IN: Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO, (19 February 1865 - 26 November 1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer, and illustrator of his own works. During four expeditions to Central Asia, he made the Transhimalaya known in the West and located sources of the Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej Rivers. He also mapped lake Lop Nur, and the remains of cities, grave sites and the Great Wall of China in the deserts of the Tarim Basin. In his book Fran pol till pol (From Pole to Pole), Hedin describes a journey through Asia and Europe between the late 1880s and the early 1900s.

Hedin was a monarchist. From 1905 onwards he took a stand against the move toward democracy in his Swedish homeland. He warned of the dangers he assumed to be coming from Czarist Russia, and called for an alliance with the German Empire. Therefore, he advocated a strengthened national defence, with a vigilant military preparedness. August Strindberg was one of his opponents on this issue, which divided Swedish politics at the time. In 1912 Hedin publicly supported the Swedish coastal defense ship Society. He helped collect public donations for the building of the coastal defense ship HSwMS Sverige, which the Liberal and anti-militarist government of Karl Staaff had been unwilling to finance. In early 1914, when the Liberal government enacted cutbacks to the country's defenses, Hedin wrote the Courtyard Speech, in which King Gustaf V promised to strengthen the country's defenses. The speech led to a political crisis that ended with Staaff and his government resigning and being replaced by a non-party, more conservative government.  He developed a lasting affinity for the German empire, with which he became acquainted during his formal studies. This is also shown in his admiration for Kaiser Wilhelm II, whom he even visited in exile in the Netherlands. Influenced by imperial Russian and later the Soviet union's attempts to dominate and control territories outside its borders, especially in Central Asia and Turkestan, Hedin felt that Soviet Russia posed a great threat to the West, which may be part of the reason why he supported Germany during both World Wars.  He viewed World War I as a struggle of the German race (particularly against Russia) and took sides in books like Ein Volk in Waffen. Den deutschen Soldaten gewidmet (A People in Arms. Dedicated to the German Soldier). As a consequence, he lost friends in France and England and was expelled from the British Royal Geographical Society, and from the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Germany's defeat in World War I and the associated loss of its international reputation affected him deeply. That Sweden gave asylum to Wolfgang Kapp as a political refugee after the failure of the Kapp Putsch is said to be primarily attributable to his efforts.

Did he write any books during this time?

OUT: Hedin wrote the Courtyard Speech,


IN: Biden was born on November 20, 1942, at St. Mary's Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden (nee Finnegan) and Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden Sr. He was the first of four siblings in a Catholic family, with a sister, Valerie, and two brothers, James and Frank, following. His mother was of Irish descent, with roots variously attributed to County Louth or County Londonderry. His paternal grandparents, Mary Elizabeth (Robinette) and Joseph H. Biden, an oil businessman from Baltimore, Maryland, were of English, French, and Irish ancestry.

During a tour of the U.S. Senate with reporters before leaving office, on December 5, 2016, Biden refused to rule out a potential bid for the Presidency in the 2020 presidential election, after leaving office as Vice President. If he were to run in 2020, Biden would be 77 years old on election day and 78 on inauguration day in 2021. He reasserted his ambivalence about running on an appearance of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on December 7, in which he stated "never say never" about running for President in 2020, while also admitting he did not see a scenario in which he would run for office again. He seemingly announced on January 13, 2017, exactly one week prior to the expiration of his vice presidential term, that he would not run. However, four days later, on January 17, he seemed to backtrack, stating "I'll run if I can walk." A political action committee known as Time for Biden was formed in January 2018, seeking Biden's entry into the race.  In 2017, he was named the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he will focus on foreign policy, diplomacy, and national security while leading the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. He will also pursue his "Cancer Moonshot" agenda. On March 12, 2017, Biden during a keynote speech at the annual SXSW festival stated, "The only bipartisan thing left in America is the fight against cancer."  On April 21, 2017, amidst speaking to a New York urban planning conference, Biden cited the "infinite wisdom" of Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie as the cause behind the termination of a rail tunnel project and called the Gateway Program "the most important infrastructure project in America."  During a Las Vegas, Nevada hedge fund conference interview on May 18, Biden said that he had never been confident in Clinton's candidacy: "I never thought she was a great candidate. I thought I was a great candidate."  Biden delivered a speech to the graduating class of Colby College on May 21, 2017, calling for a return to "unity and purpose", and three days later expressed confidence in contemporary students being able to handle "the challenges that lie ahead" at Harvard University during the college's Class Day ceremony.

does he do any public speaking?

OUT:
On April 21, 2017, amidst speaking to a New York urban planning conference, Biden cited the "infinite wisdom" of Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie