A Tale of Two Countries: A Brief History of Barack Obama’s Conflicting Birth Narratives

Original research | 12/31/2016 | Fedora

[Fedora]

As the Obama chapter of American history draws to a close, it would be fitting to write a reflection on Obama’s story, but the problem is, where does it start? Since Obama first became a public figure, two competing versions of his birth have circulated: one claiming he was born in Kenya and one claiming Hawaii. The purpose of this article is to assemble some of the primary sources documenting the history of these competing narratives, as a step towards determining why there are two stories and which--if either--is true.

Obama’s 1990 Birthplace Joke: “I was born in Oslo, Norway”

Obama’s earliest known published writing, a March 1983 piece for Columbia University’s Sundial promoting a pair of antiwar groups associated with the Soviet-backed Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, does not include any biographical background about the author.(1) The first known published biographical sketches of Obama come from 1990, after he was selected to be the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

By this time, Obama’s birthplace was already a topic of discussion. In a 1990 Revue parody of the Review, Obama joked about his birthplace, saying, “I was born in Oslo, Norway, the son of a Volvo factory worker and part-time ice fisherman. My mother was a backup singer for Abba. They were good folks. [In Chicago,] I discovered I was black, and I have remained so ever since.”(2)

Was this joke simply intended to entertain, or was it a use of humor for a serious purpose? As Washington Post writer Hunter Schwarz has observed, Obama has joked about the controversy surrounding his birthplace and background at every annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner since 2010,(3) most famously when he quipped, “I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be.”(4) Obama’s 1990 Revue parody shows that he had been telling a running joke about his birthplace for at least 20 years before that. It’s a joke he seems to take seriously.

1990-1991: The Hawaii Birthplace Story Begins

Meanwhile, serious biographies of Obama began to appear in major newspapers. A February 15, 1990 Boston Globe piece on Obama’s Harvard Law Review appointment began a summary of his biography by referring to his “childhood in Indonesia” and “adolescence in Hawaii”.(5) It went on to describe his father as being from Kenya and his mother as being from Kansas. It then continues, “His parents met and married in Hawaii and divorced when Obama was 2.” The interview did not specify where Obama was born.

The New York Times ran the first known article containing the Hawaii version of Obama’s birthplace narrative on February 26, 1990.(6) The article was based on an interview with Obama, and it stated, “His late father, Barack Obama, was a finance minister in Kenya and his mother, Ann Dunham, is an American anthropologist now doing fieldwork in Indonesia. Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii.”

When Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991, a nationally-syndicated AP story that ran in April included the Hawaii version of his birth narrative.(7) The article said, “He was born in Hawaii, his father an Oxford- and Harvard-educated economist from the African nation of Kenya, his mother a white anthropologist from Kansas.”

1991: The Kenya Birthplace Story Surfaces

In 1991, the Kenya version of Obama’s birth narrative made its first known appearance. Obama’s February 1990 New York Times coverage had attracted the attention of literary agent Jane Dystel, whose agency Acton & Dystel had previously handled the work of black civil rights author James Baldwin.(8) Seeing Obama as another potential Baldwin, Dystel suggested that he write a book proposal. On November 28, 1990, Simon & Schuster imprint Poseidon Press offered Obama a six-figure contract for a book to be called Journeys in Black and White. In 1991, Obama took a position at the University of Chicago Law School in order to write the book.

In Chicago, Obama developed writer’s block and became preoccupied with his social life with Michelle, and he missed his book’s publishing deadline. On October 20, 1992, Poseidon Press terminated its contract with Obama, leaving him owing them money for his cash advance.

While Obama was working on Journeys in Black and White, the Kenya version of his birth narrative made its first known appearance in publicity material circulated in 1991 by Dystel’s literary agency, Acton & Dystel.(9) To celebrate the 15th anniversary of its 1976 founding, Acton & Dystel produced a 36-page booklet showcasing 90 of its clients. Obama’s entry appeared between New Kids on the Block and Mark Olshaker. It stated, “Barack Obama, the first African-American president of Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.” The piece concluded by mentioning the anticipated publication of Journeys in Black and White.

The booklet was edited by Miriam Goderich, who later went on to become Dystel’s partner at a new agency, Dystel & Goderich. In 2012, Goderich emailed Yahoo News a statement attributing the Kenya birthplace detail to a fact-checking error on her part: “This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me--an agency assistant at the time. . .There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. I hope you can communicate to your readers that this was a simple mistake and nothing more.”(10) Of course, this raises the question of how a publishing professional could make such a fact-checking error. What led Goderich to think Obama was born in Kenya?

If Goderich made an error, neither she nor Obama were quick to notice or correct it. After Obama became a U.S. Senator in 2004, Dystel & Goderich’s website listed him as a client with a biography that included the statement, “He was born in Kenya to an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister and was raised in Indonesia, Hawaii, and Chicago.”(11) Then-Breitbart editor-at-large Ben Shapiro documented that Dystel & Goderich continued to use this wording on its website until April 2007, two months after Obama announced his Presidential candidacy.(12) Sometime between April 3 and April 21 of 2007, Dystel & Goderich updated its website biography of Obama to read, “He was born in Hawaii to an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister and was raised in Indonesia, Hawaii, and Chicago.”

Two Competing Narratives

After his contract on Journeys in Black and White got cancelled, Dystel managed to get Obama a new contract with Times Books.(13) Obama began a new book, which Times Books published in 1995 as Dreams from My Father.(14) Dreams from My Father advanced the Hawaii version of Obama’s birth narrative, which has since then become part of Obama’s official biography.

But meanwhile, the Kenyan version of Obama’s birth narrative continued to remain in circulation on Dystel & Goderich’s website and elsewhere. During Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate campaign against Republican candidate Jack Ryan, the Kenyan newspaper Sunday Standard ran an AP story on June 27 under the headline, “Kenyan-born Obama all set for US Senate”.(15) Fact-checking website Snopes.com asserts that the Standard added the language identifying Obama as “Kenyan-born” to the original AP story,(16) which appeared elsewhere under headlines such as “Illinois' Jack Ryan Abandons Senate Bid” and “Jack Ryan abandons Senate bid”, with significantly different wording in the body of the article.(17) Of course, this raises the question of why the Standard would have added this language and why its editors believed Obama was Kenyan-born.

The editors of the Standard were not the only ones in 2004 who were under the impression that Obama was Kenyan-born. On August 3, 2004, the Kerrville Times published a letter to the editor from reader Jerry Fife asking, “Why are some people saying Barack Obama from Illinois could be the first black president of the USA when he was born in Kenya? I cannot see where he fills the requirements. And no one calls these commentors [sic] on their spin. Namely Chris Matthews of MSNBC.”(18) Fife went on to quote the U.S. Constitution, which limited the Presidency to natural-born citizens and those who were U.S. citizens at the time the Constitution was adopted.

Public references to Obama being Kenyan-born continued into the 2008 Presidential campaign, even after Dystel & Goderich updated its website to reflect Obama’s Hawaii birth narrative in April 2007. On March 27, 2007, Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn was already proposing a strategy of targeting Obama’s “lack of American roots”.(19) By the end of February 2008, rumors that Obama had been born overseas had gained enough currency to generate discussion on Free Republic, though without specific reference to Kenya.(20) On March 5, 2008, the blog Ruthless Roundup discussed an allegation that Obama’s mother “allegedly had Obama in Kenya and quickly boarded a flight to Hawaii”.(21) Hillary Clinton’s campaign distributed this rumor in April, circulating an anonymous email that claimed, “Barack Obama’s mother was living in Kenya with his Arab-African father late in her pregnancy. She was not allowed to travel by plane then, so Barack Obama was born there and his mother then took him to Hawaii to register his birth.”(22)

By June 2008, the controversy over Obama’s birthplace had spread widely enough that the Obama campaign released a scan of a short-form birth certificate, obtained in 2007.(23) This led critics to demand the release of Obama’s original, long-form birth certificate. In 2011, following public pressure generated by Donald Trump, the White House website would post a scan of a long-form birth certificate obtained from the Hawaii Department of Health.(24) In December 2015, following Trump’s election as President, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department would officially announce the opinion of forensics experts that the certificate posted on the White House’s website was a forgery.(25)

Meanwhile, rumors about Obama’s Kenyan birth continued to circulate throughout the political spectrum during and the 2008 campaign and after. On October 9, 2008, Africa-based NPR correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton appeared in a segment that NPR’s website summarized as including discussion of “the U.S. presidential race of Kenyan-born Sen. Barack Obama”.(26)

The rumors took on legal significance in August 2008, when attorney Philip Berg, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit arguing that Obama was ineligible to run for President due to being born in Kenya and having one parent who was not an American citizen.(27) During the suit, which was eventually dismissed, testimony was introduced that included a recording of Obama’s step-grandmother Sarah seeming to acknowledge through a translator that Obama was born in Kenya.(28) When asked if she was present when Obama was born in Kenya, Sarah initially answered yes. Later in the conversation, the translator insisted that she meant Obama was born in Hawaii. However, members of Obama’s tribe who are fluent in his family’s dialect and have listened to the recording have asserted that Sarah indeed said Obama was born in Mombasa, Kenya and that the Hawaii claim came from the translator.(29) This seemingly contradicted a story that Sarah first learned of her son’s marriage via letter from Hawaii.(30) Further complicating matters, in a 2012 interview with Sarah where an audio recording has not been released, a translator claimed she said Obama wasn’t born in Kenya.(31)

Sarah is not the only member of the Obama family who has been recorded making embarrassing statements. Michelle Obama, speaking about HIV at an LGBT Delegate Luncheon on January 2, 2009, recalled, “When we took our trip to Africa and visited his home country in Kenya, we took a public HIV test.”(32)

Why Are There Two Stories?

Such is the documentary record. It indicates that both the Hawaiian and the Kenyan versions of Obama’s birth narrative have been circulating publicly ever since Obama first drew public attention following his 1990 Harvard Law Review appointment. It also suggests that both versions of the story originate, not from Birther critics, and not from Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, but from Obama’s own publicity efforts. The first reference to the Hawaii version of Obama’s birth narrative dates to Obama’s February 1990 interview with The New York Times. The first reference to the Kenya version dates to his literary agent’s 1991 biographical sketch.

His literary agent’s claim that the Kenya story originated with a fact-checking error is inadequate. Even if it were true, it would simply raise the question of how the agent got the facts wrong. But it seems difficult to conceive how a literary agent could get such a basic fact wrong without input from their client. Even if a ghostwriter was used, they would have been provided with biographical material supplied by Obama and by published articles about Obama.

The “fact-checking error” explanation becomes more suspect in light of Obama’s failure to notice his literary agent’s alleged error for 16 years, his 25-year running joke about his birthplace, and his forged birth certificate. At best, the cumulative facts suggest that Obama has promoted inconsistent stories of his own birth since the beginning of his public career, for whatever reason. At worst, it raises the ominous possibility that a usurper has been occupying the White House for the last eight years. The only upside of this is that if Obama is indeed ineligible to hold the office of the Presidency, all his executive actions are legally null and void. This alone is sufficient reason for the public to continue demanding the truth.

References

1. Barack Obama, “Breaking the War Mentality”, The Sundial, Volume 7, Number 12, March 10, 1983, 2-3, 5, http://documents.nytimes.com/obama-s-1983-college-magazine-article.

2. Revue, Cambridge, 1990, cited in Jodi Kantor, “In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice”, The New York Times, January 28, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html?pagewanted=all.

3. Hunter Schwarz, “Did you hear the one about the Muslim, socialist, Kenyan president? The joke Obama can’t stop telling.”, The Washington Post, April 26, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/04/26/obama-jokes-about-being-a-socialist-kenya-born-muslim-at-every-whcd/?utm_term=.1d2509097120.

4. Obama to 2013 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, video clip online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVH4PKUUKJY.

5. Linda Matchan, “A Law Review Breakthrough”, The Boston Globe, February 15, 1990, http://archive.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/1990/02/15/a_law_review_breakthrough/

6. Fox Butterfield, “First Black Elected to Head Harvard’s Law Review”, The New York Times, February 6, 1990, http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/06/us/first-black-elected-to-head-harvard-s-law-review.html.

7. Allison J. Pugh, “First black president of journal finds his calling in inner cities”, Hutchinson News, April 16, 1990, 7.

8. Robert Draper, “Barack Obama’s Work in Progress”, GQ, November 15, 2009, http://www.gq.com/story/barack-obama-writing-books-writer-robert-draper.

9. Joel B. Pollak, “The Vetting - Exclusive - Obama's Literary Agent in 1991 Booklet: 'Born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii'”, Breitbart, May 17, 2012, http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2012/05/17/the-vetting-barack-obama-literary-agent-1991-born-in-kenya-raised-indonesia-hawaii/.

10. Dylan Stableford, “‘Born in Kenya’: Obama’s literary agent misidentified his birthplace in 1991”, Yahoo News, May 17, 2012, https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/ticket/born-kenya-obama-literary-agent-misidentified-birthplace-1991-214423507.html.

11. “Client List”, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, https://web.archive.org/web/20130201145059/http://web.archive.org/web/20070403190001/http://www.dystel.com/clientlist.html

12. Ben Shapiro, “Obama’s Lit Agency Used 'Born in Kenya' Bio Until 2007”, May 17, 2012, Breitbart, https://web.archive.org/web/20120518172322/http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/Obama-pamphlet-in-use-2007.

13. Janny Scott, “The Story of Obama, Written by Obama,” The New York Times, May 18, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/us/politics/18memoirs.html?pagewanted=all

14. Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, New York: Times Books, 1995.

15. ”Kenyan-born Obama all set for US Senate”, Sunday Standard, June 27, 2004, http://web.archive.org/web/20040627142700/eastandard.net/headlines/news26060403.htm.

16. David Mikkelson, “A June 2004 Associated Press article identified Barack Obama as 'Kenyan-born'?”, Snopes.com, October 30, 2009, http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/ap.asp.

17. “Jack Ryan abandons Senate bid”, USA Today, June 26, 2004, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/state/2004-06-25-ryan_x.htm.

18. “Letters to the Editor: Doesn’t’ Meet Requirements”, Kerrville Daily Times, August 3, 2004, 4A.

19. Memo, Mark Penn to Hillary Clinton, March 19, 2007, reprinted in Joshua Green, “Penn Strategy Memo, March 19, 2007”, The Atlantic, August 11, 2008, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/08/penn-strategy-memo-march-19-2008/37952/.

20. “FR CONTEST: ‘Pin the Middle Name on the Obama’”, FreeRepublic.com, February 28, 2008, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1978110/posts?page=391#391, Post 391.

21. “FREEDOMS ENEMIES - THE OBAMA STORY”, Ruthless Roundup, March 5, 2008, http://alanpetersroundup.blogspot.com/2008/03/freedoms-enemies-obama-story.html.

22. Jon Swaine, “Birther row began with Hillary Clinton supporters”, The Telegraph, April 27, 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8478044/Birther-row-began-with-Hillary-Clinton-supporters.html.

23. “Fight the Smears”, The Obama File, http://www.theobamafile.com/_exhibits/FightTheSmearsCOLBHTML.htm.

24. The White House, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/birth-certificate-long-form.pdf.

25. “WOW: Sheriff Joe Arpaio Releases New Information on President Obama's Birth Certificate”, YouTube.com, December 15, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk3KRxTfkLM.

26. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, “Trial and Triumph: Stories Out Of Africa”, NPR, October 9, 2008, https://web.archive.org/web/20091020224623/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95550177.

27. Berg v. Obama et al, Justia, https://dockets.justia.com/docket/pennsylvania/paedce/2:2008cv04083/281573.

28. “Obama Not Born In Kenya - McRae / Berg Full Clip of Grandmother”, YouTube.com, August 2, 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY6bPYKLjNw&feature=player_embedded.

29. Jerome R. Corsi, “Did Obama’s Grandmother Say He Was Born in Kenya?”, WND.com, August 24, 2009,

30. Tim Jones, “Barack Obama Part 2: Barack Obama: Mother not just a girl from Kansas: Stanley Ann Dunham shaped a future senator”, Hartford Courant, March 27, 2007, https://web.archive.org/web/20090821054242/http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/world/chi-0703270151mar27-archive,0,2145571.story.

31. Irin Carmon, “’Barack Obama wasn’t born in Kenya’: Meeting the president's step-grandmother at the family compound in Kenya”, Salon, June 22, 2012, http://www.salon.com/2012/06/22/barack_obama_wasnt_born_in_kenya/.

32. “Michelle Obama speaking at the LGBT Delegate (The World as it Should Be)”, YouTube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxh1PvjP0Ug.

[outofsalt]

Ping me when you do. Happy new year, FRiend.

[mad_as_he$$]

Yaelle, I have been convinced that he was born in Canada for sometime now. The circumstances and timeline fit together very nicely.

[norwaypinesavage]

Hi Fedora, this is a very good summary. I believe there is another very important point. Why does Obama continue to rely on obviously fake, altered photocopies of his birth records, rather than simply release stamped originals?

The answer is simple. There is something on the originals that he needs to hide. He obviously believes it's more important to pretend that the fakes are accurate than it is to produce the originals, in spite of all the speculation that has ensued from that decision.

So, what is he hiding? It obviously could be his birth place. It could also be his adoption and thus citizenship records. It could also be to cover up the lies in his "auto"biography. Regardless of the real answer, it's still proof that he is lying about it, and always has been.

[abclily]

What happened to the rumor that Obama is the offspring of Stanley Dunham and a black prostitute?

[grundle]

Thanks, especially for the proof that his publisher kept saying it until 2007, the year that he said he was running for President.

[B212]

yes, now we have better understanding of Os resentment of Russia, as he knows that Putin has the goods on O....it is not the election but rather the birth records....

[DouglasKC]

This was well done...thank you!

[iontheball]

Fedora,
I do not believe there is any hard evidence that Stanley Ann is the natural mother. Remember, no one saw her pregnant. She didn't give a hoot about the kid. Neither did the purported father, who also looks like a stool. Both of the claimed parents look to be no more than disinterested surrogates. This theory is explosive since it necessitates a concerted plot to have been underway by communist operatives dating back to at least the date of Obozo’s birth and, perhaps, earlier. It also explains the insane despondency that now afflicts the choreographers who made would have made such a humongous investment to pull of the biggest fraud every perpetrated on America to transform the country into a socialist/communist state.

[ThePatriotsFlag]

That is an amazing summary. Thank you for all the work. This piece is an historical keeper.

[LS]

Nice summary.

[amigatec]

I personally believe he was born in Canada. There is no record of were his mother was from about Feb to Aug of 1961. In Aug she was enrolled at College in Washington St.

1. I have a had time believing a single first time mother would have been able to travel after giving birth, just a few days before. A trip from Hawaii to Wash St, was several thousand miles.

2. If she was in Wash St, as early as Feb, she would have had time to find a place to live, get a student loan, enroll in school, arrange for daycare, and find a Dr., and other needs for her and the baby.

3. Canada had free health-care in 1961.

4. If Obama’s really was from Kenya, and since Kenya was part of the British Commonwealth. certain rights and benefits are available for citizens of the Commonwealth. I have believed this for many years.

[Suz in AZ]

Don’t forget. One of the things barring people from getting info is the EO sealing his docs. Will it be one of the 70% of EOs rescinded? Hmmm...

[mouse1]

http://www.freewebs.com/jeffhead/obama-bio.jpg

[nclaurel]

Our last two Dem presidents have been bastards.

Seems to be very common among all Democrats as heterosexual marriage (the only true marriage) and responsible parenting are not a party value anymore.

[bgill]

FReeper Beckwith has had a site set up for years which has a ton of information on the imposter: http://www.theobamafile.com/

Then there's this from the Kenyan Parliament minutes: http://www.thepostemail.com/2010/04/11/kenyan-parliament-claims-obama-born-in-kenya/

SR511 is a must read on definition of NBC and signed by the imposter and Hellary: https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/the-introduction-of-a-senate-resolution

Along with his sick joke about being born in Norway, he also said his middle name was Steve.

In a scrubbed site that had included "Reminiscence" of Sr., his good friends at the East-West Univ. all wrote they had no clue about SAD or a baby. Even Gov. Pothead Abercrombie who claimed he was "there" has had to shut up on that lie.

[bgill]

Sorry, forgot to ping you. I posted a link to your Obamafile.

[faithhopecharity]

Agreed - DJT will fix the damage of (get rid of) O’s exec orders. He’s made this clear. I’m hoping for a way to prevent a future dictator- like occupant of our WH ( if we ever get another O) from mis- using exec orders like O did. I’m not too sure what. can work against such an unprincipled tyrant , tho. Since our entire constitution ( and the war powers act?) didn’t slow O down one iota.
—————— John Adams put my thoughts and concerns much more eloquently than I can, below. Thanks : -——————————————————————————
-———————————————————While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world. Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Oaths in this country are as yet universally considered as sacred obligations. That which you have taken, and so solemnly repeated on that venerable ground, is an ample pledge of your sincerity and devotion to your country and its government.
Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, 11 October 1798, in Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull (New York, 1848), pp 265-6

[dandiegirl]

Remember the references to the famous birth certificate being in a shoe box at his grandmother’s house in Hawaii. No one ever saw the woman and then he suddenly went out there and she dies. What was he really doing?

[krug]

I’m a birther. I also cling to my religion and guns, and I’m one of those people he claims, “didn’t build that”. I’ll say it again. HE WAS NOT BORN IN THE USA.

[Liz]

One of the things barring people from getting this info on Obama is
the E/O sealing his docs. Will it be one of the 70% of E/Os rescinded?

Good thinking. Let's remind President Trump.

Contact President-Elect Trump's web site....www.greatagain.gov.