In 2009, the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to US President Barack Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people."
The Norwegian Nobel Committee particularly cited Obama for his efforts towards nuclear non-proliferation and for promoting a "new climate" in international relations.
Six years later and with the benefit of hindsight, an official of that committee is saying that awarding the prize to the American president was a mistake.
In his memoir, Geil Lundestad, who served as the director of the Nobel Institute for 25 years, said the awards committee was expecting then that Obama would garner support in his effort to stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons at that time after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. But this did not happen, he said.
Instead, the choice of Obama as the Nobel Peace Prize awardee in 2009 only triggered controversies.
"No Nobel Peace Prize ever elicited more attention than the 2009 prize to Barack Obama," Lundestad wrote.
The former Nobel official also revealed that the Peace Prize was awarded to Obama right after his election in 2009, not because of the things he already accomplished but to boost his efforts towards nuclear disarmament.
"Even many of Obama's supporters believed that the prize was a mistake. In that sense the committee didn't achieve what it had hoped for," Lundestad said.
Lundestad's book gave a rare inside look into the inner workings of the Nobel committee, whose decision-making process has long been shrouded in secrecy. For instance, he also revealed that President Obama even considered not personally receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
The American leader's staff supposedly asked the committee if other recipients had done this in the past, but the panel informed them that this had happened only on rare occasions, such as when countries of dissidents did not allow them to do so.
"In the White House, they quickly realised that they needed to travel to Oslo," the former Nobel committee official wrote.
