The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to U.S. President Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."[The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award on October 9, 2009, citing Obama's promotion of nuclear nonproliferation and a "new climate" in international relations fostered by Obama, especially in reaching out to the Muslim world.
Obama is the fourth U.S. President to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, after Theodore Roosevelt (1906) and Woodrow Wilson (1919)—both of whom received the award during their terms—and Jimmy CarterVice President Charles Dawes was a co-winner with Austen Chamberlain (1925), and former Vice President Al Gore was a co-winner with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) (2002), who received the award 21 years after leaving office. In addition, then-sitting
Obama is the first U.S. president to receive the award during his first year in office (at eight and a half months, after being nominated less than a month in office), although several other world leaders were awarded in the year following their election to national office, including Óscar Arias (1987) and Aung San Suu Kyi(1991);
On December 10, 2009, Obama accepted the prize in Oslo. In a 36-minute speech, he discussed the tensions between war and peace and the idea of a "just war". Obama announced early that he would donate the full 10 million Swedish kronor (about US$1.4 million) monetary award to charity. The largest donations were given to the housing charity Fisher House Foundation who received $250,000, and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund which received $200,000. Eight organizations which support education also received a donation. $125,000 were donated to the College Summit, the Posse Foundation, the United Negro College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the Appalachian Leadership and Education Foundation, and the American Indian College Fund. $100,000 was donated to Africare, and the Central Asia Institute.
U.S. President Barack Obama receiving the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
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