Secretary Salazar Commemorates 200th Anniversary
of Abraham Lincoln's Birth with Ceremony at Lincoln Memorial
FEBRUARY 12, 2009
Music/Announcer: This is a podcast from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Ron Tull: Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Illinois Senator Richard Durban today commemorated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln at a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial. It began a day of Lincoln bicentennial celebrations across the country in honor of our 16th president. Here are the remarks of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. [Applause]
Ken Salazar: As we celebrate the 200th birthday of arguably our greatest president, it is hard not to reflect what Abraham Lincoln means to the spirit of America today. He is, in many ways, the definition of what it means to be an American. His courage, his humility, his faith, his commitment to freedom and justice, and his belief of a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people shine as a beacon over our entire history.
It is no coincidence that when Americans have gathered to either celebrate our liberty or to demand that America live up to her promise to become a more perfect union, that they have come to this place, to this place where Marian Anderson sang and where Martin Luther King dreamed of the Promised Land. Today, as our nation faces another great crisis, we can recall the words of Abraham Lincoln at a time when our country was engaged in a long and bloody civil war. He said, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion as our case is new so we must think anew and we must act anew.”
President Barack Obama took the oath of office on the bible owned by Abraham Lincoln and President Barack Obama has been determined and is determined to think anew and to act anew on behalf of our nation and our world. In doing so, President Obama has pledged to lead America in a time of much needed change, a time when the hopes of all Americans can and will be met. On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, let us work together that the American spirits who are symbolized by this great man will again be lifted up; and let us be certain, as Abraham Lincoln was, that even in the darkest hours