Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou took power in 2009 with promises to create jobs, help the poor and pump life into a sagging economy. Instead, he found himself fighting to keep the country from sinking into bankruptcy and taking the entire global economy down with it.

Mr. Papandreou's grandfather, George, and his father Andreas, also were Greek prime ministers who helped shape contemporary Greek history.

The current prime minister was born in 1952 in the midwestern U.S. city of St. Paul, Minnesota. Andreas Papandreou had fled there to escape a severe right-wing Greek dictatorship in the late 1930s.

George Papandreou studied in the United States, Canada and Sweden before moving to Greece when democracy returned in 1974. He followed his family into the Socialist Party, winning a seat in parliament and holding several government posts, including foreign minister and party leader.

Mr. Papandreou became prime minister when the Socialists won the 2009 parliamentary elections. He was shocked to discover that the previous conservative government severely underestimated the size of the Greek budget deficit — a problem conservatives said started under previous Socialist administrations.

Mr. Papandreou's efforts to reduce the deficit through spending cuts and economic reforms failed, forcing him to turn to the European Union and International Monetary Fund for help.