Vice President Joe Biden told the ladies of 'The View' Thursday he needs to be 'more cognizant' of how women respond to his interactions with them, addressing the issue that poses an early challenge for his new presidential campaign.

In his first interview of his campaign, Biden was challenged on the 'Creepy Joe' claims which hit him last month, and on the treatment of Anita Hill during his chairmanship of the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings - as well as on his age.

But he also broke down in tears as he discussed his elder son Beau's death from cancer in 2015, saying that he wakes up every morning hoping that he is proud of his father.

Biden pointedly did not apologize for the way he treated Anita 28 years ago, following revelations that he called her days before announcing his presidential bid.

'I'm sorry the way she got treated,' Biden said. 'If you go back and look at what I said and I didn't say, I don't think I treated her badly. I took on her opposition.'

He said what he didn't figure out to do was, 'How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions? How do you stop these character assassinations outside? There was a full blown attack on her in order to get the defense for Clarence Thomas. And no woman or any victim of harassment should ever be put through that circumstance in public hearings,' he said.

'I have to be, and everybody has to be, much more aware of the private space of men and women,' Biden said on an appearance of 'The View'

Tragedy: Beau Biden died in 2015 of the same brain cancer which killed John McCain last year. Biden told The View that he thinks every day about whether his son would be proud of what he does

Hill revealed this week that she was not satisfied with what Biden told her during their call.

'I cannot be satisfied by simply saying I’m sorry for what happened to you,' Hill told the New York Times. 'I will be satisfied when I know there is real change and real accountability and real purpose.'

'Not only didn't I vote for Clarence Thomas, I believed her from the beginning,' Biden responded on the program. 'I was against Clarence Thomas. I did everything in my power to defeat Clarence Thomas.'

Biden broke down while discussing his late son Beau Biden, who urged him to run for president before his death from brain cancer at age 46.

'He said dad promise me, give me your word as a Biden, you will not back away. What he meant was, he knew I would always take care of the family to the best of my knowledge. But he didn't want me to withdraw from the things that motivated my whole life and trying to get engaged and change things and try to make things better,' said Biden, who titled a book on the subject, 'Promise me, Dad.'

Asked if that was why he was running, Biden responded: 'He's not why I'm running, But I hope as I’ve – this sounds stupid,' growing more emotional. 'When I get up in the morning, I think about, I hope he's proud of me,' he continued.

'I actually thought in my head when I walked out here: Do I? We're friends,' said Biden, who hugged co-host Meghan McCain when he walked on to the set. He and her father John McCain were close friends

Biden greets host Ana Navarro at the start of his appearance on 'The View'.

Biden appeared on the show a day after announcing his presidential campaign

"I hope he's proud of me."@JoeBiden discusses his late son Beau: "He didn't want me to withdraw from the things that have motivated my whole life about trying to ... make things better." https://t.co/rxCXj3uvWG pic.twitter.com/HVA04j3AiW — The View (@TheView) April 26, 2019

'Look, like I said, a lot of people, all you folks have lost somebody. They're still with you. They're in you. They're there. The way you get by this, you have something to do, someone to love and something to look forward to. And you’ve got to get there and you can get there. But the people who impress me get their on their own,' he said.

Then Meghan McCain, who shared with Biden grief over her late father John McCain, said: 'I'm sorry. they're making us go.' That's okay, responded Biden.

'I'm always crying around you Joe. We'll be right back,' she said, as Biden wiped away a tear of his own.

Biden also rejected President Trump's new insult of calling him 'Sleepy Joe,' saying: 'That's the first time i've ever been referenced that way by anyone else. Usually it's the other end, hyper Joe.'

Biden appeared on ABC's show just a day after announcing his presidential campaign and declaring the race against President Trump a fight for the 'soul' of the country.

The famously 'tactile' Biden walked onto the set to applause and hugged each of the female hosts, before the show promptly cut to commercial.

When he was asked about the looming issue, he said even his entrance was something he had to think through in advance.

Anita Hill, now a Brandeis University professor, acknowledged Thursday that Biden had reached out to her to express regret for how the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he then chaired, dismissed her sexual harassment claims against Justice Thomas; but she said he hasn't done enough to personally take responsibility for railroading her along with 13 other white men who made up the committee at the time

Hill told senators and a national TV audience in the hearings 28 years ago that she was 'embarrassed and humiliated' by unwanted, sexually explicit comments made by Thomas when she worked for him a decade earlier

'I actually thought in my head when I walked out here: Do I? We're friends,' he said.

'I have to be, and everybody has to be, much more aware of the private space of men and women,' Biden explained. 'I am much more cognizant of that.'

But Biden refused to say he was sorry, even when confronted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's admonition: that 'To say I'm sorry you were offended is not an apology. It's: ' I'm sorry I invaded your space,'' Pelosi said.

'I have to be more careful and including whether I sit down next to somebody and I was not invited to sit down. That's my responsibility,' he said. 'I have to be more aware. It's totally legitimate for someone not to have to say, 'No, no, don't get into my private space,' he continued. 'It's my job. It's my job to read, 'No, no, this is space no one wants me to invade.'

Biden also responded to President Trump, who boasted about his own energy and called Biden 'sleepy.' Trump, 72, on Friday called himself a 'young, vibrant man.'

'Look, if he looks young and vibrant compared to me, I should probably go home. Look, everybody knows who Donald Trump is. The best way to judge me is to watch. See if I have the energy and the capacity,' Biden, 76, said.

OUTNUMBERED: Biden said if Trump sounds young and vibrant compared to him, 'I should probably go home'

In this Sept. 9, 2012 file photo, Vice President Joe Biden talks to customers, including a woman who pulled up her chair in front of the bench Biden was sitting on, during a stop at Cruisers Diner in Seaman, Ohio

Vice President Joe Biden stands with Stephanie Carter, wife of incoming Defense Secretary Ash Carter, right, during Carter's swearing in ceremony, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Carter, 60, is President Barack Obama's fourth secretary of defense. Stephanie Carter wrote an op-ed in Biden's defense, saying he was soothing her nerves

Biden also explained his comment that he had asked President Obama not to endorse him. He is already tying himself to the former president who named him as he seeks to capitalize on frontrunner status early in the campaign.

'I'm going to do this based on who I am and not by the president going out and saying 'This is the guy you should be with,'' Biden explained.

'I didn't want it to look like he was putting his thumb on the scale,' he said.