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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande are seen during the working dinner at the Shima Kanko Hotel in in Ise, Japan
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands prior to G7 leaders summit at the Ise Jingu (Shrine) in Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan
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Eikei Suzuki, governor of Mie Prefecture, European Council President Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, participate in a tree planting during a visit at Ise Jingu Shrine
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European Council President Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pose for the family photo
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President Barack Obama, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and wife Akie Abe attend the cocktail event
President Barack Obama smiles next to a painting of President Abraham Lincoln at Havana’s City Museum during a visit to Old Havana, Cuba
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Happy Presidents Day, everyone! Last week, I traveled back to Springfield, Illinois – where I got a chance to reflect a little bit on my favorite president and fellow Illinoisan – Abraham Lincoln.
As I said there, Lincoln wasn’t always the giant of history that we think of today. He didn’t have formal schooling. His businesses and his law practice often struggled. He left Congress after just one term because his opposition to the Mexican-American War damaged his reputation. But then, something happened that shook his conscience. Congress effectively overturned the Missouri Compromise, that flawed law that had prohibited slavery in the North and legalized it in the South.
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Over the next six years, his arguments with Stephen Douglas and others helped shape the national debate around slavery. And it was on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield where he uttered those brilliant words, that “A house divided against itself cannot stand;” and that “this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free.”
Lincoln went on to become the first Republican President, and I believe our greatest president. Through his will, his words, and most of all, his character, he held a nation together and helped free a people.
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Late at night, I sometimes walk down the hall to a room Lincoln used as his office that contains an original copy of the Gettysburg address. I linger on a few words that have helped define our American experiment: “A new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Lincoln grasped, maybe more than anyone, the burdens required to give those words meaning. And he understood that it is through the toil and sacrifice of ordinary men and women that our country is built and freedom is preserved.
President Barack Obama is greeted by Filipino President Benigno Aquino III as he arrives for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting in Manila, Philippines
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President Barack Obama and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, talk during a bilateral meeting
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Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama
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President Barack Obama answers a reporter’s question
Peru President Ollanta Humala and President Barack Obama talk as they arrive to participate in the APEC Summit retreat session on regional economic integration
President Barack Obama walks with Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they arrive for a group photo with leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit
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President Barack Obama shakes hands with Peru’s President Ollanta Humala as they wait for a group family photo. Pictured from top left, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive is Leung Chun-ying, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , South Korea President Park Geun-hye, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. front row from left, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Sultan of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, Peru’s President Ollanta Humala, Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang, U.S. President Barack Obama, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Taiwan envoy Vincent Siew
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama stand with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe during an official arrival ceremony at the South Lawn of the White House
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President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office
First Lady Michelle Obama and Mrs. Akie Abe during a Japanese immersion class at Great Falls Elementary School in Great Falls, Virginia. The Japanese immersion is part of Virginia’s Fairfax County Public School’s World Languages Immersion Program, where elementary students learn math, science, and health through a foreign language
President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe participate in a joint press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House
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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama welcome Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe after they arrived at the north portico of the White House for a State Dinner
First Lady Michelle Obama is in a Tadashi Shoji dress
President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe participate in a toast with sake during a state dinner
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