Obama ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a military prison established by former President George W. Bush, but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds.

In 1988 Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

Obama's Portuguese Water Dog, Bo, was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.

After winning re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term in 2013.

The Cuban thaw was a warming of Cuba-United States relations that began in December 2014, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the two nations. In March 2016, Barack Obama became the first U.S. President to visit Cuba since 1928.

Obama received national attention in 2004, with his unexpected March primary win, his well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his landslide November election to the Senate.

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama served as First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is the first African-American First Lady.

Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60% approval rating.

President Obama's mother was Stanley Ann Dunham, an American anthropologist who specialized in the economic anthropology and rural development of Indonesia. She was caucasian.

Obama is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game while wearing a White Sox jacket.