Barack Obama

Barack Obama made history on January 20, 2009, becoming the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to hold the nation's highest office, an achievement that resonated with symbolic power around the world. Born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother, Obama was raised largely in Hawaii and Indonesia before earning degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he became the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a civil rights attorney and community organizer in Chicago before serving in the Illinois State Senate and then the U.S. Senate representing Illinois. His 2008 presidential campaign galvanized millions of new voters with a message of hope and civic participation. As president he guided the country through the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, signed the Affordable Care Act, ordered the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, and worked to wind down two overseas wars. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. Re-elected in 2012, Obama served two full terms, leaving office in January 2017.