Coordinates	54°39′″N19°55′″N
show name	The Oprah Winfrey Show
genre	Talk show
creator	Oprah Winfrey
presenter	Oprah Winfrey
country
language	English
num seasons	25
num episodes	4,561
location	Chicago, Illinois
camera	Multiple
runtime	45 minutes
company	Harpo Productions
distributor	CBS Television Distribution
channel	Syndicated
picture format	480i SDTV720p HDTV 1080i HDTV
audio format	MTS stereo
first aired
last aired
website	http://www.oprah.com
production website	}}

''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' was an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history.

The show was highly influential, and many of its topics penetrated into American pop-cultural consciousness. While early episodes of the show follow a Phil Donahue-style exploration of sensationalistic social issues, Oprah eventually transformed her series into a more positive, spiritually uplifting experience by featuring book clubs, celebrity interviews, self-improvement segments, and philanthropic forays into world events. The show gained credibility by not trying to profit off the products it endorsed; it had no licensing agreement with retailers when products were promoted, nor did the show make any money from endorsing books for its book club.

As of 2011, it was one of the longest-running daytime television talk shows in the United States and in television history, having run nationally since September 8, 1986 for 25 seasons and 4,561 episodes. The show entered its 25th and final season on September 13, 2010, and its final episode aired on May 25, 2011.

History

The show had its roots in ''AM Chicago'', a half-hour morning talk show airing on WLS-TV in Chicago, Illinois. Winfrey took over as host on January 2, 1984 and, within a few months, took it from last place to first place in the ratings. On September 8, 1986, it was relaunched under its current title and was picked up nationally. The show began broadcasting in high definition in its 2008–09 season, becoming one of the first nationally syndicated daytime talk shows to do so.

The show was renewed through 2011, but in a 2008 interview with Larry King, Oprah announced that in 2011, she would not renew her contract, thus ending the show. A new prime-time show called Oprah's Next Chapter is planned for OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

Early in Oprah's 12th season of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah confessed she was "exhausted" and considered quitting. While making the movie ''Beloved'' (1997), Oprah then admitted that it brought her back to her responsibility as an admired black woman with a great deal of power and influence. She realized that being in such a position within the media industry, she could make a positive difference in people's lives. Oprah was once again inspired to continue to help people take better control of their destinies, hence her current slogan, "Live Your Best Life".

"I made the decision…in the midst of doing Beloved. I was doing some scenes – Beloved is about an ex-slave, and during that process of doing that I connected to really what slavery had meant, and my own personal ancestry and history connected it to a way I have never before from reading all about Black history and, you know, talking to relatives. And I realized that I had no right to quit coming from a history of people who had no voice, who had no power, and that I have been given this – this blessed opportunity to speak to people, to influence them in ways that can make a difference in their lives, and to just use that."

The show, a production of Harpo Productions, was the last program to be distributed by King World Productions, which has since been absorbed by CBS Television Distribution.

In 2002, the show ranked #49 on ''TV Guide''s countdown of the greatest American shows.

Interviews

Winfrey interviewed a plethora of political and public figures over the past 20 years. In the earlier seasons of the show, rather than offering a simple publicity platform, a celebrity would often be featured after a period of intense media scrutiny, such as when the model Naomi Campbell appeared after there were claims that she had a substance abuse problem. Oprah often interviewed celebrities on issues that directly involved them in some way, such as cancer or charity work.

Winfrey claims her worst interviewing experience was with Elizabeth Taylor in the fourth season. The actress refused to talk about her marriages and current relationship. Taylor later apologized and returned in a better mood to Winfrey's couch. Winfrey's interview with Tom Cruise, which was broadcast on May 23, 2005, also gained notoriety. Cruise—according to ''The New York Times''—"jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell rapturously to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend, Katie Holmes." This scene quickly became part of American pop-cultural discourse and was heavily parodied in media as diverse as ''MADtv'', ''The Simpsons'', ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Family Guy'', ''Hannah Montana'', ''South Park'', ''That's So Raven'', ''All That'', ''Drake and Josh'', ''Scrubs (TV series)'' and the film ''Scary Movie 4'',.

Non-celebrity guests were generally individuals who had been involved in an extraordinary situation. Examples included an episode in the fourth season which featured Truddi Chase, a woman with supposed Multiple Personality Disorder, who reported being violently and sexually abused beginning at the age of two. After introducing Chase, who was there to promote her book ''When Rabbit Howls'', Oprah unexpectedly broke down in tears while reading the teleprompter, relating her own childhood molestation to that of the guest. Unable to control herself, Winfrey repeatedly asked producers to stop filming. Other non-celebrity appearances included guests who were chosen for being particularly un-fashionable and who were given a fashion makeover by renowned style advisers Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine. In 2009, British couple Gerry and Kate McCann went on the show to aid the search for their missing daughter, Madeline, who went missing in Portugal in 2007.

Singer Celine Dion appeared on the show 27 times, the most of any celebrity, besides Gayle King, Oprah's best friend, who has appeared 140 times.

Giveaways

On the season premiere of 2004, every person in Winfrey's show audience was given a new car (donated by General Motors). Some 302 "ultimate fans" accompanied Winfrey to Australia (donated by Australian tourism bodies). Other giveaway shows included the annual Oprah's favorite things show, where the studio audience received products Winfrey considered good Christmas gifts.

Other famous moments

The surviving members of the Little Rock Nine confronted some former classmates who heckled them on their first day of high school.

On December 25, 1986, a frail Liberace made his final public appearance on ''Oprah''; he died six weeks later of cardiac arrest due to congestive heart failure brought on by subacute encephalopathy.

In 1987, Winfrey traveled to Forsyth County, Georgia, which is 95% white and had gained a reputation as being a hotbed for racism. It turned out that a majority of the county actually supported racial integration.

The "Diet Dreams Come True" episode airing November 15, 1988, showed Winfrey wearing size 10 Calvin Klein jeans and wheeling out a wagon containing 67 pounds of fat, representing the weight she had lost. The highest-rated single episode ever was in 1993 when Michael Jackson made a rare appearance on the show, during which he attempted to dispel many of the rumors surrounding him and told Winfrey he suffered from the skin-pigment disorder known as vitiligo. The episode was watched by 62 million viewers.

In 1995, Winfrey confessed to previously using drugs as a result of a relationship.

In 1997, American stand-up comedian, television host and actress Ellen DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on the show.

A. J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys appeared in 2003 with his mother to openly discuss his drug addiction and rehabilitation. Winfrey surprised him with the rest of the band coming out to give him support, making this the first time they appeared together in two years.

Jacqueline Saburido, a woman who suffered burns on her entire body after a car crash in 1999, appeared on the show in 2003. Winfrey later referred to her as one of her favorite all-time guest because of her shining inner beauty. The mother of Reginald Stephey, the drunk driver who caused the accident, also appeared on the same show and spoke to Saburido about her son's mistake.

Charla Nash, who was mauled by Sandra Herold's pet chimpanzee Travis on February 16, 2009, spoke about the attack for the first time on November 11, 2009 and revealed her disfigured face to the public for the first time on Oprah's show. Charla always covers her face with a veil.

While taping the show's 24th season premiere on September 8, 2009, the entire audience of 21,000 people, gathered on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, surprised Winfrey by breaking out into a synchronized dance set to The Black Eyed Peas' performance of "I Gotta Feeling" (with new lyrics congratulating Oprah on her show's longevity). The dance had been choreographed and rehearsed for weeks by a core group of dancers, who taught it to the entire crowd earlier in the day.

Regular segments and campaigns

;Oprah's Book Club :Originally featured a monthly book highlight, including author interviews. Its popularity caused featured books to shoot to the top of bestseller lists, often increasing sales by as many as a million copies at its peak. It was suspended in 2002 and returned in 2003, featuring more classic works of literature, with reduced selections per season. The original format was reintroduced in September 2005, but Oprah's selection of James Frey's ''A Million Little Pieces'' became controversial due to accusations of falsification. January 2006 saw Elie Wiesel's ''Night'' selected; Winfrey even traveled to Auschwitz with Wiesel.

;What's The Buzz? :Winfrey introduced up-and-coming public figures who generated industry buzz but not otherwise widely known. In what several media commentators have labelled ''The Oprah Effect'', people appearing on this segment such as Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx and singer James Blunt benefited from the extra publicity the show garnered. Blunt in particular saw album sales increase dramatically and landed a Top Two spot on the Billboard 200.

;Remember Your Spirit :Premiering and most popular during the mid-1990s, recurring guest and self-described spiritualist Iyanla Vanzant emphasized the importance of self-affirmation and intrinsic worth.

;Oprah's Favorite Things : Usually aired during the holiday shopping season or at the beginning of spring. Items personally favored by Winfrey were given away to the audience. Certain episodes of this type featured select groups of people; in 2005's Christmas edition, Hurricane Katrina volunteer workers appeared in the audience. In November 2006, Oprah opted to hand out debit cards of $1,000 and camcorders to members of her studio audience, who were then told to use the money creatively to help others. Winfrey has since called it her favorite giveaway ever.

;Tuesdays With Dr. Oz :Mehmet Oz, the Ivy-League educated head of cardiac surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in NYC and better known to millions of Winfrey's viewers as "Dr. Oz", regularly appeared on Tuesdays during the 2008–2009 season. In 2009, Dr. Oz debuted ''The Dr. Oz Show'' in first-run syndication. The series is co-produced by Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television.

;Fridays Live :A weekly live episode premiered in the show's 23rd season with a panel consisting of Mark Consuelos, Ali Wentworth, Oprah Winfrey, and Gayle King. The panel discussed the week's news and highlighted events in the media and on the show. :In the 2009-10 season, Winfrey hosted this segment on her own. Fridays Live did not return for the show's 25th season.

;No Phone Zone :In March 2010, Winfrey began a campaign to stop drivers from talking or texting on their cell phone in their vehicles while driving. This campaign was regularly noted near the beginning or at the end of episodes.

Wildest Dreams

A show feature called "Wildest Dreams" fulfilled the dreams of people reported to Oprah by the producers — mostly viewers who wrote in to the show — be they dreams of a new house, an encounter with a favorite performer, or a guest role on a popular TV show.

During her 2004 season premiere, Winfrey surprised her entire audience of 276 by giving them each a Pontiac G6 automobile. It was named as one of the greatest television moments in history by ''TV Guide'', and as The Paley Center for Media's most surprising TV moment of all time. The cars, which had a total value of $7 million, were donated by General Motors and each winner was responsible for $7,000 in taxes or else forfeited the gift.

In 2005, Tina Turner guest starred, allowing ''Desperate Housewives'' star Felicity Huffman to fulfill her Wildest Dream of singing backup to Turner. Another installment featured a man named David Caruso who lost 300 pounds. He came on the show in 2003 and told Oprah that one of his wishes was to sit in a Porsche. Minutes later, a Porsche was given to him. Winfrey named this one of her 20 favorite moments on a DVD set.

Criticism

A controversial episode, which aired in 2005 (though originally aired to little apparent notice in October 2003), saw guests discussing the sexual act of "rimming", igniting criticism. The FCC received a proliferation of complaints from angry parents whose children watched the show in an early-evening slot in many television markets. However, most FCC correspondents were prodded to write by Howard Stern, a noteworthy target of the agency, as well as Jimmy Kimmel, in an attempt to expose an FCC double standard.

During the 2008 presidential election campaign, Winfrey was criticized for apparently declining to invite Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to her show until after the election.

In the late 1990s, on a discussion of mad cow disease, Winfrey stated that the disease fears had "stopped me cold from eating another burger!" Texas cattle ranchers considered that quote tantamount to defamation, and promptly sued her for libel. The show was still producing new episodes at the time of the trial and couldn't go into reruns, so the production was forced to move to Amarillo, Texas for a period of approximately one month during the proceedings. A gag order meant Winfrey was not allowed to even mention the trial on her show. Winfrey was found not liable. The trial and move to Amarillo led to Winfrey meeting Phil McGraw; Winfrey made McGraw a regular guest on her show shortly thereafter, which eventually led to McGraw getting his own show, produced by Winfrey's Harpo Productions.

Winfrey's program was criticized for featuring alternative medicine advocates such as Suzanne Somers.

In the lead up to Winfrey's tour of Australia, the show was heavily criticized for airing a segment sponsored by the McDonald's Corporation in which it was claimed by Australian TV personality Carrie Bickmore that Australians liked to hang out at "hip McCafés". This depiction of Australian culture was greeted with surprise by many Australians, and anger throughout the Australian coffee industry, which claimed the statements did not accurately reflect the industry, painted the Australian coffee drinker in a bad light, and expected that the industry would be negatively affected by the statements. In the same episode, McDonald's products were handed out to the studio audience.

Final season

In 1997, Winfrey said she was planning to retire, but then renewed her contract through 2002. In 2002, she said she would depart in 2006—the show's 20th anniversary year—but in 2004 she extended through 2011 after riding a wave of high ratings and a revamped program in 2003. In an appearance on ''Good Morning America'' on September 10, 2009, Winfrey told Diane Sawyer that she would make the decision of retiring or renewing her contract before the end of the year.

Discovery Communications chief executive David Zaslav said in early November 2009 that ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' would depart broadcast syndication in fall 2011. Zaslav told analysts, "The current expectation is that after autumn 2011 her show will go off of...syndication, and she will come to OWN", the cable network that Winfrey's production company is creating in conjunction with Discovery. Harpo Productions denied that Winfrey had made a final decision at that point. However, on November 19, 2009, Harpo announced the show would indeed end in 2011, as noted on-air by Winfrey the following day.

Monday, September 13, 2010 was the season premiere of ''The Oprah Winfrey Show''s final season. Oprah opened the show with guest John Travolta. Oprah announced that the 300 guests in the audience were her most loyal fans of the show and showed that on the website and through emails. Those 300 people were invited there specifically for the premiere show. She said that Travolta was voted the most favorite guest.

The 25th season premiere included flashbacks from the last 25 years, and included various audience members and their experiences watching Oprah. There was also a segment on how they chose some of the 300 people who were in the audience. Don Johnson and Paul Simon also made special guest appearances on the premiere show.

At the end of the show, Oprah announced that she was flying all 300 audience members with her to Australia and that John Travolta would be the pilot. On 11 December 2010 Winfrey arrived in Sydney, Australia to record shows at the Sydney Opera House. Winfrey and her 300 American audience members were officially welcomed at a cocktail party in Sydney's Botanical Gardens overlooking Sydney Harbour. The beach-themed party, hosted by New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally, featured live music from top recording artist Guy Sebastian and a fireworks display over the water which culminated in the lighting of a red 'O' on the Harbour Bridge.

The episodes in Australia were coordinated between Harpo Studios, Tourism Australia, Tourism New South Wales, the Sydney Opera House, Tourism Victoria, Tourism Queensland, R.M. Williams and Network 10. The federal government of Australia spent $1.5 million on the event while the government of the state of New South Wales spent an additional $1–2 million to promote the region. Tourism minister Martin Ferguson said "I think it's money well spent".

Winfrey is not expected to designate a successor, and because of the nature of television syndication, no single program will replace ''Oprah'' across the United States. Nevertheless, a number of other programs have been positioned as potential replacements for the show, which in most areas occupies a prime late-afternoon timeslot: Some stations are expected to insert another highly rated talk show, such as ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' or ''The Dr. Oz Show'', into ''Oprah'''s current timeslot. Others may instead try expanding their local newscasts. ''Oprah'''s home station WLS-TV in Chicago, which originally launched Winfrey's program as a local morning talk show and has continued to air it in the 9:00 a.m. timeslot ever since, will launch a new local morning talk show – called ''Windy City LIVE'' – in place of ''Oprah''. The station says it has no intention of converting the new program into another nationally syndicated talk show as occurred with ''Oprah''. Warner Bros. Television Distribution will syndicate a new talk show hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper beginning in fall 2011, calling the program comparable to Winfrey's "in terms of range". Both Warner Bros. and CNN are owned by Time Warner. A new Rosie O'Donnell-hosted talk show (similar to her 1996-2002 series) was proposed for syndication as well, but O'Donnell has since agreed to have that program broadcast on OWN instead. ABC, whose O&O; station group is the lead carrier of ''Oprah'', had been considering moving its late-morning talk show ''The View'' into the ''Oprah'' timeslot, either on the ABC network or repackaged for syndication (through Disney-ABC Domestic Television). However, ABC has reportedly since told affiliates it is no longer pursuing either option.

Final episodes

The final episode of ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' aired in the United States on Wednesday, May 25, 2011. It was preceded by a two-part farewell special recorded at the United Center in Chicago in front of an audience of 13,000. The two-part show featured appearances by Aretha Franklin, Tom Cruise, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Tom Hanks, Maria Shriver, Will Smith, and Madonna. The final episode was a smaller affair, recorded in the usual recording studio but with no guests. Oprah spent most of the finale thanking the show's staff and her fans. She finished the show in tears. The finale was marked by viewing parties across the US, and the episode was also shown in movie theaters. The episode received the show's highest rating in 17 years.

United States viewership

It has been reported that the show averages an estimated 7, 14, and 15-20 million viewers a day in the United States. It has also been reported at 26 million and 42 million a week (5.2 and 8.4 million a day). Viewership for the show has been reported to have dropped over the years, averaging 12.6 million in 1991-2, 9 million in 2004, 9 million in 2005, 7.8 in 2006, 7.3 million in 2008, and 6.2 million in 2009.

The show was number one in the talk show ratings since its debut. Even with the decline in ratings and the constant competition of Winfrey's rival (Judge Judy), Oprah still maintained a constant lead over other prime talk shows.

International syndication

The show aired on most ABC-owned stations in the United States (as well as various other stations through CBS Television Distribution, successor to King World), CTV in most Canadian markets, Diva TV in the United Kingdom, TV3 Ireland in Ireland, GNT in Brazil, national TV3 in Sweden, Network Ten in Australia, La7d in Italy, MBC 4 in the Arab world, and farsi1 in Iran

The show aired in 149 countries where it was often renamed and dubbed into other languages, including:

Abu Dhabi

Angola

Aruba

Australia

Bahrain (as سوسن الشاعر)

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bermuda

Bolivia

Bonaire

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei Darussalam

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Republic of Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

China

Colombia

Comoros

Congo

Costa Rica

Croatia (as Oprah show)

Curaçao

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Democratic Rep. of the Congo

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominican Republic

Dubai

Ecuador

Egypt (as أوبرا وينفري)

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Ethiopia

Finland (as Oprah)

France

Fujairah

Gabon

Gambia

Germany (as ''Die Oprah Winfrey Show'')

Ghana

Greece

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea Bissau

Hong Kong

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel (as (Oprah Winfrey))

Italy

Ivory Coast

Jamaica

Japan ()

Jordan

Kenya

Kuwait

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Luxembourg

Macau

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mayotte

Mexico (as El show de Oprah Winfrey)

Monaco

Morocco

Mozambique

Namibia

Nepal

Netherlands

New Caledonia

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palestinian Territories

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Philippines

Portugal

São Tomé and Príncipe

Qatar

Ras al-Khaimah

Réunion

Romania

Rwanda

St. Helena

St. Lucia

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sharjah

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovenia

Somalia

South Africa

South Korea

Sri Lanka

Suriname

Swaziland

Sweden

Taiwan

Tanzania

Thailand

Togo

Trinidad & Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Uganda

Umm Al-Qaiwain

United Kingdom

Venezuela

Vietnam

Virgin Islands, U.S.

Western Sahara

Yemen

Zambia

Zanzibar

Zimbabwe

See also

''Oprah After the Show''

Further reading

References

External links

Oprah's Angel Network

Oprah's Book Club

TV Network

Oprah Winfrey at TVGuide.com

Category:Oprah Winfrey Category:1980s American television series Category:1990s American television series Category:2000s American television series Category:2010s American television series Category:1986 television series debuts Category:2011 American television series endings Category:American television talk shows Category:English-language television series Category:First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Category:Harpo Productions Category:Television series by CBS Paramount Television

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Coordinates	54°39′″N19°55′″N
Name	Barack Obama
Alt	A portrait shot of Barack Obama, looking straight ahead. He has short black hair, and is wearing a dark navy blazer with a blue striped tie over a light blue collared shirt. In the background are two flags hanging from separate flagpoles: the American flag, and the flag of the Executive Office of the President.
Office	44th President of the United States
Vicepresident	Joe Biden
Term start	January 20, 2009
Predecessor	George W. Bush
Jr/sr2	United States Senate
State2	Illinois
Term start2	January 3, 2005
Term end2	November 16, 2008
Predecessor2	Peter Fitzgerald
Successor2	Roland Burris
Office3	Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th District
Term start3	January 8, 1997
Term end3	November 4, 2004
Predecessor3	Alice Palmer
Successor3	Kwame Raoul
Birth name	Barack Hussein Obama II
Birth date	August 04, 1961
Birth place	Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Michelle Robinson (1992–present)
Children	Malia (born 1998) Sasha (born 2001)
Residence	White House (Official)Chicago, Illinois (Private)
Alma mater	Occidental CollegeColumbia University (B.A.)Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Profession	Community organizerLawyerConstitutional law professorAuthor
Religion	Christianity
Signature	Barack Obama signature.svg
Signature alt	Barack Obama
Website	barackobama.com
Footnotes	}}

Barack Hussein Obama II (; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the ''Harvard Law Review''. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he ended the war in Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered US involvement in the 2011 Libya military intervention, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.

Early life and career

Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is the first President to have been born in Hawaii. His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was of mostly English ancestry, along with Scottish, Irish, German, and Swiss. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Nyanza Province, Kenya. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on scholarship. The couple married on February 2, 1961, separated when Obama Sr. went to Harvard University on scholarship, and divorced in 1964. Obama Sr. remarried and returned to Kenya, visiting Barack in Hawaii only once, in 1971. He died in an automobile accident in 1982.

After her divorce, Dunham married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro, who was attending college in Hawaii. When Suharto, a military leader in Soetoro's home country, came to power in 1967, all Indonesian students studying abroad were recalled, and the family moved to the Menteng neighborhood of Jakarta. From ages six to ten, Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, including Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Assisi School.

In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Armour Dunham, and with the aid of a scholarship attended Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979. Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972, remaining there until 1977 when she went back to Indonesia to work as an anthropological field worker. She finally returned to Hawaii in 1994 and lived there for one year before dying of ovarian cancer.

Of his early childhood, Obama recalled, "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind." Reflecting later on his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered—to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect—became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear." Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind." At the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency, Obama identified his high-school drug use as a great moral failure.

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend Occidental College. In February 1981, he made his first public speech, calling for Occidental's disinvestment from South Africa due to its policy of apartheid. In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan and India for three weeks. Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. He worked for a year at the Business International Corporation, then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Chicago community organizer and Harvard Law School

Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988. He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute. In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time. He returned in August 2006 for a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya.

In late 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School. He was selected as an editor of the ''Harvard Law Review'' at the end of his first year, and president of the journal in his second year. During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as an associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. After graduating with a J.D. ''magna cum laude'' from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago. Obama's election as the first black president of the ''Harvard Law Review'' gained national media attention and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations, which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as ''Dreams from My Father''.

University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney

In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book. He then taught at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years—as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004—teaching constitutional law.

From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, and led to ''Crain's Chicago Business'' naming Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be. In 1993 he joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.

From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project; and of the Joyce Foundation. Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.

Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was reelected again in 2002. In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority. He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations. During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms. Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Senate campaign

In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race; he created a campaign committee, began raising funds and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002, and formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.

Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq. On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally, and spoke out against the war. He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd that "it's not too late" to stop the war.

Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates. In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, ''Dreams from My Father''. In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, seen by 9.1 million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.

Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004. Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote.

U.S. Senator: 2005–2008

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus. ''CQ Weekly'' characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007. Obama announced on November 13, 2008, that he would resign his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, before the start of the lame-duck session, to focus on his transition period for the presidency.

Legislation

Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. He introduced two initiatives bearing his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons; and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.

Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after being heavily modified in committee. Regarding tort reform, Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which grants immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit with NSA warrantless wiretapping operations.

In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007. Obama also introduced Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections, and the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, neither of which has been signed into law.

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges. This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008. He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which has not passed committee; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.

Committees

Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006. In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority, and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi condemning corruption within the Kenyan government.

Presidential campaigns

2008 presidential campaign

On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858. Obama emphasized the issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care, in a campaign that projected themes of "hope" and "change".

A large number of candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to a duel between Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules. On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.

On August 23, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate. Biden was selected from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support. Obama delivered his acceptance speech, not at the center where the Democratic National Convention was held, but at Invesco Field at Mile High to a crowd of over 75,000; the speech was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide.

During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.

McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate and the two engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008. On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain. Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent. He became the first African American to be elected president. Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.

2012 presidential campaign

On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his re-election campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission.

Presidency

First days

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President, and Joe Biden as Vice President, took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp "as soon as practicable and no later than" January 2010, but during his first two years in office he has been unable to persuade Congress to appropriate funds required to accomplish the shutdown. Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records and changed procedures to promote disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. He also reversed George W. Bush's ban on federal funding to foreign establishments that allow abortions.

Domestic policy

The first bill signed into law by Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits. Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an additional 4 million uninsured children. In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy which had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research. Obama stated that he believed "sound science and moral values ... are not inconsistent" and pledged to develop "strict guidelines" on the research.

Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his Presidency. Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by Obama on May 26, 2009, to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter, was confirmed on August 6, 2009, becoming the first Hispanic to be a Supreme Court Justice. Elena Kagan, nominated by Obama on May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three, for the first time in American history.

On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration proposed new regulations on power plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming.

On October 8, 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, a reconciliation bill which ends the process of the federal government giving subsidies to private banks to give out federally insured loans, increases the Pell Grant scholarship award, and makes changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In a major space policy speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and ended development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program. He is focusing funding (which is expected to rise modestly) on Earth science projects and a new rocket type, as well as research and development for an eventual manned mission to Mars. Missions to the International Space Station are expected to continue until 2020.

On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, a bill that provides for repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993 that has prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces. Repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" had been a key campaign promise that Obama had made during the 2008 presidential campaign.

On January 25, 2011, in his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama focused strongly on the themes of education and innovation, stressing the importance of innovation economics in working to make the United States more competitive globally. Among other plans and goals, Obama spoke of enacting a five-year freeze in domestic spending, eliminating tax breaks for oil companies and tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans, banning congressional earmarks, and reducing healthcare costs. Looking to the future, Obama promised that by 2015, the United States would have one million electric vehicles on the road and by 2035, clean-energy sources would be providing 80 percent of U.S. electricity.

Economic policy

On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession. The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals, which is being distributed over the course of several years.

In March, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage the financial crisis, including introducing the Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2 trillion in depreciated real estate assets. Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry in March 2009, renewing loans for General Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat and a reorganization of GM giving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company, with the Canadian government shouldering a 12 percent stake. In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment. He signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers", that temporarily boosted the economy.

Although spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department authorized by the Bush and Obama administrations totaled about $11.5 trillion, only $3 trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009. However, Obama and the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the 2010 budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion or 10.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion or 9.9 percent of GDP. For 2011, the administration predicted the deficit will slightly shrink to $1.34 trillion, while the 10-year deficit will increase to $8.53 trillion or 90 percent of GDP. The most recent increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion was signed into law on February 12, 2010. On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforces limits on discretionary spending until 2021, establishes a procedure to increase the debt limit, creates a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and establishes automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings. By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent an unprecedented U.S. government default on its obligations.

The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.1 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year. Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries. GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter. Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year. In July 2010, the Federal Reserve expressed that although economic activity continued to increase, its pace had slowed, and Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that the economic outlook was "unusually uncertain." Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010.

The Congressional Budget Office and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth. The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1 million, while conceding that "It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package." Although an April 2010 survey of members of the National Association for Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed that the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.

Within a month of the 2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-year payroll tax reduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount for estate taxes. The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010.

Health care reform

Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal. He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap premium increases, and to allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900 billion over 10 years and include a government insurance plan, also known as the public option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and require every American carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans.

On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009. After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals. In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on stem cell research.

On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House. On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39. On March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212. Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes health-related provisions to take effect over four years, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) starting in 2014, subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percent of the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum "out-of-pocket" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 to 9.5 percent of income, providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishing health insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and Congressional Budget Office figures, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level.

The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, cuts to the Medicare Advantage program in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies; there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.

Gulf of Mexico oil spill

On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a major sustained oil leak. The well's operator, BP, initiated a containment and cleanup plan, and began drilling two relief wells intended to stop the flow. Obama visited the Gulf on May 2 among visits by members of his cabinet, and again on May 28 and June 4. On May 22 he announced a federal investigation and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent Congressional hearings. On May 27, he announced a 6-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory review. As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.

Foreign policy

In February and March, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms "break" and "reset" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration. Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab cable TV network, Al Arabiya.

On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran. This attempt at outreach was rebuffed by the Iranian leadership. In April, Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey, which was well received by many Arab governments. On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling for "a new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.

On June 26, 2009, in response to the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election, Obama said: "The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. We see it and we condemn it." On July 7, while in Moscow, he responded to a Vice President Biden comment on a possible Israeli military strike on Iran by saying: "We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East."

On September 24, 2009, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. During the same month, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about one-third. The New START treaty was signed by Obama and Medvedev in April 2010, and was ratified by the U.S. Senate in December 2010.

Iraq War

On February 27, 2009, Obama declared that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months. His remarks were made to a group of Marines preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end." The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troops levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of 35,000 to 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last United States combat brigade exited Iraq. The plan is to transition the mission of the remaining troops from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces. On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over. On October 21, 2011 President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be, "home for the holidays".

War in Afghanistan

Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase to U.S. troop levels of 17,000 in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires". He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war. On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan. He also proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date. McChrystal was replaced by David Petraeus in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.

Israel

During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including a record number of U.S. troops participating in military exercises in the country, increased military aid, and the re-establishment of the U.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group. It was reported high-ranking defense officials from both countries had been making an unusual number of trips between the two countries, including Ehud Barak. Part of the military aid increase in 2010 was to fund Israel's missile defense shield. Before his retirement in September 2011, Adm. Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made four trips to Israel during his four-year tenure, two of them in 2010. Prior to 2007 no Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had done so for over ten years.

In 2011, Obama's Ambassador to the United Nations vetoed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the U.S. the only nation on the Security Council doing so. Obama supports the two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict based on the 1967 borders with land swaps.

Libya

In March 2011, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, the Arab League, and a resolution passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. In response to the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17, Gaddafi who had previously vowed to "show no mercy" to the citizens of Benghazi—announced an immediate cessation of military activities, yet reports came in that his forces continued shelling Misrata. The next day, on Obama's orders, the U.S. military took a lead role in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities in order to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone, including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets. Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all of its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector. Some Representatives questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.

Osama bin Laden

Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad. CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011. Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs. The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound. Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing, and buried at sea several hours later. Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square. Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and from many countries around the world.

2010 midterm election

Obama called the November 02, 2010 election, where the Democratic Party lost 63 seats in, and control of, the House of Representatives, "humbling" and a "shellacking". He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.

Cultural and political image

Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement. Obama is also not a descendant of American slaves. Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong". Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation."

Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator. During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama has delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses.

According to the Gallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68 percent approval rating before gradually declining for the rest of the year, and eventually bottoming out at 41 percent in August 2010, a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office. He experienced a small poll bounce shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden, which lasted until around June 2011, when his approval numbers dropped back to where they were prior to the operation. Polls show strong support for Obama in other countries, and before being elected President he has met with prominent foreign figures including then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italy's Democratic Party leader and then Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In a February 2009 poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France 24 and the ''International Herald Tribune'', Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as well as the most powerful. In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn.

Obama won Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook versions of ''Dreams from My Father'' in February 2006 and for ''The Audacity of Hope'' in February 2008. His concession speech after the New Hampshire primary was set to music by independent artists as the music video "Yes We Can", which was viewed 10 million times on YouTube in its first month and received a Daytime Emmy Award. In December 2008, ''Time'' magazine named Obama as its Person of the Year for his historic candidacy and election, which it described as "the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments".

On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Obama accepted this award in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2009, with "deep gratitude and great humility." The award drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures. Obama is the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.

Family and personal life

In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband and seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In ''Dreams from My Father'', Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years. Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, which he learned during his four childhood years in Jakarta. He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.

Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President.

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001. The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School. The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago. The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.

In December 2007, ''Money'' magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million. Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books. On his 2010 income of $1.7 million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.

Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy, and, in early 2010, Michelle Obama said that he had successfully quit smoking.

Religious views

Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in ''The Audacity of Hope'' that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".

In an interview with the evangelical periodical ''Christianity Today'', Obama stated: "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."

On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."

Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ, a black liberation church, in 1988, and was an active member there for two decades. Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public. After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.

Notes

}}

References

Further reading

Graff, Garrett. "The Legend of Barack Obama", ''Washingtonian'', November 1, 2006. Retrieved on January 14, 2008.

Koltun, Dave (2005) ''"The 2004 Illinois Senate Race: Obama Wins Open Seat and Becomes National Political "Star""'' in ''"The Road to Congress 2004"'' Editors: Sunil Ahuja (Youngstown State University) and Robert Dewhirst (Truman State University), Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, New York, 2005, ISBN 1-59454-360-7

Lizza, Ryan. "Above the Fray", ''GQ'', September 2007. Retrieved on October 27, 2010.

MacFarquhar, Larissa. "The Conciliator: Where is Barack Obama Coming From?", ''New Yorker'', May 7, 2007. Retrieved on January 14, 2008.

McClelland, Edward, ''Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President'', Bloomsbury Press, 2010.

Zutter, Hank De. "What Makes Obama Run?", ''Chicago Reader'', December 8, 1995. Retrieved on January 14, 2008.

External links

;Official

President Barack Obama ''White House official website''

BarackObama.com (official re-election campaign website)

;Other

Collected news and commentary at the ''Chicago Tribune''

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Coordinates	54°39′″N19°55′″N
Name	Michelle Obama
Image name	Michelle Obama official portrait headshot.jpg
Office	First Lady of the United States
Term start	January 20, 2009
Predecessor	Laura Bush
Birth date	January 17, 1964
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Birthname	Michelle LaVaughn Robinson
Nationality	American
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Barack Obama (m. 1992)
Children	Malia (born 1998) Sasha (born 2001)
Residence	Hyde Park, Chicago (private)The White House (official)
Alma mater	Princeton University (A.B.)Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Protestant Christian
Signature	Michelle Obama signature.svg }}

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Obama attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School before returning to Chicago and to work at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her future husband. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband's presidential bid and delivered a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. As the wife of a Senator, and later the First Lady, she has become a fashion icon and role model for women, and an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition and healthy eating.

Family and education

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, to Fraser Robinson III, a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian (née Shields), a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store. Her mother was a full-time homemaker until Michelle entered high school. The Robinson and Shields families can trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South. Specifically, her roots can be traced to the Gullah people from South Carolina's Lowcountry region. Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was an American slave in the state of South Carolina, where some of her paternal family still reside. Her maternal great-great-great grandmother, Melvinia Shields, also a slave, became pregnant by a white man. His name and the nature of their union have been lost. She gave birth to Michelle's biracial maternal great-great grandfather, Dolphus T. Shields.

Michelle grew up in a two-story house on Euclid Street in Chicago's South Shore community area. Her parents rented a small apartment on the house's second floor from her great-aunt, who lived downstairs. She was raised in what she describes as a "conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table". The family entertained together by playing games such as Monopoly and by reading. They attended services at nearby South Shore Methodist Church. The Robinsons used to vacation in a rustic cabin in White Cloud, Michigan. She and her brother, Craig (who is 21 months older), skipped the second grade. By sixth grade, Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet Academy).

She attended Whitney Young High School, Chicago's first magnet high school, where she was a classmate of Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita. The round trip commute from the Robinsons' South Side home to the Near West Side, where the school was located, took three hours. She was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer. Obama graduated in 1981 as the salutatorian of her class.

Michelle was inspired to follow her brother to Princeton University; he graduated in 1983. At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational. As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." "I remember being shocked," she says, "by college students who drove BMWs. I didn't even know parents who drove BMWs." While at Princeton, she got involved with the Third World Center (now known as the Carl A. Fields Center), an academic and cultural group that supported minority students, running their day care center which also included after school tutoring. Robinson majored in sociology and minored in African American studies and graduated ''cum laude'' with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985. She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. At Harvard she participated in demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who were members of minorities and worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting low-income tenants with housing cases. She is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, after her two immediate predecessors, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush. In July 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the 100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate chapter at Princeton when she attended.

She met Barack Obama when they were among the few African Americans at their law firm, Sidley Austin (she has sometimes said only two, although others have pointed out there were others in different departments), and she was assigned to mentor him as a summer associate. Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her. The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie ''Do the Right Thing''. They married in October 1992, and have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001). After his election to the U.S. Senate, the Obama family continued to live on Chicago's South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C. Throughout her husband's 2008 campaign for President of the United States, she made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week — to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children. She is the first cousin, once removed, of Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., one of the country’s most prominent black rabbis.

She once requested that her then-fiancé meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when considering her first career move. Now, Jarrett is one of her husband’s closest advisors. The marital relationship has had its ebbs and flows; the combination of an evolving family life and beginning political career led to many arguments about balancing work and family. Barack Obama wrote in his second book, ''The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream'', that "Tired and stressed, we had little time for conversation, much less romance". However, despite their family obligations and careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights.

The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private school. As a member of the school's board, Michelle fought to maintain diversity in the school when other board members connected with the University of Chicago tried to reserve more slots for children of the university faculty. This resulted in a plan to expand the school. Malia and Sasha now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington, after also considering Georgetown Day School. Michelle stated in an interview on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' that they do not intend to have any more children. The Obamas have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Rodham Clinton about raising children in the White House. Marian Robinson, Michelle's mother, has moved into the White House to assist with child care.

Career

Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin, where she first met her future husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property. She continues to hold her law license, but as she no longer needs it for her work, it has been on a voluntary inactive status since 1993.

In 1991, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies. She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood 12 years after she left.

In 1996, she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center. In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs. She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign, but cut back to part time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband's election; she subsequently took a leave of absence from her job. According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, her salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while her husband had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The Obamas' total income, however, was $991,296, which included $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, and investments and royalties from his books.

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (), a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007. She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

2008 Presidential election

Although Obama has campaigned on her husband's behalf since early in his political career by handshaking and fund-raising, she did not relish the activity at first. When she campaigned during her husband's 2000 run for United States House of Representatives, her boss at the University of Chicago asked if there was any single thing about campaigning that she enjoyed; after some thought, she replied that visiting so many living rooms had given her some new decorating ideas.

At first, Obama had reservations about her husband's presidential campaign, due to fears about a possible negative effect on their daughters. She says that she negotiated an agreement in which her husband was to give up smoking in exchange for her support of his decision to run. About her role in her husband's presidential campaign she has said: "My job is not a senior adviser." During the campaign, she has discussed race and education by using motherhood as a framework.

In May 2007, three months after her husband declared his presidential candidacy, she reduced her professional responsibilities by 80 percent to support his presidential campaign. Early in the campaign, she had limited involvement in which she traveled to political events only two days a week and traveled overnight only if their daughters could come along; by early February 2008 her participation had increased significantly, attending thirty-three events in eight days. She made several campaign appearances with Oprah Winfrey. She wrote her own stump speeches for her husband's presidential campaign and generally spoke without notes.

Throughout the campaign, the media often labeled her as an "angry black woman," and some Web sites attempted to propagate this image, prompting her to respond: "Barack and I have been in the public eye for many years now, and we've developed a thick skin along the way. When you’re out campaigning, there will always be criticism. I just take it in stride, and at the end of the day, I know that it comes with the territory." By the time of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in August, media outlets observed that her presence on the campaign trail had grown softer than at the start of the race, focusing on soliciting concerns and empathizing with the audience rather than throwing down challenges to them, and giving interviews to shows like ''The View'' and publications like ''Ladies' Home Journal'' rather than appearing on news programs. The change was even reflected in her fashion choices, wearing more informal clothes in place of her previous designer pieces. The ''View'' appearance was partly intended to help soften her public image, and it was widely-covered in the press.

The presidential campaign was her first exposure to the national political scene; even before the field of Democratic candidates was narrowed to two, she was considered the least famous of the candidates' spouses. Early in the campaign, she told anecdotes about the Obama family life; however, as the press began to emphasize her sarcasm, she toned it down. ''New York Times'' op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd wrote: }}

On the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Craig Robinson introduced his younger sister. She delivered her speech, during which she sought to portray herself and her family as the embodiment of the American Dream. Obama said both she and her husband believed "that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, and you do what you say you're going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them." She also emphasized loving her country, in response to criticism for her previous statements about feeling proud of her country for the first time. That keynote address was largely well received and drew mostly positive reviews. A Rasmussen Reports poll found that her favorability among Americans reached 55%.

On an October 6, 2008 broadcast, Larry King asked her if the American electorate was past the Bradley effect. She stated that her husband's achievement of the nomination was a fairly strong indicator that it was. The same night she also was interviewed by Jon Stewart on the ''Daily Show'' where she deflected criticism of her husband and his campaign. On Fox News' ''America's Pulse'', E. D. Hill referred to the fist bump shared by the Obamas on the night that he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination as a "terrorist fist jab"; Hill was taken off air and the show itself was cancelled.

First Lady of the United States

Public image and style

With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, Michelle Obama has become a part of popular culture. In May 2006, ''Essence'' listed her among "25 of the World's Most Inspiring Women." In July 2007, ''Vanity Fair'' listed her among "10 of the World's Best Dressed People." She was an honorary guest at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball as a "young'un" paying tribute to the 'Legends,' which helped pave the way for African American Women. In September 2007, ''02138'' magazine listed her 58th of 'The Harvard 100'; a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni. Her husband was ranked fourth. In July 2008, she made a repeat appearance on the ''Vanity Fair'' international best dressed list. She also appeared on the 2008 ''People'' list of best-dressed women and was praised by the magazine for her "classic and confident" look.

At the time of her husband's election, some sources anticipated that as a high-profile African-American woman in a stable marriage she would be a positive role model who would influence the view the world has of African-Americans. Her fashion choices were part of the 2009 Fashion week, but Obama's influence in the field did not have the impact on the paucity of African-American models who participate, that some thought it might.

She has been compared to Jacqueline Kennedy due to her sense of style, and also to Barbara Bush for her discipline and decorum. Her white, one-shoulder Jason Wu 2009 inaugural gown was said to be "an unlikely combination of Nancy Reagan and Jackie Kennedy". Obama's style is described as populist. She often wears clothes by designers Calvin Klein, Isabel Toledo, Narciso Rodriguez, Donna Ricco and Maria Pinto, and has become a fashion trendsetter, in particular her favoring of sleeveless dresses that showcase her toned arms.

She appeared on the cover and in a photo spread in the March 2009 issue of ''Vogue''. Every First Lady since Lou Hoover (except Bess Truman) has been in ''Vogue'', but only Hillary Clinton had previously appeared on the cover.

The media have been criticized for focusing more on the first lady's fashion sense than her serious contributions. She has stated that she would like to focus attention as First Lady on issues of concern to military and working families. ''U.S.News & World Report'' blogger, PBS host and Scripps Howard columnist Bonnie Erbe has argued that Obama's own publicists seem to be feeding the emphasis on style over substance. Erbe has stated on several occasions that she is miscasting herself by overemphasizing style.

Work undertaken and causes promoted

During her early months as First Lady, she visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She also sent representatives to schools and advocated public service. On her first trip abroad in April 2009, she toured a cancer ward with Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She has begun advocating on behalf of military families. Like her predecessors Clinton and Bush, who supported the organic movement by instructing the White House kitchens to buy organic food, Obama has received attention by planting an organic garden and installing bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House, which will supply organic produce and honey to the First Family and for state dinners and other official gatherings.

Obama has become an advocate of her husband's policy priorities by promoting bills that support it. Following the enactment of the Pay equity law, Obama hosted a White House reception for women's rights advocates in celebration. She has pronounced her support for the economic stimulus bill in visits to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and United States Department of Education. Some observers have looked favorably upon her legislative activities, while others have said that she should be less involved in politics. According to her representatives, she intends to visit all United States Cabinet-level agencies in order to get acquainted with Washington.

She gained growing public support in her early months as first lady. She is notable for her support from military families and some Republicans. As the public is growing accustomed to her, she is becoming more accepted as a role model. ''Newsweek'' described her first trip abroad as an exhibition of her so-called "star power" and MSN described it as a display of sartorial elegance. There were questions raised in the American and British media regarding protocol when the Obamas met Queen Elizabeth II, and Michelle reciprocated a touch on her back by the Queen during a reception, purportedly against traditional royal etiquette. Palace sources denied that any breach in etiquette had occurred.

On June 5, 2009, the White House announced that Michelle Obama was replacing her current chief of staff, Jackie Norris, with Susan Sher, a longtime friend and adviser. Norris will become a senior adviser to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Then in February 2010, the resignation of White House Social Secretary, Desiree Rogers was announced to be effective the following month. Rogers had been at odds with other administration officials, such as David Axelrod, and then the White House State Dinner faux pas occurred on November 24, 2009. Rogers was replaced by Julianna Smoot.

After a year as First Lady, she undertook her first lead role in an administrationwide initiative. Her goal was to make progress in reversing the 21st century trend of childhood obesity. She stated that her goal is to make this effort her legacy: "I want to leave something behind that we can say, ‘Because of this time that this person spent here, this thing has changed.’ And my hope is that that’s going to be in the area of childhood obesity." She has named the movement "Let's Move!". This effort does not supplant her other efforts: supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family, encouraging national service, promoting the arts and arts education, and fostering healthy eating and healthy living for children and families across the country. She has earned widespread publicity on the topic of healthy eating by planting the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt served as First Lady.

References

Further reading

External links

First Lady Michelle Obama at Whitehouse.gov

"About Michelle Obama" at BarackObama.com

Michelle Obama collected news and commentary at ''Chicago Tribune''

Michelle Obama collected news and commentary at U.S.News & World Report

Michelle Obama On Love, Family & Politics, interview with Katie Couric of ''CBS News'', February 15, 2008

Photoessay in ''Newsweek''

Category:1964 births Category:African American history Category:African American female lawyers Category:First Ladies of the United States Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Illinois Democrats Category:Illinois lawyers Category:Living people Category:Obama family Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Spouses of Illinois politicians Category:Spouses of United States Senators Category:United Church of Christ members Category:Whitney M. Young Magnet High School alumni Category:Women in Illinois politics

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Coordinates	54°39′″N19°55′″N
Name	Anne Robinson
Birth name	Anne Josephine Robinson
Birth date	September 26, 1944
Birth place	Crosby, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Television	''Watchdog'' (1993–2001, 2009–present)''The Weakest Link'' (2000–present)
Occupation	Broadcaster, journalist
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	(divorced) (divorced)
Children	Emma (born 1971)
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	White Irish
Networth	}}

Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944) is a British television presenter and former journalist, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, ''Watchdog'', from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009. She gained notoriety as the hostess of the BBC television game show ''The Weakest Link'' which has earned her the nickname "Queen of Mean". She is due to finish presenting ''Weakest Link'' in 2012 when her contract ends.

Biography

Born in Crosby, (then Lancashire, now Merseyside), near Liverpool, Anne Robinson is of Irish descent. Her father was a school teacher, while her mother Anne Josephine Robinson (née Wilson), who was an alcoholic, was an agricultural businesswoman from Ireland, where she was the manager of a market stall. When she came to England she married into her husband's family of wholesale chicken dealers, and sold rationed rabbit after World War II. Raised initially at the family home in Crosby, Robinson attended a private Roman Catholic convent Boarding School in Hampshire, Farnborough Hill School. She was hired as a chicken gutter and sales person during the holidays in the family business, before taking office jobs at a law firm. The family spent their summers on holiday in France, often at the Carlton Hotel, Cannes.

Early career

On leaving school, Robinson chose journalism over training for the theatre. After working in a news agency, she arrived in London in 1967 as the first young female trainee on the ''Daily Mail.'' Robinson's mother's going-away present to her daughter was an MG sportscar and a fur coat. Robinson secured a permanent position as a result of scooping the details of the story of Brian Epstein's death from being a family friend of the Liverpool solicitor handling the legalities, offering him a ride to Euston station when he couldn't find an available taxi.

Her work became more uncomfortable for her when she met and fell in love with the deputy news editor, Charlie Wilson, and the two got married in 1968 — he subsequently had to fire her as a result of the marriage. Robinson joined ''The Sunday Times,'' and in 1970 the couple had a daughter, Emma Wilson, who is now a British radio disc jockey and has also hosted Scaredy Camp, a game show in the USA on the Nickelodeon network. In 1973, the marriage disintegrated after Robinson, like her mother, became an alcoholic. That same year, both Robinson and Wilson initiated divorce proceedings.

In December 1978, she resigned from ''The Sunday Times'' and returned home to Crosby to recover from her alcoholism. She then began working for the ''Liverpool Echo.''

First female editor

Robinson returned to Fleet Street in 1980, working as columnist and Assistant Editor of the ''Daily Mirror'' from the week that the Falklands War started. She also wrote a column under the pseudonym of the ''"Wednesday Witch,"'' in which she developed her vitriolic style.

During her career as a newspaper journalist, she developed a flair for writing tabloid headlines. On 14 November 1982 Robinson attended a formal dinner attended by HM Queen Elizabeth II, at which she noted that Diana, Princess of Wales arrived late. Robinson asked the Mirror's Royal Editor James Whitaker to investigate, and after conversations with various sources including Diana's sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale, confirmed Diana was suffering from an eating disorder, named as anorexia in a scoop article on 19 November. As a result, Buckingham Palace Press Secretary, Michael Shea, rang then Mirror editor Mike Molloy to remove Robinson. Robinson was subsequently removed from the editorial rota, and was advised by Malloy to "do more television blossom, that's what you're good at." Some years later, Robinson was told why she was removed, and it was subsequently confirmed that Diana suffered from bulimia.

Robinson has written a weekly column for a succession of other British newspapers, such as ''Today'', ''The Sun'', ''The Express'', ''The Times;'' and currently ''The Daily Telegraph.''

Television

Robinson began appearing on BBC television in 1982, initially as an occasional panellist on ''Question Time.'' From 1986, she began sitting in for regular presenter Barry Took on television viewers show ''Points of View,'' taking over permanently in 1988 for 11 years. In 1993, she took over the presentation and writing of consumer affairs television programme ''Watchdog.'' She also presented a weekly show on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday mornings, which ran from 1988 to 1993. She returned to the station briefly in 1996, sitting in for Jimmy Young on the Lunchtime slot for two weeks.

Robinson is best known in the UK for hosting the British version of ''The Weakest Link''. Similarly, in the United States she is best known for hosting the NBC primetime version of ''Weakest Link''. She originally started with an icy, mysterious appearance and persona, remaining indifferent to funny and friendly moments throughout; however, that has toned down much over the years, with her often smiling and on occasion laughing, especially on the celebrity episodes. Her usage of insults and caustic remarks as well as personal questions delivered to contestants, has become infamous on ''The Weakest Link''. Her repeated blunt utterance, "You ''are'' the weakest link — goodbye!" became a catchphrase soon after the show started in 2000. Her ''Weakest Link'' persona has been likened to that of ''Judge Judy.'' Though comparable to Simon Cowell of the UK's ''Pop Idol'' and ''American Idol'' in the US, Robinson is disliked by Cowell, who commented in an interview "I hate her and I hate her show because it's just an act." Asked by the Duke of Edinburgh to present some Duke of Edinburgh's Awards, she agreed subject to his taking part in the ''Weakest Link'' – the Duke declined. In 2005, she made an appearance on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', admitting she had been an unfit mother.

Robinson also hosted an episode of ''Have I Got News For You'' in 2002 where she was baited slightly by Ian Hislop because of her admiration for Robert Maxwell. The programme also showed a clip from a 1995 episode where Paul Merton made fun of her wink.

Robinson hosted the BBC's outtakes programme ''Outtake TV'' until 2009. She currently hosts a satirical news-based chat show on BBC One called ''What's the Problem? With Anne Robinson'', and the BBC's interactive quiz, ''Test the Nation.'' In 2006, Robinson was ranked number 46 in the ITV poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars. She was also voted the second most terrifying celebrity on television in a 2006 ''Radio Times'' poll of 3,000 people.

Robinson appeared on Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car, the segment of the motoring programme ''Top Gear'' on BBC Two, going around the Top Gear track in 1minute 57s. In 2005, Robinson voiced a robot version of herself in the ''Doctor Who'' episode "Bad Wolf" — Anne Droid was a gynoid presenting a deadly future version of ''The Weakest Link'', where the losing contestants were killed. She appeared in the ''My Family'' episode "Susan of Troy" as a special guest in April 2007. In January 2009, she appeared as the 'guest host' on ''The Sunday Night Project'', where a parody of ''The Weakest Link'' was made. Alan Carr played Anne Robinson, and Anne herself played one of the contestants "Kelly Brook."

Robinson was spoofed on the television comedy impressions show ''Dead Ringers.'' Robinson also appeared on an episode of the TV show ''Providence'', hosting ''The Weakest Link'' in one of Syd's dreams where Syd and her family competed on the show.

In May 2009, it was announced Robinson would return to present BBC One's long-running consumer show, ''Watchdog''. In April 2011, Robinson confirmed that she will quit presenting ''Weakest Link'' in 2012 after spending eleven years as the host of 1,690 shows.

Controversy

Robinson caused a stir when she appeared on the comedy show ''Room 101'' on 5 March 2001. It was started by Robinson, who made derogatory comments about Welsh people, such as "What are they for?" and "I never did like them," and even suggesting that Prince Philip also disliked the Welsh. This caused an outcry and accusations of racism. After four senior officers from North Wales Police spent 96 hours investigating the issue, she apologised for the comments and agreed to do promotional work for the Wales Tourist Board to encourage people to visit the country. In addition to this, BBC2 show Robot Wars also saw a protest against these remarks by Welsh team Megamorg, who placed a picture of Robinson on the front of the robot in the hope it would get destroyed.

In the same show, she put comedian Ben Elton into Room 101 in protest at his hosting the Royal Variety Performance. She argued that he should be sent to the room "for being a total and utter hypocrite and going back on everything he stood for in the 80s and 90s". In April 2002, Robinson was then placed into the Room 101 bin by Jessica Stevenson who said she couldn't stand Robinson's bare-faced cheek for insulting people on her show...she then went on to say that Robinson reminded her to a certain "german dictator who also hated his own people" as Liverpool was so close to Wales, the black leather outfit her short hair and mustache and then had another swip at Robinson for using botox "she's not exactly an oil painting is she" she looks rather tired.

The BBC received 16 complaints after Robinson asked wine connoisseur Olly Smith, who was competing on the celebrity version of ''The Weakest Link'', to feel her breasts, after he described her as a "full-bodied, expensive red". The programme was broadcast Saturday 5 April 2008 on BBC One.

Robinson caused controversy on ''The Weakest Link'' when she made ''Blue Peter'' legend John Noakes cry after asking "What happened to Shep? Did he die or just run away?" Shep had been Noakes's pet both on and off ''Blue Peter''.

Robinson is a vocal supporter of foxhunting and, prior to it being banned in 2004, was a key supporter of the pro hunt cause. ''The Guardian'' claims she has also ridden with the White Horse Foxhunt. In an interview with ''Radio Times'' in September 2000, Robinson was asked what her first act as world leader would be, replying "I'd lock up all the hunt saboteurs because they are destructive. They are campaigning about something of which they know nothing."

In February 2002, she hosted a spin-off version of ''The Weakest Link'' in Cirencester to raise funds for the local White Horse Hunt. The event was picketed by around 100 protesters from The League Against Cruel Sports, however around 70 animal rights activists returning from another demonstration joined the picket, culminating in a near riot. The event eventually went ahead after Anne Robinson was escorted into the venue by local police.

Personal life

Robinson's first marriage was in 1968 to journalist Charlie Wilson, with whom she had a daughter, Emma. The marriage lasted five years.

In 1973, Robinson lost a custody battle for her only child, Emma, then aged two. Charles Wilson was granted sole custody, care and control of Emma, who subsequently lived with her father until she left home at 16 for boarding school.

An admitted alcoholic, she stopped drinking on 12 December 1978 after picking her daughter up from school and driving to a petrol station to buy a bottle of vodka.

Robinson married journalist John Penrose in 1980. The couple lived between houses in Kensington and the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, where they had a garden by Rosemary Verey. On 30 September 2007, the couple announced that they were planning to divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences".

In 1996, Robinson was made an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University.

In 2001, she published her autobiography, ''Memoirs of an Unfit Mother'', in which she describes her former drinking problem.

On 23 April 2006, the ''Sunday Times Rich List'' named Robinson as one of the UK's richest media personalities, worth £60 million. She also appeared in the 2004 and 2005 rich list.

Robinson has two grandchildren.

References

External links

Bio on PFD website. (Wayback Machine copy)

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:Daily Mail journalists Category:English autobiographers Category:English game show hosts Category:English journalists Category:English people of Irish descent Category:English radio DJs Category:English television presenters Category:Journalists from Liverpool Category:People from Crosby, Merseyside Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Television presenters from Liverpool Category:The Sunday Times people Category:The Times people

ar:آن روبنسون de:Anne Robinson nl:Anne Robinson simple:Anne Robinson fi:Anne Robinson

Coordinates	54°39′″N19°55′″N
Name	Donald Trump
Birth name	Donald John Trump
Birth date	June 14, 1946
Birth place	Queens, New York City,New York, U.S.
Occupation	*Chairman and president of The Trump Organization Chairman of Trump Plaza Associates, LLC Chairman of Trump Atlantic City Associates Host of ''The Apprentice''
Years active	1968–present
Salary	$60 million (2010–11)
Networth	US$2.9 to $7.0 billion(2011)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Fordham UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania (B.S.)
Party	Independent (2011–present)Republican (1987–99; 2009–11) Democratic (2001–09) Reform Party (1999–2000)
Spouse	Melania Trump (2005–present) Marla Maples (1993–99) Ivana Trump (1977–92)
Children	Donald Trump Jr. (b. 1977)Ivanka Trump (b. 1981)Eric Trump (b. 1984)Tiffany Trump (b. 1993)Barron Trump (b. 2006)
Residence	Trump Tower, Manhattan
Religion	Presbyterian
Signature	Donald Trump Signature.svg
Website	}}

Donald John Trump, Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show ''The Apprentice'' have made him a well-known celebrity who was No. 17 on the 2011 Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

Trump is the son of Fred Trump, a New York City real-estate developer. He worked for his father's firm, Elizabeth Trump & Son, while attending the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1968 officially joined the company. He was given control of the company in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization.

In 2010, Trump expressed an interest in becoming a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election. In May 2011, he announced he would not be a candidate, but a few weeks later he said he had not completely ruled out the possibility. In December 2011, Trump was suggested as a possible Vice Presidential selection by Michele Bachmann.

Early life and education

Trump is a son of Fred Trump and his wife, Mary Anne MacLeod, who married in 1936. His mother was born on the Island of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland. Donald was one of five children. Donald's oldest brother, Fred Jr., died in 1981 at the age of 43. Trump's paternal grandparents were German immigrants. His grandfather, Frederick Trump (''née'' Freidrich Drumpf), emigrated to the United States in 1885 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1892. Frederick married Elisabeth Christ (October 10, 1880 – June 6, 1966) at Kallstadt, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, on August 26, 1902. They had three children.

Trump attended the Kew-Forest School, Forest Hills, New York, as did some of his siblings. At age 13 after having some difficulties there, his parents sent him to the New York Military Academy (NYMA), hoping to direct his energy and assertiveness in a positive manner. At NYMA, in upstate New York, Trump earned academic honors, and played varsity football in 1962, varsity soccer in 1963, and varsity baseball from 1962 to 1964 (baseball captain 1964). The baseball coach, Ted Dobias, a local celebrity for his work with area youth, awarded him the Coach's Award in 1964. Promoted to Cadet Captain-S4 (Cadet Battalion Logistics Officer) in his senior year, Trump and Cadet First Sergeant Jeff Donaldson (NYMA class of 1965; West Point 1969) formed a composite company of cadets, taught them advanced close-order drill, and marched them down Fifth Avenue on Memorial Day, 1964.

Trump attended Fordham University for two years before transferring to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in economics. In his book, ''Trump: The Art of the Deal'', Trump discusses his undergraduate career:

After I graduated from the New York Military Academy in 1964, I flirted briefly with the idea of attending film school... but in the end I decided real estate was a much better business. I began by attending Fordham University... but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in... I was also very glad to get finished. I immediately moved back home and went to work full time with my father.

Personal life

Trump is popularly known as The Donald, a nickname given to him by the media after his first wife Ivana Trump, a native of the Czech Republic, referred to him as such in an interview. Trump is also known for his catchphrase, "You're fired!", made popular by his television series ''The Apprentice''. While it has been reported that Trump does not shake hands because of fear of germs, he claims this phobia is "a rumor that the enemies say", and shook hands repeatedly in public during a visit to New Hampshire in April 2011. Trump is a golfer, with a low single-figure handicap. He is a member of the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, and also plays regularly at the other courses he owns and operates.

Christian

Trump has stated in interviews that he is a Presbyterian. In April 2011 on ''Human Events'' he said that he is "a Presbyterian within the Protestant group". In an April 2011 interview, on the 700 Club, Trump said, "I'm a Protestant, I'm a Presbyterian. And you know I've had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion." A 2010 article in ''The Daily Telegraph'' stated that Trump was Catholic. A February 2011 ''Politics Daily'' article described Trump as "apparently a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, which is a Presbyterian denomination". Andrew Cusack in 2008 stated that Donald Trump is a member of New York City's Marble Collegiate Church. Explaining that church's organizational relationships, Cusack says "the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church is actually a denomination within a denomination" and that the Collegiate Churches are "now part of the Reformed Church of America". Marble Collegiate Church also states that it is denominationally affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, with the RCA website stating that the RCA has a local church "presbyterian form of government". Trump does not drink alcohol.

Trump married Melania Knauss, his third wife, at the Episcopal church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, in a "traditional ceremony". Their son, Barron, was baptized in that church. In September 2010, Trump expressed on Anderson Cooper's show on CNN, his "suspicions of ulterior motives at the imam running the project" known as Park51, claiming the imam was "using religion" (meaning Islam) to get a good price for the real estate. He also appeared on Fox's ''Hannity'', and said much the same. Trump was quoted by the ''New York Post'' that, while he "is a 'big believer in freedom of religion,' ... his personal opinion was that the mosque should not be built close to Ground Zero ...". After Trump offered in a letter to buy the two-building site for more than $6 million in order to end the general controversy, the lawyers for the majority stakeholder, according to the ''Post'', criticized "Trump's letter offering to buy the site as a publicity stunt".

Family

Trump's mother, Mary Anne, was born at Tong, Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1912. In 1930, aged 18, on holiday in New York, she met Fred Trump and stayed in New York. Born in Queens, New York, Trump has four siblings: two brothers, Fred Jr. (who is deceased) and Robert; and two sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth. His elder sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, is a federal appeals court judge.

In 1977, Trump married Ivana Zelníčková and together they have three children: Donald Jr. (born December 31, 1977), Ivanka (born October 30, 1981), and Eric (born January 6, 1984). They were divorced in 1992. In 1993, he married Marla Maples and together they had one child, Tiffany (born October 13, 1993). They divorced on June 8, 1999. In a February 2008 interview on ABC's Nightline Trump commented on his ex-wives by saying, "I just know it's very hard for them (Ivana and Marla) to compete because I do love what I do. I really love it."

On April 26, 2004, he proposed to Melania Knauss (), a native of Slovenia. Trump and Knauss (who is 24 years Trump's junior) married on January 22, 2005, at Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church, on the island of Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception at Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate. Melania gave birth to a boy named Barron William Trump, Trump's fifth child, on March 20, 2006.

Trump has four grandchildren. Three from his son Donald Jr. (Kai Madison, Donald John III and Tristan Milos) and one from his daughter Ivanka (Arabella Rose).

Business career

Successes (1968–89)

Trump began his career at his father's company, the Trump Organization, and initially concentrated on his father's preferred field of middle-class rental housing in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. One of Trump's first projects, while he was still in college, was the revitalization of the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio, which his father had purchased for $5.7 million in 1962. Trump became intimately involved in the project, personally flying in for a few days at a time to carry out landscaping and other low-level tasks. After $500,000 investment, Trump successfully turned a 1200-unit complex with a 66 percent vacancy rate to 100 percent occupancy within two years. The Trump Organization sold Swifton Village for $6.75 million in 1972.

In 1971 Trump moved to Manhattan, where he became convinced of the economic opportunity in the city, specifically large building projects in Manhattan that would offer opportunities for earning high profits, utilizing attractive architectural design, and winning public recognition. Trump began by landing the rights to develop the old Penn Central yards on the West Side, then – with the help of a 40-year tax abatement by the financially strained New York City government, which was eager to give tax concessions in exchange for investments at a time of financial crisis – turned the bankrupt Commodore Hotel into a new Grand Hyatt.

He was also instrumental in steering the development of the Javits Convention Center on property he had an option on. The development saga of the Javits Convention Center brought Trump into contact with the New York City government when a project that he had estimated could have been completed by his company for $110 million ended up costing the state $430 million. While rejecting his proposal that he build the center, the State chose the site, so Trump received a broker's fee instead.

A similar opportunity would arise in the city's attempt to restore the Wollman Rink in Central Park, a project started in 1980 with an expected 2½-year construction schedule that was still, with $12 million spent, nowhere near completion in 1986. Trump offered to take over the job at no charge to the city, an offer that was initially rebuffed until it received much local media attention. Trump then was given the job which he completed in six months and with $750,000 of the $3 million budgeted for the project left over. Trump was also involved with the old USFL, a competitor to the NFL, as owner of the New Jersey Generals. In addition, Trump at one time acted as a financial advisor for Mike Tyson, hosting Tyson's fight against Michael Spinks in Atlantic City.

Trump renovated the Commodore Hotel and created the Grand Hyatt with the Pritzker family. He also renovated the Trump Tower in New York City and several other residential projects. He later bought the Eastern Shuttle routes, and Atlantic City casino business, including acquiring the Taj Mahal Casino in a transaction with Merv Griffin and Resorts International.

In March 1990, Trump threatened to sue Janney Montgomery Scott, a stock brokerage, whose analyst made negative comments on the financial prospects of Taj Mahal. The analyst refused to retract the statements, and the firm fired him. The firm denied being influenced by Trump's threat. Taj Mahal declared bankruptcy for the first time in November 1990. The analyst was awarded $750,000 by arbitration panel against his firm for his termination. A defamation lawsuit by the analyst against Trump for $2 million was settled out of court.

This expansion, both personal and business, led to mounting debt. Much of the news about him in the early 1990s involved his much publicized financial problems, creditor-led bailout, extramarital affair with Marla Maples (whom he later married), and the resulting divorce from his first wife, Ivana Trump.

The late 1990s saw a resurgence in his financial situation and fame. In 2001, he completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters. Also, he began construction on Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. Trump owns commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use (hotel and condominium) tower on Columbus Circle. Trump currently owns several million square feet of prime Manhattan real estate, and remains a major figure in the field of real estate in the United States and a celebrity for his prominent media exposures.

Financial problems (1989–97)

By 1989, the effects of the recession left Trump unable to meet loan payments. Trump financed the construction of his third casino, the $1 billion Taj Mahal, primarily with high-interest junk bonds. Although he shored up his businesses with additional loans and postponed interest payments, by 1991 increasing debt brought Trump to business bankruptcy and the brink of personal bankruptcy. Banks and bond holders had lost hundreds of millions of dollars, but opted to restructure his debt to avoid the risk of losing more money in court. The Taj Mahal re-emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Trump ceding 50 percent ownership in the casino to the original bondholders in exchange for lowered interest rates on the debt and more time to pay it off.

On November 2, 1992, the Trump Plaza Hotel was forced to file a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection plan after being unable to make its debt payments. Under the plan, Trump agreed to give up a 49 percent stake in the luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders. In return Trump would receive more favorable terms on the remaining $550+ million owed to the lenders, and retain his position as chief executive, though he would not be paid and would not have a role in day-to-day operations.

By 1994, Trump had eliminated a large portion of his $900 million personal debt and reduced significantly his nearly $3.5 billion in business debt. While he was forced to relinquish the Trump Shuttle (which he had bought in 1989), he managed to retain Trump Tower in New York City and control of his three casinos in Atlantic City. Chase Manhattan Bank, which lent Trump the money to buy the West Side yards, his biggest Manhattan parcel, forced the sale of the tract to Asian developers. According to former members of the Trump Organization, Trump did not retain any ownership of the site's real estate – the owners merely promised to give him about 30 percent of the profits once the site was completely developed or sold. Until that time, the owners of The West Side Yards gave him modest construction and management fees to oversee the development, and allowed him to put his name on the buildings that eventually rose on the yards because his well-known moniker allowed them to charge a premium for their condos.

Trump was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 1995. In 1995, he combined his casino holdings into the publicly held Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts. Wall Street drove its stock above $35 in 1996, but by 1998 it had fallen into single digits as the company remained profitless and struggled to pay just the interest on its nearly $3 billion in debt. Under such financial pressure, the properties were unable to make the improvements necessary for keeping up with their flashier competitors.

Legal developments (2002–05)

In January 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought a financial-reporting case against Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., alleging that it had committed several "misleading statements in the company's third-quarter 1999 earnings release." The matter was settled with the defendant neither admitting nor denying the charge.

Finally, on October 21, 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts announced a restructuring of its debt. The plan called for Trump's individual ownership to be reduced from 56 percent to 27 percent, with bondholders receiving stock in exchange for surrendering part of the debt. Since then, Trump Hotels has been forced to seek voluntary bankruptcy protection to stay afloat. After the company applied for Chapter 11 Protection in November 2004, Trump relinquished his CEO position but retained a role as Chairman of the Board. In May 2005 the company re-emerged from bankruptcy as Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings.

Resurgence (1997–2007)

Trump has several projects under way, with varying levels of success in their progress. The Trump International Hotel and Tower – Honolulu seems to be a success. According to Trump, buyers paid non-refundable deposits, committing to purchase every unit on the first day they were made available. Construction of the Trump International Hotel and Tower – Chicago seems to be proceeding as planned, although 30 percent of the units remain unsold. The Trump International Hotel and Tower – Toronto has had a series of delays and a height reduction. The Trump Tower – Tampa has been quite controversial because the initial sales were so successful that all deposits were returned in order to charge a higher price. Three years after construction of this controversial development began, construction has delayed and lawsuits have been filed. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one Trump construction project was put on hold in favor of another (Trump International Hotel and Tower – Fort Lauderdale). Meanwhile, Trump Towers – Atlanta is being developed in a housing market having the nation's second-highest inventory of unsold homes. Trump was the first customer for the 2006 Cadillac DTS limosine after the President of the United States.

In its October 7, 2007 ''Forbes'' 400 issue, "Acreage Aces", ''Forbes'' valued Trump's wealth at $3.0 billion. His wealth went down and then up in the 2000s recession, but according to ''Forbes'', Trump's wealth was valued at $2.9 billion in September 2011, though Trump claimed it was much more.

Financial crisis

Sales for Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago have been lagging. Lender Deutsche Bank refused to let Trump lower the prices on the units to spur sales. Arguing that the financial crisis and resulting drop in the real estate market is due to circumstances beyond his control, Trump invoked a clause in the contract to not pay the loan. Deutsche Bank then noted in court that "Trump is no stranger to overdue debt" and that he had twice previously filed for bankruptcy regarding his casino operations. Trump then initiated a suit asserting that his image had been damaged. Both parties agreed to drop their suits, and sale of the units is nearly complete.

On February 17, 2009 Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; Trump stating on February 13 that he would resign from the board. Trump Entertainment Resorts has three properties in Atlantic City. Trump's unsuccessful libel lawsuit against author Timothy L. O'Brien, for O'Brien's estimating his net worth at less than $250 million, was dismissed in 2009. In the lawsuit it was revealed that in 2005, Deutsche Bank valued Trump's net worth at $788 million, to which Trump objected.

Business ventures

Trump branding and licensing

Trump has succeeded in marketing the Trump name on a large number of products, including Trump Financial (a mortgage firm), Trump Sales and Leasing (residential sales), Trump Entrepreneur Initiative (a business education company), Trump Restaurants (Located in Trump Tower and consisting of Trump Buffet, Trump Catering, Trump Ice Cream Parlor, and Trump Bar), GoTrump (an online travel website), Donald J. Trump Signature Collection (a line of menswear, men's accessories, and watches), Donald Trump The Fragrance (2004), Trump Ice bottled water, Trump Magazine, Trump Golf, Trump Institute, Trump The Game (1989 Board Game), Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks. In addition, Trump reportedly receives $1.5 million for each one-hour presentation he does for The Learning Annex. Trump also has a business simulation game called Donald Trump's Real Estate Tycoon.

In 2011, Forbes reported that its financial experts had estimated the value of the Trump brand at $200 million. Trump disputes this valuation, saying that his brand is worth about $3 billion. Many developers pay Trump to market their properties and to be the public face for their projects. For that reason, Trump does not own many of the buildings that display his name. According to ''Forbes'', this portion of Trump's empire, actually run by his children, is by far his most valuable, having a $562 million valuation. According to ''Forbes'' there are 33 licensing projects under development including seven "condo hotels" (the seven Trump International Hotel and Tower developments).

Other ventures

Other investments include a 17.2 percent stake in Parker Adnan, Inc. (formerly AdnanCo Group), a Bermuda-based financial services holdings company. In late 2003, Trump, along with his siblings, sold their late father's real estate empire to a group of investors that included Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and LamboNuni Bank reportedly for $600 million. Donald Trump's share was $200 million, which he later used to finance Trump Casino & Resorts.

In 2006, Donald Trump bought the Menie estate on the coast north of Aberdeen, Scotland announcing that he intended to create the best golf course in the world. The project includes plans for a hotel, holiday homes, housing and two golf courses. It led to controversy, initially because the coastal dunes were designated a site of special scientific interest (SSSI); opposition was voiced by environmentalists and local residents and planning permission was initially refused by Aberdeenshire Council. In 2008 the local authority was overruled by the Scottish government, First Minister Alex Salmond citing economic benefits Trump had promised as justifying the unusual step of permitting development on an SSSI.

In 2009, Aberdeenshire Council received a request on behalf of Trump International Golf Links Scotland to approve compulsory purchase orders on a number of local homes. A protest group campaigned actively, using mass land purchase as a tactic. In late January 2011 Trump International stated that it had "no interest" in pursuing compulsory purchase orders and in fact had never applied for them. A 2011 documentary, 'You've been Trumped' by Anthony Baxter, follows the development's progress, showing Trump speaking locally about his ambitions for the project and being honoured in Aberdeen by Robert Gordon's University. It also queries the supposed economic benefits, the ecological impact and the effect on local residents.

Donald Trump has objected to plans for an offshore windfarm to be built within sight of the golf links. In 2011 he wrote to Alex Salmond expressing his view that the planned structures were ugly. He denied that he was concerned only with the view from the golf links, saying: 'It is not only for my project, it is more to preserve Scotland's beautiful coastline and natural heritage.' In 2012 Trump announced that if the windfarm were built he would abandon his plans for the hotel and housing at the golf links.

In April 2011, it was reported that Trump was in the process of negotiating a deal with New York City to reopen the historic Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park.

Beauty pageants

The Miss Universe Organization is owned by Donald Trump and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The organization produces the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants. In December 2006, talk show host Rosie O'Donnell criticized Trump's lenience toward Miss USA, Tara Conner, who had violated pageant behavioral guidelines. This sparked a tabloid war between the two celebrities which lasted for several weeks thereafter.

Entertainment media

Donald Trump, a two-time Emmy Award-nominated personality, has made appearances as a caricatured version of himself in television series and films (e.g. ''Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,'' ''The Nanny,'' ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', ''Days of our Lives'', ''Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps''.), and as a character (''The Little Rascals''). He has been the subject of comedians, flash cartoon artists, and online caricature artists.

In March 2011, Trump was the subject of a Comedy Central Roast. The special was hosted by Seth MacFarlane, and roasters included Larry King, Snoop Dogg, and Anthony Jeselnik among regular roast participants. Trump's daughter Ivanka was seen in the audience. In April 2011, Trump attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner, featuring comedian Seth Meyers. President Obama used the occasion to present several prepared jokes mocking Trump.

''The Apprentice''

In 2003, Trump became the executive producer and host of the NBC reality show, ''The Apprentice'', in which a group of competitors battled for a high-level management job in one of Trump's commercial enterprises. The other contestants were successively "fired" and eliminated from the game. In 2004, Donald Trump filed a trademark application for the catchphrase "You're fired."

For the first year of the show Trump was paid $50,000 per episode (roughly $700,000 for the first season), but following the show's initial success, he is now paid a reported $3 million per episode, making him one of the highest paid TV personalities. In 2007, Trump received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to television (''The Apprentice'').

Along with British TV producer Mark Burnett, Trump also put together ''The Celebrity Apprentice'', where well-known stars compete to win money for their charities. While Trump and Burnett co-produced the show, Trump stayed in the forefront, deciding winners and "firing" losers.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Trump is a known World Wrestling Entertainment fan and friend of WWE owner Vince McMahon. He has hosted two WrestleMania events in the Trump Plaza and has been an active participant in several of the shows. Trump's Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City was host to the 1991 WBF Championship (which was owned by WWE, known at the time as the "World Wrestling Federation."). Trump was interviewed by Jesse Ventura ringside at WrestleMania XX. He also appeared at WrestleMania 23 in the corner of Bobby Lashley who competed against Umaga with WWE Chairman McMahon in his corner, in a hair versus hair match, with either Trump or McMahon having their head shaved if their competitor lost. Lashley won the match, and he and Trump both proceeded to shave McMahon bald.

On June 15, 2009, as part of a storyline, McMahon announced on ''WWE Raw'' that he had 'sold' the show to Donald Trump. Appearing on screen, Trump confirmed it and declared he would be at the following commercial-free episode in person and would give a full refund to the people who purchased tickets to the arena for that night's show in the amount of USD $235,000. McMahon "bought back" Raw on June 22, 2009. His entrance theme "Money, Money" was written by Jim Johnston.

Political activity

2000s

In the 2000 election, Trump expressed a desire to run as a third-party candidate for the United States presidency, considering running nomination by the Reform Party as a business conservative, socially moderate candidate. In his 2000 tome, ''The America We Deserve'', economic policies Trump proposed include:

Institution of a once-only 14.25 percent tax on personal estates and trusts over $10 million, which he estimated would raise $5.7 trillion in revenue toward retirement of the national debt, tax cuts for the middle class, and supplementing the funding of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; and, by way of compensating this one-time tax on the wealthy, permanent abolition of the 55 percent federal inheritance tax.

Repeal of limits on campaign contributions, combined with outlawing soft money campaign contributions Regarding universal health care, Trump touted himself as "a conservative on most issues, but a liberal on this one. Working out detailed plans will take time. But the goal should be clear: Our people are our greatest asset." Renegotiation of U.S. trade policies.

For 2004 and 2008, Trump speculated about running for President in the Republican party and for 2006 considered running for governor of New York as a representative of the party. In October 2007, Trump appeared on ''Larry King Live'' and delivered a strong criticism of then-United States President George W. Bush, particularly concerning the Iraq War. He speculated that Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton could win the Republican and Democratic Presidential nominations, respectively, and voiced some support for either of them being elected President. He expressed doubt, on CNN's ''The Situation Room'' at the time, over whether a candidate for President could win the election by supporting a continued escalation of the war in Iraq.

On September 17, 2008, Trump officially endorsed John McCain for the U.S. Presidency on ''Larry King Live''. Trump again registered as a Republican in 2009 after having registered with the Democratic Party in 2001. Trump said in an interview in 2007, "I'm very much independent in that way. I go for the person, not necessarily the party. I mean, I vote for Republicans and I vote for Democrats."

Since the 1990 U.S. elections, Donald Trump has made contributions to campaigns of both Republican Party and Democratic Party candidates. These have included Republicans John McCain, Rudolph Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, and George W. Bush and Democrats Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Tom Daschle, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton, Anthony Weiner, Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Charles Rangel).

2012 politics and potential presidential candidacy

In 2010, Trump said he considered himself a potential candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election. In his primary campaign, Trump has made a February speech to a CPAC gathering, an early venue for candidates considering a presidential run, as a write-in candidate in its straw poll for the office. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released in March 2011 found Donald Trump leading among potential contenders for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, one point ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. A Newsweek poll conducted February 2011 showed Trump within a few points of Obama, with many voters undecided in the November 2012 general election for President of the United States against Barack Obama. A poll released in April 2011 by Public Policy Polling showed Trump having a nine point lead in a potential contest for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. A poll conducted on May 10, 2011, showed Trump tied for fifth place with Ron Paul among Republicans.

Trump's present political stances include being pro-life, against same-sex marriage, anti-gun control, advocating the repeal and replacement of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, anti-foreign aid; and supporting a fair trade policy and believing generally that the People's Republic of China should be considered more of an adversarial competitor, subjected to significant import tariffs as a response to China's currency manipulation in order to help balance the U.S. budget. He said he would impose a 25 percent tariff on Chinese goods. He also believes the U.S. should disengage in Iraq and Afghanistan. In December 2008, Trump supported a government backed rescue plan for the American auto industry where the government would provide the debtor in possession financing for a Chapter 11 restructuring.

His campaign has been reported by some media as a possible promotional tool for his reality show ''The Apprentice''. ''Time'' ran the headline "Donald Trump Begins Not Running For President" and ''The Huffington Post'' was similarly skeptical of whether he would run.

Regardless of this skepticism, Trump has quietly chosen to participate in the "Politics and Eggs" forum at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, a popular spot for presidential candidates visiting New Hampshire. This scheduled visit is important because the event is taking place in mid June 2011, supposedly after Trump had been supposed to make his decision whether to or not to run. On April 23, 2011, the New York-based TV station NY1 reported that Trump had not voted in primary elections in New York City for a span of 21 years, beginning after the city's mayoral primary in 1989, an accusation he has denied. A City election board spokeswoman confirmed the story.

On May 5, 2011, Trump announced he would not be the celebrity pace-car driver for the 2011 Indy 500 as was previously announced a month earlier by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (on April 5, 2011.) Trump stated he made the decision because of business constraints, but there had been a fan campaign for the Speedway to instead name a racing celebrity to the position and a Speedway press release stated that Trump cancelled because of his intention to run for President.

On May 16, 2011, Trump announced he would not run for president. On May 23, 2011, Trump stated that he hasn't ruled out running for president, adding: "The country is so important, so vital that we choose the right person, and at this moment, I don't see that person."

In February 2012 he endorsed Mitt Romney.

Barack Obama

Speaking to an audience in Boca Raton, Florida on April 16, 2011, Trump contended that voter reaction to George W. Bush's performance as U.S. President was the cause for the election of his successor Barack Obama, and further that Obama would probably be known as the worst president in U.S. history.

Trump has promoted conspiracy theories about Obama's citizenship status in media appearances, and been criticized for this. In an NBC-TV interview broadcast April 7, 2011, Trump said he was not satisfied that Obama had proven his citizenship.

In an April 2011 NBC interview, Trump claimed he had sent people to Hawaii to investigate Obama's citizenship, commenting "they cannot believe what they're finding." On ''Anderson Cooper 360°'' on CNN, April 25, 2011, Trump said he wanted Obama to end the issue by releasing his long-form Certificate of Live Birth (distinct from the short-form Certification of Live Birth – Hawaii's prima facie evidence of birth), adding, "I've been told very recently ... the birth certificate is missing."

The long-form of Obama's birth certificate was released by the White House on April 27, 2011. Obama said it should put the matter to rest; that the nation had more pressing problems to solve and could not afford to be "distracted by side shows and carnival barkers". Trump expressed pride at his role in the release of the long-form certificate in a press conference followup. (The following Sunday, May 1, NBC would interrupt ''The Apprentice'' for breaking news coverage following the revelation that US forces had killed Osama bin Laden: some conspiracy theorists suggested that a vindictive Obama knew of the mission's success well beforehand and had consciously delayed his official announcement so that it would take Trump off the air.) In May 2011, Public Policy Polling described the events as "one of the quickest rises and falls in the history of presidential politics", reporting:

Trump really made hay out of the 'birther' issue and as the resonance of that has declined, so has his standing. In February we found that 51 percent of Republican primary voters thought Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Now with the release of his birth certificate only 34 percent of Republican partisans fall into that camp, and Trump's only in fifth place with that now smaller group of the electorate at 9 percent.

On the ''Today Show'' on October 19, 2011, Trump stated that "I could vote for anybody over President Obama. President Obama has been a total and complete disaster."

Bibliography

Trump has authored many books including:

''Trump: The Art of the Deal'' (1987)

''Trump: Surviving at the Top'' (1990)

''Trump: The Art of Survival'' (1991)

''Trump: The Art of the Comeback'' (1997)

''Trump: How to Get Rich'' (2004)

''The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received'' (2004)

''Trump: Think Like a Billionaire: Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate, and Life'' (2004)

''Trump: The Best Golf Advice I Ever Received'' (2005)

''Why We Want You to be Rich: Two Men – One Message'' (2006), co-written with Robert Kiyosaki.

''Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life'' (2007), co-written with Bill Zanker. (ISBN 978-0-06-154783-6)

''The America We Deserve'' (2000) (with Dave Shiflett, ISBN 1-58063-131-2)

''Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies'' (2007)

''Trump 101: The Way to Success'' (2007)

''Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success'' (2008)

''Trump Tower'' (2011) (a novel with Jeffrey Robinson, ISBN 978-1-59-315643-5)

''Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich-And Why Most Don't'' (2011), co-written with Robert Kiyosaki. (ISBN 1-612-68095-X)

References

Further reading

External links

The Trump Blog

The Trump Organization

Column archives at ''The Huffington Post''

Issue positions at Ontheissues.org

Donald Trump at The Biography Channel

It's All Donald All The Time, ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', January 22, 2007

Top 10 Donald Trump Failures, Kayla Webley, ''Time'', April 29, 2011

Category:1946 births Category:American billionaires Category:American business writers Category:American chief executives Category:American construction businesspeople Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople Category:American environmentalists Category:American game show hosts Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American Presbyterians Category:American real estate businesspeople Category:American socialites Category:Businesspeople from New York City Category:Businesspeople in the casino industry Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Fordham University alumni Category:Living people Category:New York Military Academy alumni Category:New York Republicans Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Manhattan Category:People from Palm Beach, Florida Category:People from Queens Category:Trump family Category:United States Football League executives Category:Wharton School alumni

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