Dignitaries gather to break ground on Martin Luther King Jr. memorial

Congress passed legislation approving the memorial in 1996. It is expected to be completed by 2008.

By BEN EVANS

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Friends and family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. joined national leaders Monday on a cold, wet field between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials to break ground for a national monument honoring the preacher from Georgia whose legacy still reverberates throughout the world.

"It seems like only a few years ago that I stood with Martin Luther King Jr. ... a short distance from here on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial," said Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta, referring to the civil rights pioneer's "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 March on Washington. "He spoke to the conscience of all of us."

Several of King's children also spoke at the ceremonial groundbreaking, along with others such as former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who met King in the 1950s and 1960s when King was a young, inspirational pastor at churches in Alabama and Georgia. They were joined by President Bush, former President Clinton, author Maya Angelou, television host Oprah Winfrey, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

"With this [memorial], each of us can say, 'I am proud to be an American, because my country is proud of me,"' Angelou said.

President Bush said King was "on this earth just 39 years, but the ideas that guided his work and his life are eternal."

"He stood not far from here ... and declared his famous words: 'I have a dream,"' Bush said. "An assassin's bullet could not shatter his dream ... It continues to inspire millions across the world."

With the country at war, several speakers took the occasion to emphasize King's philosophy of winning peace through nonviolence.

Clinton, who received enthusiastic applause from the mostly black audience, said "fighting your opponents with respect and reason works better than aspersion and attack."

"What war has ever resulted in positive, lasting peace?" asked King's oldest child, Martin Luther King III.

Lewis, a friend and partner of King in the civil rights struggle, said he would never forget hearing King's voice for the first time a half century ago in Troy, Ala., as King spoke on the radio about the Montgomery bus boycott sparked by Rosa Parks' refusal to give up here seat to a white man.

"When I heard his words I felt like he was speaking to me," Lewis said. "I felt like he was saying, 'John, you can do it."'

Congress passed legislation approving the memorial in 1996. It is expected to be completed by 2008 at a cost of about $100 million, most of it paid for by private contributions.

The memorial will sit on four acres along the Tidal Basin, featuring stone carvings and a wall of engraved quotes with water flowing over them.