Barack Obama: “We're helping more people discover our parks and our mountains and our beaches.”

We designed the center not to be some lifeless mausoleum.

They're meant to remind us of who we can be, to remind us of what's possible, so we can forge ahead.

We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse…

I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious our democracy truly is.