US: Stars and ex-leaders on hand to open Obama Center

US: Stars and ex-leaders on hand to open Obama Center June 19, 2026The Barack Obama Presidential Center was opened with three-hours of fanfare in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday evening. The event was attended by thousands of guests at the center and in ticketed public viewing in the adjoining park. It was also livestreamed globally. Thursday's event kicked off a three-day celebration coinciding with the center's public opening on Juneteenth (June 19). The center, financed through money raised by the non-profit Obama Foundation, is situated on a landscaped 19.3-acre (7.8 hectare) site in Chicago's historic Jackson Park; near University of Chicago Law School, where Obama taught for 12 years. The choice of location signals a commitment to Chicago's South Side, where the Obamas married and made their home. "It's an expression of thanks, an acknowledgment that so much of what I hold most dear I owe to the people of this city and the people of the surrounding neighborhoods," Barack Obama said Thursday. The $850 million (€742 million) facility will house a public library, a museum, a performing arts hall and a athletic center featuring a basketball court. Former presidents out in force, sitting president not in attendance Among the VIPs in attendance on Thursday were former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Joe Biden and their wives; former world leaders such as Germany's Angela Merkel, Italy's Matteo Renzi and Canada's Justin Trudeau; and stars Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen, among many others. The current president of the United States, Donald Trump, did not attend. Trump regularly hurls often racist insults at Obama and his wife in public and online and generally maintains a hostile attitude toward his predecessors. None of the event's speakers mentioned the current president by name, that included Obama, who simply referred to those present, saying: "Every president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold values that [Republican senators and presidential candidates] John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in no less than I did. It is our greatest inheritance." Michelle Obama: Legacy 'is about the difference we make' Former First Lady Michelle Obama praised her husband for the way he conducted himself as president, saying, "With grace and class and cool, you made the hardest job in the world look like a walk in this beautiful park." Lauding her husband's "stubborn optimism and unflinching courage," she said: "A lasting legacy isn't in a war, or a name on a building, or the number of zeros in a bank account. It's about the difference we make in one another's lives." Obama: Embrace 'our shared responsibilities as citizens' When Barack Obama took the stage he exclaimed that he maintained hope even though it might seem "old-fashioned" or "naive" to call for "democracy and civic participation" in such "uncertain times." "I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious, our democracy truly is, and remind us what we can achieve when we embrace our shared responsibilities as citizens." Obama, a former community organizer, urged citizens to keep up their faith in democracy, and in the principles of equality and self-governance. He warned that losing it leaves the door, "open to the most ruthless, or the most careless, or the most fearful among us." Further, he cautioned against those who, "see government as nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies and keep those who are different in their place." "I do not believe that is the story of America that prevails in the end," he added. Presidential libraries: Money and legacy Obama was elected to the US Senate in 2004 and to the White House in 2008. He was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States in 2009, becoming the first Black person ever elected to the office. He served two consecutive terms before handing over the White House to Donald Trump 2017 after the New York businessman defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. The contents of the Barack Obama Presidential Center will outline the story of Obama's career and was established with the intention of providing an informative and inclusive space that can function as an anchor institution in the community. Designed by New York-based Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the building itself has garnered mixed reviews ranging from gushing to derisive, with its granite-clad monolithic silhouette being compared to everything from a futuristic Star Wars space ship to a "garbage can" [Trump]. The eight-story building is also referred to as "the Obamalisk." The center is expected to attract between 750,000 and one million visitors each year.