Biographies: 2009 People in the News

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

2009 People in the News

A—E | F—L | M—Q | R—Z

• Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Basketball player
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president
• Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board
• Danny Boyle, Director of Slumdog Millionaire
• Susan Boyle, singer and Internet sensation
• Rod Blagojevich, Former governor of Illinois (Dem.)
• Roland Burris, U.S. Senator (Dem., Ill.)
• Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State under Pres. Obama, former First Lady
• Walter Cronkite, TV news anchor
• Tom Daschle, U.S. Senate majority leader 2001-2003
• Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate of the U.K.
• Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's Chief of Staff
• John Ensign, U.S. Senator (Rep., Nev.)

• Shepard Fairey, American artist
• Farrah Fawcett, Actor
• Al Franken, U.S. Senator (Dem., Mich.)
• Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard professor, African-American scholar
• Rob Gauntlett, British mountain climber and adventurer
• Timothy Geithner, Secretary of Treasury under Pres. Obama
• Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator (Dem., N.Y.)
• Jon Gosselin, Reality TV star, father of 8
• Kate Gosselin, Reality TV star, mother of 8
• Judd Gregg, U.S. Senator (Rep., N.H.)
• Jaimee Grubbs, Scandal figure
• Nidal Malik Hassan, Soldier, murder suspect
• Michael Jackson, Musician, "King of Pop"
• Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana (Rep.)
• Kim Jong-il, Dictator of North Korea
• Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
• Caroline Kennedy, Daughter of President John F. Kennedy
• Ted Kennedy, U.S. Senator (Dem., Mass.)
• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader
• David Letterman, Late-night talk show host
• Gary Locke, Nominee for Commerce Secretary

• Bernhard Madoff, Money manager and Ponzi-schemer
• Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq
• Adolf Merckle, Billionaire German businessman
• Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish-American writer
• Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iranian presidential candidate
• John Allen Muhammad, "Beltway Sniper" (2002)
• Barack Obama, U.S. President
• Bo "First Dog" Obama, First family's Portuguese water dog
• Sarah Palin, Former Governor of Alaska (Rep.), author
• Leon Panetta, Director of the CIA under Barack Obama
• Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, (Dem., Cali.)
• Sean Penn, Academy Award-winning actor
• Mackenzie Phillips, Actor, daughter of Mamas and the Papas founder
• Roman Polanski, Controversial filmmaker, actor
• Carrie Prejean, Beauty contestant, political figure

• Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader (Nev., Dem.)
• Alex Rodriguez, Shortstop for Yankees baseball team
• Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's ex-wife, mother of children
• Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico (Dem.), former nominee for Commerce Secretary under Pres. Obama
• Natasha Richardson, Tony Award-winning actress
• William Safire, Columnist, speechwriter
• Michaele Salahi, "White House Crasher"
• Tareq Salahi, "White House Crasher"
• Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina (Rep.)
• Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
• Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health & Human Services under Pres. Obama
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Founder of the Special Olympics
• David H. Souter, Supreme Court Justice
• Sonia Sotomayor, Nominee for Supreme Court Justice
• Arlen Specter, Senator of Pennsylvania (Dem.)
• Ted Stevens, Former senator of Alaska (Rep.)
• Patrick Swayze, Actor
• Nadya Suleman, Mother of Octuplets
• Thierry Henry, French soccer player with a "handball" goal against Republic of Ireland in a World Cup qualifying match
• Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, U.S. Airways pilot who landed on the Hudson River
• George Tiller, Doctor
• Jett Travolta, Child of actors John Travolta and Kelly Preston
• Rachel Uchitel, Scandal figure linked with Tiger Woods
• John Updike, Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer
• Addison Graves "Joe" Wilson, U.S. Representative (Rep., S. Car.)
• Oprah Winfrey, Talk-show host, actress, and producer
• Kate Winslet, Academy Award-winning actress
• Tiger Woods, Professional golfer
• Andrew Wyeth, Celebrated American artist