Maddalena bearzi biography of barack obama

The biography for President Obama and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States. His story is the American story — values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.

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When Barack Obama was elected president in , he became the first African American to hold the office.

The framers of the Constitution always hoped that our leadership would not be limited to Americans of wealth or family connections. Subject to the prejudices of their time—many of them owned slaves—most would not have foreseen an African American president. Obama’s father, Barack Sr., a Kenyan economist, met his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, when both were students in Hawaii, where Barack was born on August 4, They later divorced, and Barack’s mother married a man from Indonesia, where he spent his early childhood.

Biography of barack obama early life Obama wanted to change that. At the Democratic National Convention that summer, he delivered a much acclaimed keynote address. Inaugurated before an estimated crowd of 1. As he did in , during his campaign for a second presidential term, Obama focused on grassroots initiatives.

Before fifth grade, he returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents and attend Punahou School on scholarship.

In his memoir Dreams from My Father (), Obama describes the complexities of discovering his identity in adolescence. After two years at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he transferred to Columbia University, where he studied political science and international relations.

Following graduation in , Obama worked in New York City, then became a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, coordinating with churches to improve housing conditions and set up job-training programs in a community hit hard by steel mill closures. In , he went to Harvard Law School, where he attracted national attention as the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

Returning to Chicago, he joined a small law firm specializing in civil rights.

In , Obama married Michelle Robinson, a lawyer who had also excelled at Harvard Law. Their daughters, Malia and Sasha, were born in and , respectively. Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in , and then to the U.S. Senate in At the Democratic National Convention that summer, he delivered a much acclaimed keynote address.

Some pundits instantly pronounced him a future president, but most did not expect it to happen for some time.

Maddalena bearzi biography of barack obama president But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity—the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one. As a child, Obama did not have a relationship with his father. Loading Comments They stated their intention to block any nominee put forward by Obama, fearing that such a confirmation would tip the balance toward a more liberal-leaning court.

Nevertheless, in he was elected over Arizona Senator John McCain by to electoral votes.

As an incoming president, Obama faced many challenges—an economic collapse, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the continuing menace of terrorism. Inaugurated before an estimated crowd of million people, Obama proposed unprecedented federal spending to revive the economy and also hoped to renew America’s stature in the world.

During his first term he signed three signature bills: an omnibus bill to stimulate the economy, legislation making health care more accessible and affordable, and legislation reforming the nation’s financial institutions. Obama also pressed for a fair pay act for women, financial reform legislation, and efforts for consumer protection.

In , Obama became the fourth president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

In , he was reelected over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by to electoral votes. The Middle East remained a key foreign policy challenge. Obama had overseen the killing of Osama bin Laden, but a new self-proclaimed Islamic State arose during a civil war in Syria and began inciting terrorist attacks.

Maddalena bearzi biography of barack obama The Obamas helped produce the documentary Crip Camp , which was nominated for best documentary feature at the Academy Awards. He graduated magna cum laude with his juris doctor from Harvard Law School in He also visited relatives in Kenya and paid an emotional visit to the graves of his biological father, who died in a car accident in November , and his paternal grandfather. Kennedy Lyndon B.

Obama sought to manage a hostile Iran with a treaty that hindered its development of nuclear weapons. The Obama administration also adopted a climate change agreement signed by nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming.

In the last year of his second term, Obama spoke at two events that clearly moved him—the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, and the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“Our union is not yet perfect, but we are getting closer,” he said in Selma. “And that’s why we celebrate,” he told those attending the museum opening in Washington, “mindful that our work is not yet done.”

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Learn more about Barack Obama’s spouse, Michelle Obama.