*On this date in 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama of the United States.
This was for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The 16th Black to receive a Nobel, the committee attached particular importance to his vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. At the time, "the President had created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations."
Because of President Obama's initiative, the USA was playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened. Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as President Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy was founded on the concept that those who lead the world must do so based on values and attitudes shared by the majority of the world's population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which he was the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorsed President Obama's appeal; "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."
