Unordinary Facts About President's Mom

Five Unordinary Facts About President Obama's Mother - ABC News BETA Home> Politics>OTUS NewsFive Unordinary Facts About President Obama's MotherBy AMY BINGHAM (@Amy_Bingham) May 12, 2012

Obama Presidential Campaign/AP Photo

This Mother's Day, as Sasha and Malia Obama present their mom with handmade gifts at the White House, the stark contrasts between President Obama's family now and his family as a child growing up in Hawaii could not be more apparent.

Whereas the president and the first lady have been married for 20 years, his mother and father were married for four. Throughout the first decade of his daughters' lives the family has lived in two cities, Chicago and Washington, D.C. By the time he was 10, Obama had lived in two countries.

While Obama has put down the strongest of roots, his mother opted for wings, never staying in one place, let alone one country, for long.

"I never imagined that an American president would have a mother who had done the things that she did," Janny Scott, who wrote a biography of Obama's mother, told The New York Times.

And in her biography, "A Singular Woman," Scott quoted the president. His mother had given him, he said, "a sense of unconditional love that was big enough that, with all the surface disturbances of our lives, it sustained me, entirely."

Here are five facts that make President Obama's mother no ordinary mom.

1. She lived in five states and three countries

Ann Dunham's family moved five times before Ann, or Stanley, as she was called in her childhood, turned 18, bouncing from Wichita, Kans., to California to Texas to Seattle and, finally, to Hawaii.

As an adult Dunham adopted her parents' knack for nomadism, splitting most of her adult life between Hawaii and Indonesia, and briefly taking up residence in Pakistan, where she helped establish a microfinance program for women.

Her son, on the other hand, took the opposite approach, putting down roots in Chicago and firmly planting himself and his family in the U.S.

"We've created stability for our kids in a way that my mom didn't do for us," Obama told Time magazine during his 2008 presidential campaign. "My choosing to put down roots in Chicago and marry a woman who is very rooted in one place probably indicates a desire for stability that maybe I was missing."

2. Her first name is actually Stanley

President Obama's mother's full name is Stanley Ann Dunham. Although she used her middle name for the majority of her adult life, Dunham went by Stanley throughout grade school, the name that her father, who wanted a son, gave her.

Over the course of Dunham's short life -- she died when she was in her early 50s -- she went by four different names. Growing up it was Stanley Dunham. In college she was Ann Dunham. During her first marriage, to Barack Obama's father, she was Ann Obama. And after her second marriage she was Ann Soetoro.

3. She was 18 when Barack Obama was born

President Obama's mother married his father at the ripe young age of 18, after the two met in a Russian-language class at the University of Hawaii. At the time, interracial marriage was illegal in most states.

Dunham was three months pregnant when the two tied the knot in a ceremony so discrete that her son never uncovered any records of the event, according to Scott's biography of Dunham, "A Singular Woman."

By the time Obama was a year old, his father, Barack Obama Sr., had moved from Hawaii to Massachusetts to get a masters degree from Harvard. By the time he was six, he had moved with his mother to Indonesia after she married Lolo Soetoro. The couple had a daughter, Maya Soetoro, before they divorced in 1980.

4. She was only five years older than Hillary Clinton

Born in 1942, as World War II was ravaging the world, Obama's mother was a mere five years older than Hillary Clinton, whom he would later defeat in a bitter Democratic primary during his race for the White House.

Dunham died a few weeks short of her 53rd birthday, of uterine and ovarian cancer, two years before her son was elected to the Illinois state senate.

5. She had a Ph.D. in anthropology

It may have taken her two decades and countless trips back-and-forth between Indonesia and the University of Hawaii to complete, but in 1992 Ann Dunham was awarded her Ph.D. in anthropology.

Her 1,000-page dissertation explored the indigenous craft of blacksmithing in Indonesia, a topic she had studied for more than 20 years. She died two years after completing it.

She had instilled in her son the importance of education, making him rise before the sun came up to do his homework. She would tell people that her son was gifted, "that he can do anything he ever wants in the world, even be president of the United States."

More from ABC News Five Facts About Mitt Romney's MomPresident Obama, Daughters Make 'Handmade' Mothers' Day GiftsNew Pro-Romney Super PAC Ad Uses Rosen Comments to Wish Happy Mom's Day Related Topics: Ann Dunham, Hillary Clinton, Mother's Day 2012, New York Times, White House, Barack Obama, Washington D.C., U.S., Ovarian Cancer, Indonesia Comment & ContributeDo you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News. View All Comments (60) View All Comments (60)   Watch Mornings on ABC Watch the Full Episode GMA 5/11: Emeril's Mother's Day... Robin Roberts RecommendsMother's 'Magnificent 7' Defy All OddsTim Tebow Shares Mother's Day Memories WATCH: Obama Discusses N.C. Marriage Ban ABC News on Facebook Follow Us External links are provided for reference purposes. ABC News is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. Copyright © 2012 ABC News Internet Ventures. Yahoo! - ABC News NetworkBack to top

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9 Facts About New York You Must Know Before You Go There

I had the pleasure recently to go on a holiday trip to New York. And this is what I discovered. Everything about New York is complex. To fully appreciate the magnificent place, you must know a bit about New York. Here are the top nine little-known facts about New York which I think everyone planning to go there should know:

1. Everyone calls New York City the 'Big Apple'. But why? Where did it come from? The phrase was first popularized by a newspaper editor, John Fitzgerald, who titled his column: Around the Big Apple. He first heard the term, the 'Big Apple', being thrown around by Black stable boys which they used to describe New York City as place of monetary abundance and opportunity.

2. The state of New York has the most extensive and oldest transportation system in the whole of North America. New York City, itself, is home to more than 12,000 yellow cabs, 120,000 bicycles, a huge subway system, bus and railroad systems, large airports, massive bridges and tunnels, ferries, and a aerial commuter tramway (think of a oversized cable car).

3. New York hosted the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. The US Ice Hockey team, consisting of collegiate and amateur players, was to be up against the favoured Soviet Union team, which had legendary players in world ice hockey. To put it in the words of the New York Times: "Unless the ice melts, or unless the United States team or another team performs a miracle...the Russians are expected to win the Olympic gold medal for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments." The US won and went on to win the gold medal. This victory was one of the greatest sporting moments in the twentieth century and was dubbed "Miracle on Ice".

4. New York State is best know for the urban landscape of New York City. However most of New York State is dominated by farmland, forests, rivers, mountains and lakes. Even in built-up New York City there are more than 12,000 acres of undeveloped natural land and 26,000 acres of parkland. Who would have thought that rivers, estuaries, beaches, saltwater marshes, forests, grasslands, sands dunes, ponds, and lakes could be found in New York City? Apart from the aesthetic appeal, these natural habitats have performed, and continue to perform, vital ecological services for the city including providing clean air and water, absorbing pollutants, lowering temperatures on summer days, and improving public health and welfare.

5. The Erie Canal was built in the nineteenth century and was an important step in creating the international trading center, New York City, that we know today. It was a marvel of its day and was often called the Eighth Wonder of the World. The Erie Canal was enlarged a number of times to keep up with increased trading. The 'final' achievement was a canal 12 to 14 feet deep, 120 to 200 feet wide, and 363 miles long. Today the Erie Canal is largely used for recreational purposes.

6. Who coined the name 'New York'? The land was first explored by an Italian, Giovanni da Verrazzano, who named it New Angouleme in honor of the French king Francois I. Then, the Dutch claimed the land and called it New Netherlands. Finally, the Duke of York from England bought Long Island and took possession of the rest of the land by the brute force of an army. The Duke of York called the land New York (what a surprise).

7. New York was the first state to employ license plates for automobiles. They first appeared in 1901, however the government did not issues the plates as they do today. In fact they required the owners to make their own plates. From 1901 to 1902 the plates had no numbers - all they had were the initials of the owner. It was only until 1910 when the state of New York began issuing license plates.

8. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has been put up every year since 1931. The tradition began when construction workers of the Rockefeller Center decorated a small balsam fir tree with cranberries, paper, and tin cans. Nowadays, the Rockefeller Tree is usually a Norway Spruce which have a life span of 80 to 110 years and grows 1 foot a year. The dimensions of the tree must be a minimum of 65 feet tall and 35 feet wide to qualify for the Rockefeller Center. After the season is over, the tree is often mulched and donated to charities. One tree can yield almost 3 tonnes of mulch.

9. The Empire State Building was the world's tallest building from 1931 to 1972. It was surpassed by The World Trade Center which became the tallest building in New York. After the bombings, the Empire State Building was announced and now remains the tallest building in New York. Just as an aside, the tallest building in the world is the Sears building in Chicago. However this record is expected to be surpassed by the Burj Dubai which will be, once completed, about 1.5 times the height of Sears!

There you have it! The top nine facts about New York I discovered on my trip to New York. Everyone knows New York is a global leader in business, finance, fashion and the arts. However this is just the 'mask' of New York. By reading this article, you have taken your first step to appreciating this great city.

"I love NY". Share the love and find out more about New York at my blog:

http://factsaboutnewyork-kit.blogspot.com