Barack Obama facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Barack Obama
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Official portrait, 2012
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| 44th President of the United States | |
| In office January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 |
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| Vice President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | George W. Bush |
| Succeeded by | Donald Trump |
| United States Senator from Illinois |
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| In office January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Peter Fitzgerald |
| Succeeded by | Roland Burris |
| Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th district |
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| In office January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Alice Palmer |
| Succeeded by | Kwame Raoul |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Barack Hussein Obama II
August 4, 1961 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
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| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Obama family |
| Education | |
| Occupation |
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| Awards | Full list |
| Signature |  |
| Website | |
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. As a member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American to become president. Before his presidency, Obama was a U.S. senator for Illinois and an Illinois state senator.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983. He later worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, he went to Harvard Law School, where he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, he worked as a civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.
In 2008, Obama won the presidential election, defeating Republican John McCain. During his first term, he dealt with the Great Recession by signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. He also signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a major health care reform law. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. In foreign policy, he oversaw the end of the Iraq War and the mission that killed Osama bin Laden.
Obama was reelected in 2012, defeating Republican Mitt Romney. In his second term, he took steps to fight climate change, including signing the Paris Agreement. He also normalized U.S. relations with Cuba. He became the first sitting president to support same-sex marriage.
After leaving office in 2017, Obama has remained active in public life. He lives in Washington, D.C., and has campaigned for other Democratic candidates. Historians often rank him in the upper tier of U.S. presidents.
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Early Life and Education
Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the only U.S. president born outside the 48 contiguous states. His mother, Ann Dunham, was from Kansas, and his father, Barack Obama Sr., was from Kenya. His parents met at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and married in 1961.
Obama's parents divorced in 1964. His father returned to Kenya and visited his son in Hawaii only once, in 1971. When Obama was six, he moved to Indonesia with his mother and his Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro. He lived in Jakarta for four years and learned to speak Indonesian.
In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his grandparents. He attended Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from fifth grade until he graduated in 1979. His mother and half-sister, Maya, also lived in Hawaii for a few years before returning to Indonesia.
College and Law School
After high school, Obama attended Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City. He graduated in 1983 with a degree in political science. After college, he worked in New York before moving to Chicago.
In Chicago, Obama worked as a community organizer from 1985 to 1988. He helped set up job training programs and other community projects on the city's South Side.
In 1988, Obama enrolled at Harvard Law School. He became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, a prestigious legal journal. He graduated with high honors in 1991. After law school, he returned to Chicago, where he taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for 12 years.
Family and Personal Life
In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson at a Chicago law firm. They began dating that summer and married on October 3, 1992. The couple has two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha, known as "Sasha" (born 2001).
While living in Washington, D.C., the family had two Portuguese Water Dogs named Bo and Sunny.
Obama is a fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team and the Chicago Bears football team. He also enjoys playing basketball and was on his high school's team.
Political Career
Illinois State Senator
In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate. He represented a district on Chicago's South Side. As a state senator, he worked with both Democrats and Republicans. He helped pass laws on ethics, health care, and criminal justice.
He sponsored a law to help low-income workers with tax credits. He also led the effort to require police to videotape interrogations in homicide cases. This was a major reform to prevent false confessions. He resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 after being elected to the U.S. Senate.