Obama Accepts Nobel Prize
In Oslo, Norway today, President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. At the ceremony help in Oslo City Hall, Obama spoke about his nomination for the prize and regarding the recent escalation of conflict in Afghanistan. He acknowledge the “hard truth” of using force (he recently added 30,000 more U.S. troops into battle) and of the inability to “eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes.”
Obama addressed the audience of 1,000 people stating that he is still early in his efforts as a president and leader, and understood that compared to some winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, his “accomplishments are slight.” The King and Queen of Norway looked on, as did his wife Michelle Obama who entered with her husband and was seated in the front row as he took to the stage.
The president’s acceptance speech was 36-minutes long and can be read in its entirety here. He is the third U.S. president in history to receive the prize, and the first sitting president to do so in 90 years. The first was Theodore Roosevelt who was honored for his work in helping to end the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. He didn’t accepted the award or prize money until 1910, after he left office.
In 1919, Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize for creating the League of Nations. After serving in office, Jimmy Carter was awarded the prize in 2002 for helping to resolve international conflicts. In the late 1970s, it’s rumored that he was nearly given the award for joining the Israeli prime minister and Egyptian president in peace efforts. Obama was nominated for the prize two months ago.
Chairman of the Nobel Prize, Thorbjorn Jagland spoke at the ceremony’s opening, explaining the reason for Obama’s nomination. The U.S. president’s leadership thus far has been a “call to action,” Jagland stated. He recalled the 1965 prize winner, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and facing Obama, said “Dr. King’s dream has come true.”
Other winners of the Nobel Peace Prize include Cordell Hunt, the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), George C. Marshall, Henry Kissinger, Elie Wiesel, and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The Nobel Prize is awarded in the fields of medicine, economics, literature, chemistry, physiology and physics. Established in 1895, it was created through the estate and will of Swedish inventor and chemist Alfred Nobel. The awards for peace prizes are awarded at a ceremony each year in Oslo, Norway, and the other prizes are awarded in Stockholm Sweden.
Obama directly addressed the controversy over being given the award, as the commander-in-chief of a nation engaged in two wars. As to those who feel the president is receiving the award too soon in his presidency, he also addressed them, saying in an earlier press conference: “I have no doubt that there are others who may be more deserving.”
In that same press conference, he also stated, “My task here is to continue on the path that I believe is not only important for America but important for lasting peace and security in the world.”
