Biden says he wanted to add a ‘ski’ to the end of his name because he grew up surrounded by Polish immigrants in meeting with President Duda in Warsaw

• President told Polish counterpart that he wanted to be called ‘Bidenski’ as a kid
• During his bilateral meeting with Duda in Warsaw he mentioned that he grew up surrounded by Polish-Americans in Delaware
• On Tuesday, Biden kicked off the pre-planned part of his European trip, after sneaking into Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday for a surprise visit  

President Joe Biden told Polish President Andrzej Duda that he wanted to add a ‘ski’ to his last name as a kid, because he grew up surrounded by so many Polish immigrants. 

Biden talked about his Delaware upbringing during a bilateral meeting Tuesday with Duda at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, as he kicked off the pre-planned portion of his Poland trip, which is to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

On Monday, Biden turned up in Kyiv to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after taking a secret flight to a Polish border town and then a 10-hour train ride into Ukraine’s capital city. 

Duda opened up the expanded bilateral meeting with an ecstatic review of Biden’s surprise trip to Ukraine. ‘It was spectacular indeed,’ Duda commented in Polish, which was translated to English in the American delegation’s earpieces. 

President Joe Biden told Polish President Andrzej Duda that he wanted to add a ‘ski’ to his last name as a kid, because he grew up surrounded by so many Polish immigrants

President Joe Biden kicked off the pre-planned part of his European trip Tuesday with a bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda

President Joe Biden (left) arrives at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw for a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda (right)

A young Joe Biden in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The president told Polish President Andrzej Duda that he wanted to add a ‘ski’ to his last name as a kid, because he grew up surrounded by so many Polish immigrants in Scranton.

In turn, Biden spoke of his longstanding appreciation for the Polish.

‘I was born in a coal town of Scranton… When coal died, we moved to a town called Claymont, which was a working-class town, everybody in town was either Polish or Italian,’ Biden said. ‘I grew up feeling self-conscious that my name didn’t end in an “ski” or an “o.”‘ 

‘All kidding aside,’ Biden said, before noting the ‘pride, the overwhelming demonstrable pride, the Polish-Americans feel about Poland, the role it’s playing now.’

Biden commended Poland for accepting around 1.7 million Ukrainians refugees. 

‘The United States needs Poland and NATO as much as Poland and NATO need the United States,’ the president also said.

Duda said that Biden’s secret trip to Ukraine boosted morale among the Ukrainians, but was also an ‘extraordinary gesture’ toward the U.S.’s NATO allies. 

He then admonished Russia for attacking a ‘free, independent and sovereign country.’ 

Duda noted that the war truly started back in 2014, with the Russian annexation of Crimea. But a year ago this week it became a ‘full scale’ attack, ‘causing a tragedy and a catastrophe.’ 

He applauded Biden’s visit to Warsaw – his second in a year’s time – because Duda said it showed that Poland was secure, despite the Russian assault on bordering Ukraine. 

‘Some people might think this is a dangerous place,’ Duda said. 

He credited both the U.S. and NATO troops stationed in his nation with keeping it safe. 

President Joe Biden and the U.S. delegation sit across from Polish President Andrzej Duda (right) and his advisers at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on Tuesday 

President Joe Biden (left) listens to the national anthems of the United States and Poland outside the Presidential Palace Tuesday during a welcoming ceremony before a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda (right) 

Duda also said he was ‘delighted’ Biden would deliver his address from Warsaw, a speech slated for later Tuesday. 

Biden’s meeting with Duda marks the start of the portion of the trip that had been publicly announced. 

The president took the Beast a short distance through downtown Warsaw before arriving at the Presidential Palace with Duda, Polish officials, a military band and soldiers in dress uniforms awaiting him. 

Biden and Duda stood in the center of the ornate courtyard for the playing of first the U.S. and then the Polish national anthems, before Duda escorted Biden down the red carpets placed over the cobblestones to survey the troops. 

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