On this day, 10 years ago, Obama was sworn in as US President

Obama served as the 44th President of the United States (2009-2017). Previously he was a Senator from Illinois before a 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention cast him into the spotlight, leading to a successful 2008 presidential campaign.

His election was a watershed as he was the first African-American President of the United States. His first term was focused on dealing with economic crisis brought about by the Great Recession, signing in a number of important bills as part of an economic stimulus. In his first two years he brought in an overhaul of the healthcare system, known as “Obamacare”, and became the first sitting President to support same-sex marriage. In 2009 he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

In foreign policy Obama sought to reset relations with Russia which culminated in the New START Treaty signed in 2011. Relations however reached a low point not seen since the Cold War once Vladimir Putin returned to power in 2012. He ordered military operations in Libya to assist the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, ended military involvement in Iraq and ordered the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. Once ISIS captured large parts of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014, he authorized operations to resume in Iraq and ordered airstrikes in Syria. In other areas of the world he concluded a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, normalized US relations with Cuba, began a drawdown of forces in Afghanistan and signed the Paris Agreement to combat climate change.

Obama defeated Mitt Romney in 2012 to win a second term. In this he advocated for gun control after the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre and supported legislative and judicial efforts to support LGBT Americans. After Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea in 2014 he initiated sanctions against them, and did the same in response to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

After a lengthy and contentious election campaign, he was succeeded by Donald Trump on January 20, 2017.