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Bill Clinton Speaks At MLK Memorial Fundraiser

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Jan 9, 2009 8:13 am US/Eastern

Bill Clinton Speaks At MLK Memorial Fundraiser

MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ― Former President Bill Clinton was in South Florida Thursday night to receive a special honor.

Mr. Clinton, who was the guest speaker at an event to raise money for the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Foundation, received an award for his humanitarian work. He received a standing ovation at the event, which took place at the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach.

Long before America elected Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton was famously referred to as the nation's "first black president." Mr. Clinton is a longtime champion of issues important to the black community.

Clinton, who said he would never have been elected if not for King, recalled his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. "I can still quote that speech today. It changed America in a profound way," Clinton said. He also praised Obama and his historic election to the presidency, but added America has a long way to go toward fulfilling King's dream.

Clinton said the address Obama will give at his inauguration and King's 1963 speech are closely linked.

"I cannot imagine that one would be occurring if the first had not been given," Clinton said.

Harry Johnson, president of the foundation planning the memorial, said Clinton's relationship with the black community has never faltered.

"President Clinton has been a friend to the civil rights movement and to the disenfranchised. The bottom line, President Clinton is the one that signed this bill into law allowing us to build the memorial," he said.

The $120 million, four-acre Memorial will rest on the National Mall next to the F.D.R. Memorial. It's fitting that Obama will unveil it, Johnson said.

"Like Obama, Dr. King was a change agent," he said. "He is the first man of peace and the first man of color on the mall."

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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