Joe Biden Said He 'Planned On Running' For President Until Son's Tragic Death

Vice President Joe Biden just revealed that he'd planned on running for president this year, but was ultimately too heartbroken over his son's death.

When he passed, part of my soul was gone.

There are now less than 50 days until the general election, when America will have to make a big decision.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the top contenders, but it seems it could've been Biden versus Trump if things had gone differently.

At a talk at the Council of Foreign Relations on Wednesday, Biden said,

I planned on running. To be completely honest with you, I had planned on running... But... my son, Beau, a year before it was time for me to begin to really put this together was diagnosed with a death sentence, stage four glioblastoma. Virtually nobody makes it, but you still hold out hope, you know, and things can happen, there's so much happening. When he passed, part of my soul was gone. And no woman or man should ever run for president unless they are capable and willing to give every ounce of their energy to the endeavor. And I just wasn't.

The vice president referred to his son as "the finest man I've ever known."

Biden had a plan in place in case he changed his mind, but in the end was too emotionally distraught, which is why he's thrown his support to Clinton,

My staff put together plans that if I changed my mind, but I just concluded that I wasn't sort of, how can I say, healthy enough to just pour my whole heart and soul into the effort. And my family wanted me to do it because their conviction was that it was a new purpose. But it was—I can't blame it on my family, I just didn't feel like I was ready. And that's why I'm working so hard to see that Hillary gets elected. But that's the reason I didn't do it, I just couldn't.

Biden's son, Beau, was an Iraq War veteran who served as the attorney general of Delaware before dying due to brain cancer at the age of 46 in May, 2015.

The vice president is far too accustomed to tragedy, as he also lost his first wife and 1-year-old daughter in a car accident not long after he was elected to the Senate.

In spite of the struggles he's faced in life, the vice president has always remained an optimist -- especially when it comes to America.

On Wednesday, he said,

I'm more optimistic about America's chances than I have ever been. We are better positioned than any other country to own the 21st century.

This summer, Biden has spent a significant amount of time campaigning for Clinton and he vehemently opposes Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Biden recently stated he plans to dedicate his life to cancer research when his role as vice president concludes.

Citations: Joe Biden wanted to run for US president but he was too sad after the death of his son Beau (Quartz)