Barack Hussein Obama sworn in as 44th US President

Barack Obama took the oath of office on 20 Jan 2009 on the steps of the U.S. Capitol before a crowd of more than one million people to become the 44th President of the United States. Soon after Obama took the oath of office, a military color guard fired off a 21-gun salute. Obama spoke before more than a million people crowded into Washington's National Mall that stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol. Obama made the historic address shortly after taking the oath of office and becoming the first black president of the United States, placing his hand on Abraham Lincoln's inaugural Bible that hasn’t been used since Lincoln took the oath of office in 1861.

Barack Obama is the son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother. He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia. "And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born, know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity and we are ready to lead once more," Mr. Obama said, offering a friendly hand to other nations and peoples.

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a recognition on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. This is the price and the promise of citizenship," Obama said.

Obama acknowledged that he was taking the oath amidst gathering clouds and raging storms, an economy in crisis, costly health care, a faltering school system and environmental threats. Among other things, Obama promised to rebuild infrastructure, invest in scientific research, improve health care and find new sources of energy.

Obama also warned those who threaten the United States, "We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."