President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for his recent efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons and strengthen international diplomacy between countries and their peoples, according to a White House press release.
Obama said he was "surprised and deeply humbled," but asserted that the award not be a testament of his personal accomplishment, but rather a reflection of American leadership and hopes of the people, Obama said in a speech in the White House Rose Garden.
"Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," Obama said.
Obama joins the company of former winners Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr.
Since being elected president of the United States, Obama has called for countries to get rid of their nuclear weapons, decreased the number of soldiers in Iraq and urged peace talks between countries like Israel and Palestine.
