President Obama Speaks on the Death of Nelson Mandela

December 05, 2013 | 4:37 | Public Domain

President Obama says that Nelson Mandela’s journey from a prisoner to President embodied the promise that human beings, and countries, can change for the better, and asks that we pause and give thanks for the fact that Mandela lived -- a man who took history in his hands, and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice.

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President Obama Delivers a Statement on the Passing of Nelson Mandela

This afternoon, from the White House Briefing Room, President Obama delivered a statement on the passing of former South African President and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, calling him "a man who took history in his hands, and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice."

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"We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again," the President said. "So it falls to us as best we can to forward the example that he set:  to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love; to never discount the difference that one person can make; to strive for a future that is worthy of his sacrifice."

Read the President's full remarks here.

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