Barack Obama

Official portrait, 2012

44th President of the United States

In office
January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017

Vice President Joe Biden

Preceded by George W. Bush

Succeeded by Donald Trump

United States Senator

from Illinois

In 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 63)

Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.

Political party Democratic

Spouse Michelle Robinson

(m. 1992)

Children  Malia

 Sasha

Parents  Barack Obama Sr.

 Ann Dunham

Relatives Obama family

Education  Columbia University (BA)

 Harvard University (JD)

Occupation  Politician

 lawyer

 author

Awards Full list

Signature

Website  Official website

  Obama Foundation

 White House Archives

Barack Obama's voice

Duration: 9 minutes and 28 seconds.9:28

Obama on the death of Osama bin Laden

Recorded May 2, 2011

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Barack Obama

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Illinois State Senator and U.S. Senator from Illinois

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44th President of the United States

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Barack Hussein Obama II[a] (born August 4, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the
44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the
first African-American president in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S.
senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a Bachelor of
Arts degree in political science and later 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. He
became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago
Law School from 1992 to 2004. In 1996, Obama was elected to represent the 13th district in the Illinois
Senate, a position he held until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the 2008
presidential election, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the
Democratic Party for president. Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate and
defeated Republican nominee John McCain.

Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, a decision that drew both criticism and praise. His first-
term actions addressed the 2007–2008 financial crisis and included the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009, a major stimulus package to guide the economy in recovering from the Great
Recession; a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts; legislation to reform health care; the Dodd–Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a major financial regulation reform bill; and the end of
the Iraq War. Obama also appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the
former being the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. He ordered Operation Neptune Spear,
the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the September 11 attacks. Obama
downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special
forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. He also ordered the 2011
military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973,
contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
Obama defeated Republican opponent Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. In his second
term, Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing the Paris Agreement, a major international
climate agreement, and an executive order to limit carbon emissions. Obama also presided over the
implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term. He negotiated
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a nuclear agreement with Iran, and normalized relations with
Cuba. The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan decreased during Obama's second term, though
U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout the remainder of his presidency. Obama promoted
inclusion for LGBT Americans, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly support same-sex
marriage.

Obama left office in 2017 with high approval ratings both within the United States and among foreign
advisories. He continues to reside in Washington D.C. and remains politically active, campaigning for
candidates in various American elections, including Biden's successful presidential bid in 2020. Outside
of politics, Obama has published three books: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of
Hope (2006), and A Promised Land (2020). His presidential library began construction in the South Side
of Chicago in 2021. Historians and political scientists rank Obama among the upper tier in historical
rankings of American presidents.