Barack Obama

President Barack Obama's years of public service are based around his unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose. Born in Hawaii, the son of a Kenyan father and a white Midwestern mother, Obama wrote about his difficult upbringing in his bestselling book Dreams Of My Father. He went on to attend Harvard Law School where he edited the prestigious Harvard Law Review. Working for a Chicago law firm he met his future wife Michelle Robinson. He later became an Illinois State Senator before being elected to the United States Senate. On the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Sen. Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president. He was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and sworn in on January 20, 2009, becoming the first African-American President in U.S. history. Now serving his second term, Obama has been working to reform gun laws and became the first President to openly support same sex marriage.  He and Michelle have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.