To his late mother, Stanley Ann Dunham; and the late civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Both got a big thank-you from President Obama this evening in Norway when the new Nobel Peace Prize recipient made his toast at the Nobel Banquet.

Of the awarding of the Nobel to King in 1964 in the midst of the civil rights movement, Obama, the first black president, said that "for a Baptist preacher from the South to be lifted up on the international stage, to highlight the fact that this was not simply a parochial struggle but was rather a struggle for the ages, a struggle for the hearts and minds not just of the American people but of the world, and how we thought about each other and how we thought about minorities in countries everywhere - what extraordinary power that had.

"And as a consequence, I think it's fair to say that it helped to put the wind behind the sails of a movement that is largely responsible for both Michelle and my presence here tonight."

Of the president's mother, who died in 1995, Obama said, "I do think that it's worth noting that, to the extent I am deserving of this esteemed prize, either now or in the future, it will be largely because of her and the largeness of her heart."

And, finally, a toast to the late Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, an irony Obama noted, and also left his fortune to establish the Nobel prizes. "So, to Alfred Nobel -- Skål. Cheers," Obama said. "Thank you. Thank you very much."