156 Facts About Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.

Barack Obama received national attention in 2004 with his March Senate primary win, his well-received keynote address at the July Democratic National Convention, and his landslide November election to the Senate.

Barack Obama was elected over Republican nominee John McCain in the presidential election and was inaugurated on January 20,2009.

Barack Obama ordered the counterterrorism raid which killed Osama bin Laden and downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries.

Barack Obama presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term, and he negotiated a nuclear agreement with Iran and normalized relations with Cuba.

Barack Obama left office on January 20,2017, and continues to reside in Washington, DC His presidential library in Chicago began construction in 2021.

Since leaving office, Barack Obama has remained active in Democratic politics, including campaigning for candidates in various American elections.

Outside of politics, Barack Obama has published three bestselling books: Dreams from My Father, The Audacity of Hope and A Promised Land.

Barack Obama was born on August 4,1961, at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Barack Obama is the only president born outside the contiguous 48 states.

Barack Obama was born to an American mother and a Kenyan father.

Barack Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent.

Barack Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship.

Barack Obama visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971, before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old.

In 1971, Barack Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham.

Barack Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work.

Barack Obama's mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer.

In February 1981, Barack Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in the disinvestment from South Africa in response to that nation's policy of apartheid.

In mid-1981, Barack Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan for three weeks.

Barack Obama graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7 GPA.

Two years after graduating from Columbia, Barack Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project, a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side.

Barack Obama worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.

Barack Obama helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.

Barack Obama worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.

Barack Obama was selected as an 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.

In 1991, Barack Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book.

Barack Obama then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004.

From April to October 1992, Barack Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Barack Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.

Barack Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2,2008, two days before his election to the presidency.

Barack Obama has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011.

Barack Obama lived with anthropologist Sheila Miyoshi Jager while he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.

Barack Obama proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down.

In June 1989, Barack Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.

The Barack Obama daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

Barack Obama is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and he threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator.

Barack Obama is primarily a Chicago Bears football fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after he took office as president.

In 2011, Barack Obama invited the 1985 Chicago Bears to the White House; the team had not visited the White House after their Super Bowl win in 1986 due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Barack Obama plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team, and he is left-handed.

In 2005, the Barack Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago.

Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Barack Obama may be worth as much as $10million.

Barack Obama is a Protestant Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life.

Barack Obama met Trinity United Church of Christ pastor Jeremiah Wright in October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992.

Since moving to Washington, DC, in 2009, the Barack Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, including Shiloh Baptist Church and St John's Episcopal Church, as well as Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis.

Barack Obama served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.

Once elected, Barack Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.

Barack Obama sponsored a law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.

In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Barack Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.

Barack Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002.

In January 2003, Barack Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.

Barack Obama sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.

Barack Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the US Senate.

In May 2002, Barack Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 US Senate race.

Barack Obama created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002.

On October 2,2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, Barack Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally, and spoke out against the war.

Barack Obama addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd "it's not too late" to stop the war.

In July 2004, Barack Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, seen by nine million viewers.

Barack Obama's speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.

Barack Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.

Barack Obama took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well.

Barack Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3,2005, becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Barack Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.

Later in 2007, Barack Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.

Barack Obama sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.

Barack Obama sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.

Barack Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006.

Barack Obama became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs.

Barack Obama met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority, and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi in which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government.

Barack Obama resigned his Senate seat on November 16,2008, to focus on his transition period for the presidency.

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

Barack Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and reforming the health care system.

On June 2,2008, Barack Obama had received enough votes to clinch his election.

Barack Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide.

On June 19,2008, Barack Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.

Barack Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent.

Barack Obama became the first African-American to be elected president.

Barack Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.

Barack Obama is one of the three United States senators moved directly from the US Senate to the White House, the others are Warren G Harding and John F Kennedy.

On November 6,2012, Barack Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president.

Barack Obama ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds and preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee.

Barack Obama revoked President George W Bush's restoration of President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City policy which prohibited federal aid to international family planning organizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion.

The first bill signed into law by Barack Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits.

In March 2009, Barack Obama reversed a Bush-era policy that had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research and pledged to develop "strict guidelines" on the research.

Barack Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his presidency.

Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor on May 26,2009, to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter; she was confirmed on August 6,2009, becoming the first Supreme Court Justice of Hispanic descent.

Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagan on May 10,2010, to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens.

Barack Obama was confirmed on August 5,2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three for the first time in American history.

On March 11,2009, Barack Obama created the White House Council on Women and Girls, which formed part of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, having been established by Executive Order 13506 with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to the welfare of American women and girls.

Barack Obama ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program, in favor of funding Earth science projects, a new rocket type, research and development for an eventual crewed mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to the International Space Station.

On January 16,2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Barack Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regarding gun control.

On January 5,2016, Barack Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.

On January 5,2016, Barack Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.

In 2011, Barack Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.

Barack Obama supported legislation that would have limited the NSA's ability to collect phone records in bulk under a single program and supported bringing more transparency to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Several incidents during Barack Obama's presidency generated disapproval from the African-American community and with law enforcement, and Barack Obama sought to build trust between law enforcement officials and civil rights activists, with mixed results.

On October 8,2009, Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.

On October 30,2009, Barack Obama lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV.

On December 22,2010, Barack Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which fulfilled a promise made in the 2008 presidential campaign to end the don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces.

In 2013, the Obama administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor of same-sex couples in the cases of Hollingsworth v Perry and United States v Windsor.

On February 17,2009, Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession.

Barack Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry in March 2009, renewing loans for General Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing.

In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Barack Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.

Barack Obama signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers", which temporarily boosted the economy.

The Bush and Barack Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury.

The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Barack Obama signed it on December 17,2010.

In December 2013, Barack Obama declared that growing income inequality is a "defining challenge of our time" and called on Congress to bolster the safety net and raise wages.

Barack Obama urged Congress to ratify a 12-nation free trade pact called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Barack Obama visited the Gulf, announced a federal investigation, and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent Congressional hearings.

Barack Obama then announced a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory review.

In December 2016, Barack Obama permanently banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in most United States-owned waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans using the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Act.

Barack Obama emphasized the conservation of federal lands during his term in office.

Barack Obama used his power under the Antiquities Act to create 25 new national monuments during his presidency and expand four others, protecting a total of 553,000,000 acres of federal lands and waters, more than any other US president.

Barack Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.

Barack Obama proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, cap premium increases, and allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs.

Barack Obama's proposal was to spend $900billion over ten years and include a government insurance plan, known as the public option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care.

On July 14,2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the US health care system, which Barack Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.

In March 2009, Barack Obama lifted a ban on using federal funds for stem cell research.

Barack Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab satellite TV network, Al Arabiya.

On June 4,2009, Barack Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling for "A New Beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.

On June 26,2009, Barack Obama condemned the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election.

In 2011, Barack Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen which targeted and killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American imam suspected of being a leading Al-Qaeda organizer.

In March 2015, Barack Obama declared that he had authorized US forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis in their military intervention in Yemen, establishing a "Joint Planning Cell" with Saudi Arabia.

In 2016, the Barack Obama administration proposed a series of arms deals with Saudi Arabia worth $115billion.

Barack Obama halted the sale of guided munition technology to Saudi Arabia after Saudi warplanes targeted a funeral in Yemen's capital Sanaa, killing more than 140 people.

On February 27,2009, Barack Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months.

The Barack Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011.

In June 2014, following the capture of Mosul by ISIL, Barack Obama sent 275 troops to provide support and security for US personnel and the US Embassy in Baghdad.

Early in his presidency, Barack Obama moved to bolster US troop strength in Afghanistan.

On December 1,2009, Barack Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date; this took place in July 2011.

In February 2013, Barack Obama said the US military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 US troops by February 2014.

Barack Obama was living in seclusion in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad.

Barack Obama visited Havana, Cuba for two days in March 2016, becoming the first sitting US president to arrive since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

The Barack Obama administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding the Iron Dome program in response to the waves of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.

In March 2010, Barack Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

Some Representatives questioned whether Barack Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.

In 2012, Barack Obama authorized multiple programs run by the CIA and the Pentagon to train anti-Assad rebels.

In 2014, Barack Obama authorized an air campaign aimed primarily at ISIL.

On October 1,2009, the Barack Obama administration went ahead with a Bush administration program, increasing nuclear weapons production.

In November 2013, the Barack Obama administration opened negotiations with Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons, which included an interim agreement.

In December 2011, Barack Obama instructed agencies to consider LGBT rights when issuing financial aid to foreign countries.

Barack Obama experienced a small poll bounce shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2,2011.

On October 9,2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Barack Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," which drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.

Barack Obama became the fourth US president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.

Barack Obama's presidency ended on January 20,2017, upon the inauguration of his successor, Donald Trump.

Barack and Michelle Obama signed a deal on May 22,2018, to produce docu-series, documentaries and features for Netflix under the Obamas' newly formed production company, Higher Ground Productions.

Barack Obama was reluctant to make an endorsement in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries because he wanted to position himself to unify the party, regardless of the nominee.

On March 4,2022, Barack Obama won an Audio Publishers Association Award in the best narration by the author category for the narration of his memoir A Promised Land.

In March 2023, Barack Obama traveled to Australia as a part of his speaking tour of the country.

Barack Obama is reportedly being paid more than $1 million for two speeches.

Barack Obama stated that he is against the expansion of the Supreme Court beyond the present 9 Justices.

Many commentators credit Barack Obama with averting a threatened depression and pulling the economy back from the Great Recession.

In 2009, Barack Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which contained in it the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.

Barack Obama substantially escalated the use of drone strikes against suspected militants and terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Barack Obama left about 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan, 5,262 in Iraq, 503 in Syria, 133 in Pakistan, 106 in Somalia, seven in Yemen, and two in Libya at the end of his presidency.

Barack Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60 percent approval rating.

Barack Obama gained 10 spots from the same survey in 2015 from the Brookings Institution that ranked him the 18th-greatest American president.