US Presidents · 21st century

Barack Obama

1961– · American

Democratic

In office: 2009–2017

Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th president, was the first African American to hold the office. A former community organiser, law lecturer and senator from Illinois, he took office during the Great Recession, passed the Affordable Care Act, authorised the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in his first year in office.

How to spot them

▸First African American president; born in Honolulu, Hawaii
▸'Yes we can'; 'Hope'; the 2004 Democratic convention keynote
▸Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act)
▸Nobel Peace Prize 2009; Dreams from My Father; The Audacity of Hope

In office

Keynote address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention (2004)

Speech that brought him to national prominence

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009)

Economic stimulus package during the Great Recession

The Affordable Care Act ('Obamacare') (2010)

Health reform expanding insurance coverage

The Dodd–Frank Act (2010)

Wall Street reform after the financial crisis

The raid on Abbottabad (2011)

US Navy SEAL operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Iran nuclear deal) (2015)

Agreement limiting Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief

Singing 'Amazing Grace' at the Charleston eulogy (2015)

Eulogy for the Reverend Clementa Pinckney after the Charleston church shooting

Restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba (2015)

Followed by the first visit to Cuba by a sitting president since 1928, in 2016

Quick-fire facts

•44th president; born in Honolulu on 4 August 1961; spent part of his childhood in Indonesia
•First African American president of the Harvard Law Review
•US senator from Illinois (2005–2008)
•Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009
•Joe Biden was his vice president
•Appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan; his nomination of Merrick Garland was not considered by the Senate
•In 2016 became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima
•Shepard Fairey designed the 'Hope' campaign poster; his memoir A Promised Land appeared in 2020

Drill it — 8 cards

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Sources

Miller Center, University of Virginia — Barack Obama
The Nobel Prize — Barack H. Obama – Facts