Barack H. Obama, Jr.

In a historic election on November 4, 2008, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., became the first African-American elected president of the United States.

Obama's victory, while decisive, wasn't easy. He endured months of brutal campaigning, first against strong Democratic opponents, and later against Republican Senator John McCain.

Obama's quest to reach America's highest executive rank began shortly after his appearance at the 2004 Democratic convention. Then running for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, he impressed the convention with an impassioned speech about America's promise.

After his speech, and after his victory in the senate race, it was common to hear the Harvard-trained politician's name mentioned as a contender in the 2008 presidential election.

Yet, when Obama declared his candidacy for president on February 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois, the likelihood of him capturing the nomination seemed as remote as the day was chilly. Critics said he was too young, too inexperienced and too eager.

What some failed to realize was that Obama had spent a lifetime overcoming adversity and challenge. Born August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, he is the son of the late Barack Hussein Obama, a Kenyan, and Ann Dunham, who grew up in Kansas. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and he only met his Harvard-educated father once, he writes in his memoir, Dreams of My Father.

Obama lived for four years in Indonesia with his mother and her second husband. It was in that country he witnessed desperate poverty and severe political and societal ills.

When he returned to America to live with his grandparents, Obama enrolled in a prestigious school, where he experienced classism and racism. Despite such struggles, he graduated with honors that would later take him to Columbia University (B.A., 1983) and Harvard University (J.D., 1991).

Obama's professional career includes serving as a community organizer with the Developing Communities Project in Chicago. After graduating from Harvard, where he was the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review, he practiced civil rights law. He later joined the faculty at the University of Chicago Law School. He became an Illinois state senator in 1995, and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. In 2006, his book, The Audacity of Hope, was published. A defining moment for his 2008 presidential campaign came in early January when Obama won the Iowa primary. He went on to win multiple state primaries and deliver an inspiring speech on race in the final stretches of his campaign.

On November 4, 2008, Obama captured 365 electoral votes, compared to McCain's 173. He gained 53 percent of the vote, compared to 46 percent for McCain.

Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009. At his side were his wife, Michelle Robinson Obama, and his two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

His lilting campaign slogan, "Yes We Can," continues to inspire millions of Americans.

In remarks he made to ninth graders at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, in September 2009, he said, "You've got to be hungry to want to learn more — whatever the subject is. And if you have that hunger and that drive and that passion, you're going to do well. And if you don't, you know, you're just going to do okay, you'll be mediocre. And I don't think that's what any of you want for your lives."

On October 9, 2009, he won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his international diplomacy efforts.