Barack H. Obama
Speed read
Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.
Full name: Barack Hussein Obama
Born: 4 August 1961, Honolulu, HI, USA
Date awarded: 9 October 2009
Trust in change
Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii, on 4 August, 1961. His mother was from the USA and his father from Kenya. His multicultural background makes him both an unusual American president and a representative of a multicultural and united America. He studied political science and international politics at Columbia University, and law at Harvard University. He has worked as a civil rights lawyer in Chicago and was elected to the US Senate in 2004. On 20 January 2009, he became the first nonwhite president of the USA. Obama has a vision of a world without nuclear weapons and a focus on multilateral cooperation. He has promoted dialogue and negotiation as instruments for solving international conflicts.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
A resolute bridge-builder
Barack Obama is regarded by many as a bridge-builder. As president he has emphasised dialogue. In a speech to the Muslim world on 4 June 2009, Obama underlined the importance of intercultural understanding and religious fraternity. Obama has helped to improve the conditions for international cooperation. He has also called for action to solve global challenges related to security, disarmament, climate, democracy, and human rights.
"As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it."
- Barack Obama, Prague, 5 April, 2009.
Advocate of disarmament
By 2008, disarmament was a key theme for Obama’s election campaign: “America seeks a world without nuclear weapons” was his clear message. As president he launched an international strategy to reduce, and eventually eradicate, all nuclear weapons. His attempt to resume a dialogue on nuclear weapons with Iran is also considered important. In a comment on the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, former laureate and Director General of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, emphasised the significance of such dialogue and said: “I can think of nobody who is more deserving!”
| Atom bomb A bomb that explodes when its nuclei of uranium or plutonium atoms are split, triggering an extremely rapid nuclear chain reaction (fission). Developed in the USA during WWII. The first atom bombs – “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” – were used against Japan in August 1945. |
From the announcement speech
“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. 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.” Thorbjørn Jagland, Oslo, 9 October 2009.
Reactions to the prize
Critics of the selection of Obama questioned the extent to which the Nobel Committee had focused on his intentions as president rather than his achievements. The committee’s chair Thorbjørn Jagland responded by referring to Alfred Nobel’s will and that the prize should go to those who have done most for international fraternity and cooperation in the preceding year. Martti Ahtisaari, 2008 prize laureate, said he believed the Nobel Committee wanted to encourage Obama on the issues he has put on the international agenda. Obama’s own response was: “I will accept this prize as a call to action.”
Learn more
Barack H. Obama is the 44th President of the United States. His story is the American story – values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others ...
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
