Barack Hussein Obama II was the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois from January 2005 until his election to the presidency in November 2008.

Birth and Education: Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and later worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

Legal and Academic Career: He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.

Political Career: In 1996, Obama was elected to represent the 13th district in the Illinois Senate, a position he held until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the 2008 presidential election, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate and defeated Republican nominee John McCain. Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, a decision that drew both criticism and praise.

Presidency: During his first term, his administration responded to the 2007–2008 financial crisis with measures including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a major stimulus package to guide the economy in recovering from the Great Recession; legislation to reform health care; and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Obama also appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. He oversaw the end of the Iraq War and ordered Operation Neptune Spear, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

He took steps to combat climate change during his second term, signing the Paris Agreement and presiding over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. He normalized relations with Cuba and promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans. Obama left office in 2017 with high approval ratings and remains politically active.

Publications: Outside of politics, Obama has published three books: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006), and A Promised Land (2020).