- Born: August 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii
- Presidency: 44th President, 2009–2017
- Age at inauguration: 47
- Party: Democratic
- Vice President: Joe Biden
- Historic first: First African American president of the United States
- Key legislation: Affordable Care Act (2010), American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009)
Barack Obama: Early Life and Family
Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961, to Barack Obama Sr. and Stanley Ann Dunham. He spent his early childhood in Honolulu while his mother attended the University of Hawaii. He has a sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.
Education
Obama attended Punahou School in Honolulu on a scholarship. He enrolled at Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1979 and transferred to Columbia University in New York after two years, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science.
He then attended Harvard Law School, where in 1990 he became the first African American elected editor of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude in 1991 and returned to Chicago.
Career Before the Presidency
After Harvard, Obama joined Sidley Austin, a Chicago law firm, as a summer associate — where he met Michelle Robinson. The couple married in October 1992. They have two daughters: Malia, born 1998, and Sasha, born 2001.
Obama practiced as a civil rights lawyer and, from 1992 to 2004, taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, first as a Lecturer and then as a Senior Lecturer. The Law School confirmed he served as a professor, though not in a full-time tenure-track role. He also organized voter registration drives during the 1992 presidential campaign.
Path to the Senate
Obama entered the Illinois State Senate in 1996, where he worked on campaign finance reform, healthcare expansion for low-income families, and criminal justice law. He won election to the US Senate in 2004, defeating Alan Keyes — the first Senate race in US history where both leading candidates were African Americans. His keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention brought him to national attention and his memoir rose to the top of the bestseller lists shortly after.
Presidential Campaign and Election
Obama announced his presidential campaign in 2007. During the primary, he defeated Hillary Clinton to become the Democratic nominee — the first African American to be nominated by a major US political party. He selected Joe Biden as his running mate, partly to address critics who questioned his experience. In the general election, Obama defeated Republican Senator John McCain, winning about 53% of the popular vote and 365 electoral votes.
First and Second Terms
Obama took the presidential oath on January 20, 2009. He won re-election in 2012 against Republican Mitt Romney, carrying 332 electoral votes.
Economic Recovery
Obama took office during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In February 2009, Congress approved his $787 billion economic stimulus package — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — which extended unemployment benefits, cut taxes, and funded public works. GDP returned to growth by June 2009, and the economy added over 11.6 million private sector jobs between 2009 and 2017.
His administration also intervened to save the US automotive industry, extending loans to Chrysler and General Motors. Of the roughly $80 billion invested, taxpayers had recovered around $71 billion by 2016.
Healthcare Reform
The Affordable Care Act, signed in 2010, was the most significant overhaul of the US healthcare system in decades. It barred insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, created subsidized insurance markets for lower-income Americans, and expanded Medicaid. By the end of 2014, approximately 88% of the US population had some form of health insurance coverage.
Foreign Policy and Climate
In July 2015, Obama brokered the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, under which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. Also in 2015, he helped bring more than 190 countries together under the Paris Climate Agreement, committing them to reduce carbon emissions and limit global warming.
Earlier in his presidency, in June 2009, Obama delivered a landmark speech in Cairo aimed at improving relations with the Muslim world and reducing global tensions. The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Obama and Partisanship
Obama’s presidency was marked by significant partisan division. He signed an executive order banning harsh interrogation techniques and sought to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, though Congress blocked the latter. His healthcare reform and economic policies drew sustained opposition from Republicans throughout both terms.
For more on the presidents, see our full presidents section and our guides to Joe Biden and Donald Trump. External reference: Obama White House Archives.
