Barack Obama
44th President of the United States
January 20, 2009 –
January 20, 2017
Vice President Joe Biden
Preceded by George W. Bush
Succeeded by Donald Trump
United States Senator
from IllinoisIn office
January 3, 2005 –
November 16, 2008
Preceded by Peter Fitzgerald
Succeeded by Roland Burris
Member of the Illinois
Senate
from the 13th district
In office
January 8, 1997 –
November 4, 2004
Preceded by Alice Palmer
Succeeded by Kwame Raoul
Personal details
Born Barack Hussein Obama II
August 4, 1961 (age 56)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Michelle Robinson (m. 1992)
Children
Malia Sasha
Parents
Barack Obama Sr.
Ann Dunham
Relatives See Family of Barack Obama
Education
Occidental College
(transferred)
Columbia University
(BA)
Harvard University (JD)
Awards Nobel Peace Prize (2009)
Profile in Courage
Award (2017)
Signature
Website
Office of Barack and
Michelle Obama
Obama Foundation
Organizing for Action
White House Archives
(Archived)
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Barack Hussein Obama II
(US: /bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/ (About this sound listen) bə-RAHK hoo-SAYN
oh-BAH-mə;[1][2] born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as
the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. The first African
American to assume the presidency in American history, he previously served in
the U.S. Senate representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and in the Illinois
State Senate from 1997 to 2004.
Obama was born in 1961
in Honolulu, Hawaii, two years after the territory was admitted to the Union as
the 50th state. Raised largely in Hawaii, Obama also spent one year of his
childhood in Washington State and four years in Indonesia. After graduating
from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in
Chicago. In 1988 Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first
black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he became a civil
rights attorney and professor, and taught constitutional law at the University
of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Obama represented the 13th District
for three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, when he ran for the
U.S. Senate. Obama received national attention in 2004, with his unexpected
March primary win, his well-received July Democratic National Convention
keynote address, and his landslide November election to the Senate. In 2008,
Obama was nominated for president, a year after his campaign began, and after a
close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. He was elected over Republican
John McCain, and was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama
was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
During his first two
years in office, Obama signed many landmark bills. Main reforms were the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (often referred to as
"Obamacare", shortened as the "Affordable Care Act", or
abbreviated as the ACA), the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act, and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. The American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance
Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 served as economic stimulus
amidst the Great Recession, but the GOP regained control of the House of
Representatives in 2011. After a lengthy debate over the national debt limit,
Obama signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In
foreign policy, Obama increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced
nuclear weapons with the United States–Russia New START treaty, and ended
military involvement in the Iraq War. He ordered military involvement in Libya
in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, and the military operation that resulted in
the death of Osama bin Laden.
After winning
re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in
for a second term in 2013. During his second term, Obama promoted inclusiveness
for LGBT Americans, with his administration filing briefs that urged the
Supreme Court to strike down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional (United
States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges). Obama advocated for gun control in
response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and issued wide-ranging
executive actions concerning climate change and immigration. In foreign policy,
Obama ordered military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by ISIL
after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, continued the process of ending U.S.
combat operations in Afghanistan, promoted discussions that led to the 2015
Paris Agreement on global climate change, initiated sanctions against Russia
following the invasion in Ukraine and again after Russian interference in the
2016 United States elections, brokered a nuclear deal with Iran, and normalized
U.S. relations with Cuba. Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60% approval
rating. He currently resides in Washington, D.C. His presidential library will
be built in Chicago.