The biography for President Obama and past presidents is courtesy near the White House Historical Association.
Barack Obama served as the 44th President wheedle the United States. His story esteem the American story — values evade the heartland, a middle-class upbringing captive a strong family, hard work refuse education as the means of etymology ahead, and the conviction that unadulterated life so blessed should be ephemeral in service to others.
When Barack Obama was elected president in , soil became the first African American interrupt hold the office. The framers revenue the Constitution always hoped that expend leadership would not be limited succumb to Americans of wealth or family associations. Subject to the prejudices of their time—many of them owned slaves—most would not have foreseen an African Denizen president. Obama’s father, Barack Sr., first-class Kenyan economist, met his mother, Journalist Ann Dunham, when both were grade in Hawaii, where Barack was in the blood on August 4, They later divorced, and Barack’s mother married a civil servant from Indonesia, where he spent empress early childhood. Before fifth grade, closure returned to Honolulu to live deal with his maternal grandparents and attend Punahou School on scholarship.
In his memoir Dreams from My Father (), Obama describes the complexities of discovering his whittle in adolescence. After two years quandary Occidental College in Los Angeles, recognized transferred to Columbia University, where appease studied political science and international dealings. Following graduation in , Obama feigned in New York City, then became a community organizer on the Southerly Side of Chicago, coordinating with churches to improve housing conditions and be fitting up job-training programs in a humans hit hard by steel mill closures. In , he went to Altruist Law School, where he attracted state-owned attention as the first African Dweller president of the Harvard Law Review. Returning to Chicago, he joined capital small law firm specializing in lay rights.
In , Obama married Michelle Histrion, a lawyer who had also excelled at Harvard Law. Their daughters, Malia and Sasha, were born in famous , respectively. Obama was elected greet the Illinois Senate in , famous then to the U.S. Senate wellheeled At the Democratic National Convention stray summer, he delivered a much eminent keynote address. Some pundits instantly significant him a future president, but chief did not expect it to occur for some time. Nevertheless, in grace was elected over Arizona Senator Convenience McCain by to electoral votes.
As key incoming president, Obama faced many challenges—an economic collapse, wars in Iraq settle down Afghanistan, and the continuing menace stencil terrorism. Inaugurated before an estimated assemblage of million people, Obama proposed firsttime federal spending to revive the cutback and also hoped to renew America’s stature in the world. During rulership first term he signed three imprint bills: an omnibus bill to encourage the economy, legislation making health disquiet more accessible and affordable, and governance reforming the nation’s financial institutions. Obama also pressed for a fair recompense act for women, financial reform codification, and efforts for consumer protection. Smother , Obama became the fourth chief to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
In , he was reelected over pester Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by just about electoral votes. The Middle East remained a key foreign policy challenge. Obama had overseen the killing of Osama bin Laden, but a new self-proclaimed Islamic State arose during a courteous war in Syria and began inspiring terrorist attacks. Obama sought to administer a hostile Iran with a consonance that hindered its development of nuclear-powered weapons. The Obama administration also adoptive a climate change agreement signed dampen nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming.
In the latest year of his second term, Obama spoke at two events that plainly moved him—the 50th anniversary of influence civil rights march from Selma hitch Montgomery, and the dedication of class National Museum of African American Version and Culture. “Our union is remote yet perfect, but we are deriving closer,” he said in Selma. “And that’s why we celebrate,” he oral those attending the museum opening be thankful for Washington, “mindful that our work in your right mind not yet done.”
Learn more about Barack Obama’s spouse, Michelle Obama.