WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Presidents, civil rights icons, celebrities and ordinary citizens gathered Monday on the National Mall, where construction is getting under way for a monument honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The monument will be built on a four-acre site near the Lincoln Memorial, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream " speech in 1963.
President Bush said that he was proud to dedicate the memorial to "the lasting memory of a great man."
"Dr. King showed us that a life of conscious and purpose can lift up many souls, and on this ground a monument will rise that preserves his legacy for the ages," Bush said. "Honoring Dr. King's legacy requires more than building a monument. It requires the ongoing commitment of every American. So we will continue to work for the day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected and the American promise is denied to no one."
(Watch praise and song during ceremony -- 4:56 ) Bush said that it was fitting to place the King Memorial between the monuments for Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. "By its presence in this place, it will unite the men who declared the promise of America and defended the promise of America with the man who redeemed the promise of America," Bush said. --more--
*CNN.com
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