Obama dedicates Defense U.'s Lincoln Hall

WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- Honoring Abraham Lincoln at the National Defense University is apt since his tenure was marked by war as he worked for peace, U.S. President Barack Obama said.

When considering Lincoln's legacy as the 16th president of the United States, it is proper that "we should set aside this ground and dedicate this hall to his memory," Obama said Thursday at the Abraham Lincoln Hall dedication, "because Lincoln's presidency was characterized by war, even as his ambition was a just and lasting peace."

At the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, students come together "to think, to learn and to seek new strategies to defend our union, while pursuing the goal of a just and lasting peace," Obama told a crowd of about 900 uniformed and military personnel.

Lincoln Hall is a place where university attendees will be prepared to make choices on the country's security, Obama said. When making those choices, NDU students must remember "that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth -- it comes from the power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, equality, justice and unyielding hope," he said.