Barack Obama Timeline

Barack Obama was the junior United States Senator from Illinois, who held office from January 2005 to November 2008. He was nominated for the position of President in the United States Presidential election of 2008. He was the first African-American to be nominated for this position by a major political party in America, and the first African-American to win.

1961: Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His birth name is Barack Hussein Obama II.

1971: He started staying with his maternal grandparents in Honolulu and attended the Punahou School till high school graduation. From there, he moved to Los Angeles and attended the Occidental College for two years.

1983: He earned a B.A. from Colombia. He served at the Business International Corporation for a year and then worked at the New York Public Interest Research Group. He spent four years in New York City after which he moved to Chicago and served as Director of Developing Communities Project. He worked there till 1988.

1988: In late 1988, Obama joined the Harvard Law School. There he got the opportunity to preside over Law Review, wherein he served as editor-in-chief supervising eighty editors.

1991: Obama obtained Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard.

1992: On October 3, 1992, he married Michelle Robinson, an American lawyer who had worked as his adviser at the Chicago law firm for three months. From April to October 1992, he directed the Illinois' Project Vote and worked towards the registration of 150,000 out of 40,000 unregistered African-Americans in the state. During this very year, Obama began teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. He served as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a senior lecturer till 2004.

1995: By mid-1995, Obama came up with the manuscript of his book with the name 'Dreams from My Father'.

1996:: He was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996. He was reelected once in 1998 and for another time in 2002.

2003: He became the chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health, a Human Services Committee.

2004: In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. It was during this public address that he talked about changing the economic and social priorities of the government. In March 2004, he won a majority of 70 percent votes and was elected to the Senate.

2005: In January 2005, he became the fifth African-American Senator in the US history. He was the third one to be popularly elected for the post. He was always one of the most powerful senators ranked by Congress. When in power, he worked towards bringing about several reforms to the system.

2007: On February 10, Obama announced that he would be a candidate for President of the United States.

2008: In November this year, he was the President-elect of the United States of America. He won the presidential election which made him the forty-fourth President of the United States.

2009: He assumed office on January 20, 2009. Joe Biden would serve as the Vice President. Obama's work during the initial days of presidency includes, withdrawal of troops from Iraq and revocation of the Mexico City Policy. By signing the re-authorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, he covered 4 million uninsured children under it.

In May 2009, Obama nominated two women (Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan) to serve on the Supreme Court. With their appointment as Justices of the Supreme Court, there were three women holding this position, which was happening for the first time in American history. Later that year and in the beginning of 2010, Obama worked towards tackling issues like global warming and sexual violence, and towards bringing reforms to health care.

2010: In the April of 2010, Obama signed the New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia. He signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 in December that year, whereby lesbians, bisexuals, and gays could serve openly in the United States Armed Forces.

2011: This year saw the ousting and death of the oppressive Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, and the death of Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda and the man behind the September 11 attacks in America. The military intervention in Libya ordered by Obama, led to the death of Gaddafi. The military operation involving a raid launched from Afghanistan on Laden's compound in Pakistan, led to the end of Laden. These were two most significant operations in Obama's presidency and they proved to be landmark events in history.

2012: Obama defeated Mitt Romney to be elected as the United States President for the second time.

2013: His second term of Presidency began on January 20, 2013. He aims at bringing reforms to the economy, health care, and the immigration system in the United States.

Barack Obama has always emphasized on issues like ending the Iraq war, increasing energy independence, and working towards providing universal health care.

He has a deep concern for the social, economic, and political reforms of his country and the welfare of his people.