Barack Obama
The 44th President of the United States
The biography for President Obama and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.
Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States. His story is the American story — values from the heartlanda middle-class upbringing in a strong familyhard work and education as the means of getting aheadand the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.
When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008he became the first African American to hold the office. The framers of the Constitution always hoped that our leadership would not be limited to Americans of wealth or family connections. Subject to the prejudices of their time—many of them owned slaves—most would not have foreseen an African American president. Obama’s fatherBarack Sr.a Kenyan economistmet his motherStanley Ann Dunhamwhen both were students in Hawaiiwhere Barack was born on August 41961. They later divorcedand Barack’s mother married a man from Indonesiawhere he spent his early childhood. Before fifth gradehe returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents and attend Punahou School on scholarship.
In his memoir Dreams from My Father (1995)Obama describes the complexities of discovering his identity in adolescence. After two years at Occidental College in Los Angeleshe transferred to Columbia Universitywhere he studied political science and international relations. Following graduation in 1983Obama worked in New York Citythen became a community organizer on the South Side of Chicagocoordinating with churches to improve housing conditions and set up job-training programs in a community hit hard by steel mill closures. In 1988he went to Harvard Law Schoolwhere he attracted national attention as the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. Returning to Chicagohe joined a small law firm specializing in civil rights.
In 1992Obama married Michelle Robinsona lawyer who had also excelled at Harvard Law. Their daughtersMalia and Sashawere born in 1998 and 2001respectively. Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996and then to the U.S. Senate in 2004. At the Democratic National Convention that summerhe delivered a much acclaimed keynote address. Some pundits instantly pronounced him a future presidentbut most did not expect it to happen for some time. Neverthelessin 2008 he was elected over Arizona Senator John McCain by 365 to 173 electoral votes.
As an incoming presidentObama faced many challenges—an economic collapsewars in Iraq and Afghanistanand the continuing menace of terrorism. Inaugurated before an estimated crowd of 1.8 million peopleObama proposed unprecedented federal spending to revive the economy and also hoped to renew America’s stature in the world. During his first term he signed three signature bills: an omnibus bill to stimulate the economylegislation making health care more accessible and affordableand legislation reforming the nation’s financial institutions. Obama also pressed for a fair pay act for womenfinancial reform legislationand efforts for consumer protection. In 2009Obama became the fourth president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2012he was reelected over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by 332 to 206 electoral votes. The Middle East remained a key foreign policy challenge. Obama had overseen the killing of Osama bin Ladenbut a new self-proclaimed Islamic State arose during a civil war in Syria and began inciting terrorist attacks. Obama sought to manage a hostile Iran with a treaty that hindered its development of nuclear weapons. The Obama administration also adopted a climate change agreement signed by 195 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming.
In the last year of his second termObama spoke at two events that clearly moved him—the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomeryand the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Our union is not yet perfectbut we are getting closer,” he said in Selma. “And that’s why we celebrate,” he told those attending the museum opening in Washington“mindful that our work is not yet done.”
Learn more about Barack Obama’s spouseMichelle Obama.
