PG: You were reluctant to confide in President Obama about Beau.

JB: It was complex. I didn’t want him to carry the burden of feeling sorry for me. Several times, when we talked about Beau, he started sobbing, and I had to console him. I didn’t want to put him through that, not with all the responsibility he had on his back. I also didn’t want him to do what most people would do, what my staff wanted to do: Have Joe do less. I had to do more. And I had my diaries. I’m able to write and express emotions fairly well. And I was completely honest with myself in those diaries.

PG: Let’s turn to the 2016 election. You write that President Obama was pretty discouraging about your running for the Democratic nomination. But in the book you also say that the race was coming to you: The badly beaten middle class, the populism, the authenticity.

JB: What people don’t realize is that Beau was essentially diagnosed with a death sentence in 2013. Virtually nobody makes it. I had an obligation to tell the president because of my duties. So, he knew what was going on. By late 2014, we were walking after lunch, and Barack said: “Joe, if I had the power of appointment, I’d appoint you president. We agree on the issues, I know your leadership skills, and I think you’d be the best president.” But he had other pressures. I felt them, too. If I were to say “I am not going to run,” in the face of all this data that’s coming in saying, you can do it. If I said that, everybody would have known there was something wrong with Beau. I would have violated my commitment to him to keep it secret. The piece that complicated it is that after he passed, it was clear that he really wanted me to run.

PG: Both sons wanted you to run.

JB: I believe Beau, looking down, understands why I didn’t run, and he accepts it. Beau, Hunt and Ashley didn’t want me stepping back. They thought that what limited talents I have that may not have been suited for winning decades earlier were exactly what the public was looking for now.

PG: There’s a scene in the book where Hillary Clinton comes to visit with you to see if you’re planning to run for president. You write that she was propelled by forces not entirely of her own making. What does that mean?

JB: I think she wanted to be president and would have been a good president. But she also had to understand how difficult her life was going to be, how she would be vilified. But Hillary is also driven by the need to empower women. Having known her for a long time, I can’t believe she didn’t think: What will young women in the world think if I walk away?

PG: We’re so dug in and divided now. Do you really think a President Biden could make a difference?

JB: The obvious answer is: I don’t know. But I have always been good at bringing people together. Trying to understand the other person’s perspective, and trying to figure out how to get to “go.” That skill was always useful, but it has a higher premium now that we don’t work together as much. And that’s why I wrote this book about Beau. I wanted people to see how honorable political life can be. He had so many chances to advance himself — he was offered my Senate seat when he came back from Iraq — but he wouldn’t take it. He wanted to earn it. Beau’s ambition was to be a man who always did his duty.