Nobel Peace Prize winner
President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on the 9th of October 2009. I what many see as a shock decision Obama was awarded the Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”.
Many observers publicly stated that they felt that it as “too early” in Mr Obamas Presidency for him to have won such an award. Mr Obama himself stated that he was “surprised and deeply humbled” by the award.
“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.”
Head of the Nobel Committe Thorbjoern Jagland said the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, “because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve”. “It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done,” .
Mr Obama won 10m Swedish Krona for being selected as well as a special medal and diploma.
Despite it’s apparently premature presentation commentators the world over suggested that the award was presented to the President as a way to encourage him to strive more strongly for world peace, and the reduction of nuclear stockpiles.
Other US leaders to win are, Theodore Roosevelt who won the prize in 1906 and WoodrowWilson won it in 1919.The Nobel prize was invented by the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel, and was first awarded in 1901.
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