2. Barack Hussein Obama II, served as the 44th President of
the United States. His story is the American story —
values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a
strong family, hard work and education as the means of
getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed
should be lived in service to others.
When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, he
became the first African American to hold the office. The
framers of the Constitution always hoped that our
leadership would not be limited to Americans of wealth or
family connections. Subject to the prejudices of their
time—many of them owned slaves—most would not have
foreseen an African American president. Obama’s father,
Barack Sr., a Kenyan economist, met his mother, Stanley
Ann Dunham, when both were students in Hawaii, where
Barack was born on August 4, 1961. They later divorced,
and Barack’s mother married a man from Indonesia,
where he spent his early childhood. Before fifth grade, he
returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal
3. In his memoir ”Dreams from My Father” (1995), Obama
describes the complexities of discovering his identity in
adolescence. After two years at Occidental College in Los
Angeles, he transferred to Columbia University, where he
studied political science and international relations.
Following graduation in 1983, Obama worked in New York
City, then became a community organizer on the South
Side of Chicago, coordinating with churches to improve
housing conditions and set up job-training programs in a
community hit hard by steel mill closures. In 1988, he
went to Harvard Law School, where he attracted national
attention as the first African American president of
the Harvard Law Review. Returning to Chicago, he joined
a small law firm specializing in civil rights.
4. In 1992, Obama married Michelle
Robinson, a lawyer who had also
excelled at Harvard Law. Their
daughters, Malia and Sasha, were born
in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Obama
was elected to the Illinois Senate in
1996, and then to the U.S. Senate in
2004. At the Democratic National
Convention that summer, he delivered a
much acclaimed keynote address. Some
pundits instantly pronounced him a
future president, but most did not expect
it to happen for some time.
Nevertheless, in 2008 he was elected
over Arizona Senator John McCain by
365 to 173 electoral votes.
5. As an incoming president, Obama faced
many challenges—an economic collapse,
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the
continuing menace of terrorism.
Inaugurated before an estimated crowd of
1.8 million people, Obama proposed
unprecedented federal spending to revive
the economy and also hoped to renew
America’s stature in the world. During his
first term he signed three signature bills:
an omnibus bill to stimulate the economy,
legislation making health care more
accessible and affordable, and legislation
reforming the nation’s financial
institutions. Obama also pressed for a fair
pay act for women, financial reform
legislation, and efforts for consumer
protection. In 2009, Obama became the
fourth president to receive the Nobel
Peace Prize.
6. In 2012, he was reelected over former
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by
332 to 206 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 civil war in Syria and
began inciting terrorist attacks. Obama
sought to manage a hostile Iran with a treaty
that hindered its development of nuclear
weapons. The Obama administration also
adopted a climate change agreement signed
by 195 nations to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and slow global warming.
7. In the last year of his second term, Obama spoke at
two events that clearly moved him—the 50th
anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to
Montgomery, and the dedication of the National
Museum of African American History and Culture.
“Our union is not yet perfect, but we are getting
closer,” he said in Selma. “And that’s why we
celebrate,” he told those attending the museum
opening in Washington, “mindful that our work is not
yet done.”
