Timeline - Obama Presidency Oral History
2008
Oct 3, 2008
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act signed
Nov 4, 2008
President Obama elected
Dec 16, 2008
Economic team briefed on stimulus proposals
2009
Jan 20, 2009
President Obama inaugurated
Jan 22, 2009
Guantanamo Bay closure ordered
Jan 29, 2009
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act signed
Feb 17, 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed
Feb 19, 2009
CNBC's Rick Santelli calls for a 21st century "Tea Party" movement
Feb 24, 2009
Address to Congress on economic conditions and the importance of healthcare reform
Mar 20, 2009
First Lady breaks ground on new White House vegetable garden
Mar 29, 2009
Auto bailout decision meeting
Apr 2, 2009
G20 summit on global financial crisis in London
Apr 5, 2009
Speech on nuclear nonproliferation in Prague
Jun 4, 2009
Speech to the Muslim world in Cairo
Jun 26, 2009
American Clean Energy and Security Act passes the House
Jul 11, 2009
Speech to the Ghanaian Parliament in Accra
Jul 30, 2009
President Obama and Vice President Biden host "beer summit" at the White House
Aug 6, 2009
Sonia Sotomayor Confirmed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by US Senate
Sep 9, 2009
Republican congressman interrupts healthcare reform speech with "You lie!''
Oct 24, 2009
H1N1 declared national emergency
Oct 28, 2009
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act signed
Nov 5, 2009
Inauguration of annual Tribal Nations Conferences
Nov 5, 2009
Mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas
Dec 1, 2009
Troop surge in Afghanistan announced during West Point speech
Dec 7, 2009
UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen
Dec 10, 2009
President Obama accepts Nobel Peace Prize
Dec 25, 2009
"Underwear bomber" attempt aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253
2010
Jan 12, 2010
Major earthquake in Haiti
Jan 15, 2010
Healthcare reform conference meetings with Democratic congressional leaders
Jan 19, 2010
Scott Brown defeats Martha Coakley in Massachusetts special election
Jan 21, 2010
SCOTUS prohibits restrictions on political spending by corporations
Jan 27, 2010
First State of the Union Address
Feb 9, 2010
Michelle Obama announces Let's Move! initiative
Feb 18, 2010
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform created
Feb 25, 2010
Healthcare summit at the Blair House
Mar 23, 2010
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed
Mar 31, 2010
Speech on energy security and offshore drilling
Apr 20, 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
May 1, 2010
Attempted Times Square car bombing
Jul 21, 2010
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed
Aug 3, 2010
Fair Sentencing Act signed
Aug 5, 2010
Elena Kagan confirmed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by US Senate
Oct 2, 2010
2010 United States midterm elections
Nov 28, 2010
WikiLeaks begins publishing leaked US diplomatic cables
Dec 13, 2010
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act signed
Dec 17, 2010
Tax Relief Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act signed
Dec 17, 2010
Mohamed Bouazizi self-immolates in Tunisia
Dec 18, 2010
US Senate passes Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal and rejects DREAM Act
Dec 22, 2010
New START nuclear arms reduction treaty ratified by US Senate
2011
Jan 8, 2011
Representative Giffords survives assassination attempt in Tucson, Arizona
Jan 25, 2011
2011 State of the Union Address
Mar 19, 2011
NATO-led intervention in Libya begins
Apr 4, 2011
President Obama announces his candidacy for re-election
Apr 12, 2011
Joining Forces initiative announced
Apr 27, 2011
White House releases President Obama's "long form" birth certificate
May 2, 2011
Osama Bin Laden is killed
Jun 1, 2011
White House engages in Grand Bargain fiscal negotiations with congressional Republicans
Jun 22, 2011
Planned drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan announced
Aug 2, 2011
Budget Control Act signed
Sep 8, 2011
President Obama calls on lawmakers to pass American Jobs Act
Sep 17, 2011
Occupy Wall Street takes over New York's Zuccotti Park
Sep 19, 2011
Keystone XL protestors arrested at White House
Oct 21, 2011
Withdrawal of US troops in Iraq announced
Dec 6, 2011
Speech on inequality
2012
Feb 22, 2012
Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act signed
Feb 26, 2012
Trayvon Martin killed in Sanford, Florida
May 9, 2012
President Obama announces support for marriage equality
Jun 15, 2012
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) issued
Jun 28, 2012
Supreme Court upholds Affordable Care Act
Jul 20, 2012
Mass shooting during screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado
Aug 5, 2012
Mass shooting at Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin
Aug 20, 2012
President Obama sets Syrian "red line" on chemical weapons
Sep 11, 2012
Attack on US facilities in Benghazi, Libya
Oct 22, 2012
Hurricane Sandy makes landfall
Nov 6, 2012
President Obama re-elected
Nov 19, 2012
President Obama visits Myanmar
Dec 14, 2012
Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut
2013
Jan 1, 2013
American Taxpayer Relief Act signed
Jan 1, 2013
"Fiscal cliff" crisis
Jan 29, 2013
Hadiya Pendleton murdered in Chicago, Illinois at park after school
Mar 1, 2013
Budget Control Act sequestration takes effect
Apr 15, 2013
Bombing at the Boston Marathon
Jun 5, 2013
Snowden leaks hit The Guardian
Jun 7, 2013
"Shirt-sleeves summit"
Jun 25, 2013
Climate Action Plan released
Jun 25, 2013
Supreme Court weakens Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder ruling
Jun 26, 2013
Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act ruled unconstitutional
Jun 27, 2013
Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act passes Senate
Jun 30, 2013
Power Africa initiative launched
Oct 1, 2013
Federal government shutdown
Oct 1, 2013
healthcare.gov launched
Dec 1, 2013
Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa
2014
Feb 7, 2014
Farm Bill signed
Feb 20, 2014
Russian annexation of Crimea begins
May 2, 2014
First Lady Michelle Obama launches Reach Higher
Jun 13, 2014
Visit to the Standing Rock Sioux tribal nation in Cannonball, SD
Jun 30, 2014
Supreme Court grants religious exemptions in healthcare coverage
Jul 28, 2014
White House urges Congress to supply emergency funding for border crisis
Aug 9, 2014
Unrest in Ferguson, Missouri
Nov 4, 2014
2014 midterm elections
Nov 11, 2014
US-China climate change announcement
Nov 20, 2014
Protection for parents of US citizens and permanent residents announced
Dec 18, 2014
Task Force on 21st Century Policing established
2015
Jan 2, 2015
Ship carrying Syrian migrants rescued off Italian coast
Mar 3, 2015
President and First Lady launch Let Girls Learn
Mar 7, 2015
50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama
Apr 27, 2015
Unrest in Baltimore following Freddie Gray's death
Jun 17, 2015
Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina
Jun 25, 2015
Supreme Court upholds tax provisions of the Affordable Care Act
Jun 26, 2015
Supreme Court rules that right to marry extends to same-sex couples
Jun 29, 2015
EPA mandated to consider cost implications of new greenhouse gas emissions
Jul 26, 2015
Address to Kenyan public in Nairobi
Aug 3, 2015
Clean Power Plan released
Aug 31, 2015
President Obama travels to Alaska
Oct 18, 2015
United Nations Security Council adopts Iran Nuclear Deal
Nov 6, 2015
Keystone XL pipeline rejected
Nov 13, 2015
Paris terror attacks
Nov 30, 2015
UN Climate Conference in Paris
Dec 2, 2015
Terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California
2016
Jan 16, 2016
Iran Nuclear Deal comes into effect
Feb 4, 2016
Trans-Pacific Partnership signed
Feb 9, 2016
Supreme Court Blocks EPA regulation of power plant emissions
Mar 16, 2016
Merrick Garland nominated to Supreme Court
Mar 20, 2016
Visit to Havana, Cuba
May 4, 2016
Visit to Flint, Michigan to address water crisis
Jun 12, 2016
Mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida
Jun 23, 2016
Supreme Court Blocks DAPA Program
Jul 7, 2016
Mass shooting at Dallas protest over killings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling
Oct 28, 2016
Mass arrest of protestors at Standing Rock
Nov 8, 2016
Donald Trump wins presidential election
Dec 13, 2016
21st Century Cures Act signed
2017