Earlier today (Fri., Oct. 9), President Barack Obama historic legacy continued as he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to improve international diplomacy and rid the world of nuclear weapons.
In honoring Obama, 48, the Norwegian Nobel Committee illustrated a worldwide approval and embrace of the U.S. president – who has seen his popularity overseas often exceed his support at home.
Obama assumed office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 deadline for nominations.
The committee praised Obama for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” during his nine months in office and singled out for special recognition Obama’s call for a world free of nuclear weapons, which he first made in an April speech in Prague.
“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” The committee said. “His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”
Obama is the third sitting U.S. president – and the first in nearly 100 years –to win the coveted peace prize.
His predecessors won during their second White House terms, however, and after significant diplomatic achievements. Woodrow Wilson was awarded the prize in 1919, after helping to found the League of Nations and shaping the Treaty of Versailles; and Theodore Roosevelt was the recipient in 1906 for his work to negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese war.
Information from the Washington Post contributed to this report.