Barack Obama

44th President Barack Obama, 2009-201744th President Barack Obama, 2009-201744th President Barack Obama, 2009-201744th President Barack Obama, 2009-201744th President Barack Obama, 2009-201744th President Barack Obama, 2009-201744th President Barack Obama, 2009-201744th President Barack Obama, 2009-201744th President Barack Obama, 2009-2017

44th President Barack Obama, 2009-2017

44th President of the United States
(January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017)

Full Name: Barack Hussein Obama II
Nicknames: "Barry"

Born: August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii

Father: Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982)
Mother: Ann Dunham (1942-1995)
Married: Michelle Robinson (1964- ), on October 18, 1992
Children: Malia Ann Obama (1999- ); Natasha "Sasha" Obama (2001- )

Religion: United Church of Christ
Education: Attended Occidental College; Graduated Columbia University (1983); Graduated from Harvard Law School (1991)
Occupation: Lawyer
Political Party: Democrat
Other Government Positions:

  • Member of Illinois State Senate, 1996-2004
  • United States Senator, 2005-08

Presidential Salary: $400,000/year + $50,000 expense account

Presidential Election Results:

YearCandidatePopular VotesElectoral Votes
2008Barack Obama69,456,897365
(map)John McCain59,934,814173

YearCandidatePopular VotesElectoral Votes
2012Barack Obama65,899,625332
(map)Mitt Romney60,928.981206

Vice President: Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (2009-17)

Cabinet:

Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton (2009-13)
John Kerry (2013-17)
Secretary of the Treasury
Timothy F. Geithner (2009-13)
Jacob J. Lew (2013-17)
Secretary of Defense
Robert M. Gates (2006-11)
Leon E. Panetta (2011-13)
Chuck Hagel (2013-15)
Ashton Carter (2015-17)
Attorney General
Eric H. Holder, Jr. (2009-15)
Loretta E. Lynch (2015-17)
Secretary of the Interior
Kenneth L. Salazar (2009-13)
Sally Jewell (2013-17)
Secretary of Agriculture
Thomas J. Vilsack (2009-17)
Secretary of Commerce
Gary F. Locke (2009-11)
John Bryson (2011-12)
Rebecca M. Blank (2012-13)
Penny Pritzker (2013-17)
Secretary of Labor
Hilda L. Solis (2009-13)
Thomas E. Perez (2013-17)
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Kathleen Sebelius (2009-14)
Sylvia Mathews Murwell (2014-17)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Shaun L.S. Donovan (2009-14)
Julián Castro (2014-17)
Secretary of Transportation
Ray LaHood (2009-13)
Anthony Foxx (2013-17)
Secretary of Energy
Steven Chu (2009-13)
Ernest Moniz (2013-17)
Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan (2009-16)
John B. King, Jr. (2016-17)
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Eric K. Shinseki (2009-14)
Robert A. McDonald (2014-17)
Secretary of Homeland Security
Janet A. Napolitano (2009-13)
Jeh Johnson (2013-17)

Supreme Court Justices:
Sonia Sotomayor (2009- )
Elena Kagan (2010- )

Notable Events:
  • 2009
    • In an effort to rejuvenate the struggling U.S. economy, on February 4, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocated money for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization.
  • 2010
  • 2011
  • 2012
    • On May 9, Obama announced his support of same-sex marriage.
  • 2015
    • On June 26, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
  • 2016
    • On January 17, Obama announced an agreement with Iran to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons.
Internet Biographies:
Barack Obama -- from White House
Compiled by the White House.
Barack Hussein Obama -- from The American President
From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in addition to information on the Presidents themselves, they have first lady and cabinet member biographies, listings of presidential staff and advisers, and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration.
Barack Obama -- from Encyclopaedia Britannica
Facts about Obama and his presidency.
Videos:
Other Internet Resources:
Health and Medical History of Barack Obama
Medical background of each president with references. Compiled by John Sotos, MD.
Newspaper Front Pages from November 5, 2008 -- from NewseumED
Images of newspaper and magazine front pages from around the world on the day after Obama's historic victory in the 2008 Presidential election.
The Office of Barack and Michelle Obama
Press, scheduling, and greeting requests for the former president and first lady.
Points of Interest:
Additional Facts:
  • The name Barack means "one who is blessed" in Swahili.
  • Obama was the first African-American U.S. president.
  • Obama was the first president born outside of the contiguous United States.
  • Obama was the eighth left-handed president of the United States.
  • Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
  • Obama was the first president to appoint a former First Lady to his cabinet - Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State.
  • Obama was the first president to have his official photograph portrait taken with a digital camera.
  • Before leaving office, Obama published multiple articles in academic journals. He published an article on climate change in Science, an article on criminal justice reform in the Harvard Law Review, and a defense of the Affordable Care Act in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Quotes:

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

“We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.”

Previous President: George W. Bush
Next President: Donald J. Trump