Joe Biden is a lovely Southern gentleman says Northern Ireland woman who had lunch with him in Washington
![Geraldine O’Doherty, while a University of Ulster student, was on placement as an intern at the US Department of Foreign Affairs in 1986. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2314GS – 08](https://www.newsletter.co.uk/webimg/b25lY21zOjQ5Yzg5ODM4LTU0MTItNDJlMC1iZmI4LTRmYmViZGVhZWQ5Mzo4OGEzODIyZS1mNGEyLTQxMjQtOTBlNC01MGE4OWI5YjQ3Zjk=.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65&enable=upscale)
![Geraldine O’Doherty, while a University of Ulster student, was on placement as an intern at the US Department of Foreign Affairs in 1986. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2314GS – 08](/img/placeholder.png)
His security team will already have been in the Province for a week before Mr Biden arrives on Tuesday night and those who will be meeting him have been briefed on the dos and donts.
Although he won’t be spending a lot of time in Northern Ireland – and is only likely to visit one location – the new campus of Ulster University in Belfast – his presence is nonetheless highly anticipated.
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Hide AdOne person from Northern Ireland who has already met Mr Biden is Londonderry woman Geraldine O’Doherty.
![Geraldine O’Doherty’s US government, Department of Foreign Affairs ID card. DER2314GS – 11](https://www.newsletter.co.uk/webimg/b25lY21zOjVjMWFkODExLTI2MTItNGY1Mi04NWRhLTY0ZTA1ZjMyMDMyMDo4NmFiODQzYi0wYjdhLTRiMTQtYThlNy03ZjA5NDBhZDUzOGU=.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65)
![Geraldine O’Doherty’s US government, Department of Foreign Affairs ID card. DER2314GS – 11](/img/placeholder.png)
In 1986, when she was in in her early 30s, studying Irish history and politics in Ulster University Magee, she was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to do a summer internship in Washington.
She recalled: "I worked in the Foreign Relations Department with two women, one of them wrote all the speeches for Senator Eagleton and they were really hard-nosed New Yorkers, which I liked because I was able to work well with them being the Derry girl that I was.
“Joe Biden was on the Irish Foreign Relations Committee and he would meet me when we were attending the committee meetings. I tended to keep my distance because I respected their political positions.
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Hide Ad"I was invited out to lunch with Senator Eagleton and Joe Biden to a fancy restaurant in Massachusetts Avenue and we had the best of craic together.
"On a personal level, Joe was then how he is now; a lovely Southern gentleman, polite, very articulate and very, very sharp, with a great sense of humour.”