Presidents: Barack Obama

Barack Obama is the first African American to have served as president, as well as the first born outside the contiguous United States.

Barack Hussein Obama II was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the son of Barack and Ann Dunham Obama, Sr. His father was black and his mother was white.

In March 1964, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. He spent a year in Washington state and four years living in Indonesia with his mom and stepfather. He is able to speak basic Indonesian.

In 1971, Obama returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents.

Upon graduating high school, he moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech. Later in 1981, he transferred as a junior to Columbia University in New York City, where he graduated in 1983.

In 1988, he entered Harvard Law School. He was selected as editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year, president of the journal in his second year, and research assistant to the constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe while at Harvard for two years. He graduated magna cum laude in 1991.

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at a Chicago law firm. Assigned for three months as Obama’s adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at several group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.

In 1991, he began teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. He also worked on staff at a law firm for a few years.

Obama’s election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention and led to the publication of his memoir Dreams of My Father in 1995.

Obama enjoys playing basketball and is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox.

In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois Senate.

In 1998, Michele Obama had their first daughter, Malia. Their second daughter, Sasha, was born in 2001.

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee.

In 2002, he spoke out on President George W. Bush invasion of Iraq.

In January 2005, he became a U.S. Senator from Illinois.

In 2005, the Obama’s bought a condominium in Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois.

On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.

He won the nomination from the Democratic National Convention, beating out former First Lady Hillary Clinton. He won the election.

His inauguration took place on January 20, 2009. He immediately began plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, but that did not prove as easy as he initially thought it would be.

Obama also worked on an economic stimulus package to help the recession that had gripped the country.

He set up new health care legislation known as Obamacare.

In 2009, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

On May 1, 2011 Osama bin Laden was killed. In 2012, he won re-election.

He left office on January 20, 2017 after two terms.

On March 2, 2017, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum awarded the annual Profile in Courage Award to Obama “for his enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage.”

The Obama Presidential Center is the planned presidential library of Barack Obama. The center will be hosted by the University of Chicago.

Obama’s most significant legacy is generally considered to be the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Leaving office at the young age of 55, only time will reveal what his post-presidency contributions and life will entail.