weeks.
June 27: The disastrous debate
It all starts with a disastrous live TV debate. In CNN's questioning on June 27 ahead of the upcoming presidential election, the president appears fragile and weakened. His voice is hoarse and fails him repeatedly. The answers are long-winded and unclear. His opponent, Republican Donald Trump, makes about 30 misleading or directly incorrect statements during the debate, according to CNN's own calculations. But it doesn't matter. Joe Biden still comes across as the debate's big loser.
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June 28: "I'm not a young man"
Criticism and concern within the party are immediate. At a campaign meeting in North Carolina, Biden tries to address this by partially acknowledging his shortcomings and says: "I'm not a young man. I don't move as easily as before, I don't speak as fluently, I don't debate as well, but one thing is clear. I know how to tell the truth!"
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The following days: Party colleagues question Biden's suitability
Several voices within the party are raised to suggest that the 81-year-old Biden should step down as the Democratic presidential candidate and instead hand over the task to someone else. As the oldest sitting president in US history, questions arise about his health. Is he really capable of winning the election and – not least – leading the country for four years?
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July 5: "I'm still in good shape"
But despite increasing calls from his own ranks and even from well-known personalities supporting the Democrats, including actor George Clooney, Joe Biden refuses stubbornly to give up. "Can I run 100 meters in ten seconds? No. But I'm still in good shape," Biden says in a notable TV interview on July 5. He has beaten Trump before, and will do it again, he adds.
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July 11: New false statements
The situation hardly improves with a series of blatant false statements. One of the worst gaffes to come out of the president's mouth is when he, at a NATO meeting on July 11, is supposed to present Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and instead says "President Putin". Later the same day, he calls his own Vice President Kamala Harris "Vice President Trump". He has also, on an earlier occasion this year, referred to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron as "Mitterrand", who was France's president in the 1980s and 1990s.
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July 13: Trump is the target of an assassination attempt
On July 13, Donald Trump narrowly escapes death when he is targeted in an assassination attempt during a campaign meeting in Pennsylvania. After the assassination attempt, support for Trump increases, according to opinion polls. The pressure to get Joe Biden to hand over the baton to another more suitable candidate increases further.
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July 21: Biden steps down
On July 21, Biden announces that he is withdrawing from the election campaign. "It is my life's greatest honor to have served you as president," he writes on X. Joe Biden also gives his full support to Vice President Kamala Harris to take over as the new presidential candidate.
Sources: ABC, CNN, Politico, and others.
