Origins of the claims
In 1991, Obama's literary agency, Acton & Dystel, printed a promotional booklet which misidentified Obama's birthplace, and stated that Obama was "born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii". This error was later included in a biography that remained posted to their website until April 2007. The booklet's editor said that this incorrect information, which was not widely discovered until 2012, had been her mistake and not based on anything provided to her agency by Obama.[34]

Conspiracy theories about Obama's religion appeared at least as early as his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign in a press release by Illinois political candidate Andy Martin,[35] and, according to a Los Angeles Times editorial, as internet rumors.[36]

According to Politico, rumors Obama was not born in Hawaii began when Obama's popularity proved a threat to Hillary Clinton. Politico wrote: "That theory first emerged in the spring of 2008..."[37] (There is no evidence that Clinton herself or members of her campaign staff were involved in this effort.)[38][39][40] The earliest known appearance of the notion on a conservative blogger website was March 5, 2008, and it was not about his birth, but was about "dual citizenship or split loyalties".[40] In April of that year, some supporters of Hillary Clinton circulated anonymous chain emails repeating the same rumor;[41] among them was an Iowa campaign volunteer, who was fired when the story emerged.[42][43] These and numerous other chain e-mails during the subsequent presidential election circulated false rumors about Obama's origin, religion, and birth certificate.[44][45]