For years, former President Barack Obama and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., worked hand-in-hand as they led the Democratic Party from opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Now, as Pelosi prepares to end her historic career, Obama has one more honor in store for her: The Obama Presidential Center will feature the “Nancy Pelosi Garden Pavilion,” the Obama Foundation told MS NOW.
In a statement, Obama lauded Pelosi’s political career, which made history when she became the first woman to serve as speaker of the House.
“For almost four decades, Nancy Pelosi served the American people and worked to make our country better,” Obama said. “No one was more skilled at bringing people together and getting legislation passed — and I will always be grateful for her support of the Affordable Care Act. That’s why we’re proud to name the Garden Pavilion at the Obama Presidential Center after Nancy. It’s a way to honor her trailblazing leadership, and inspire visitors to follow in her footsteps.”
The library, located in Jackson Park on the south side of Chicago, is set to open to the public on June 19. It will be the 14th presidential library to open under the purview of the National Archives and Records Administration. The Nancy Pelosi Garden Pavilion — paid for by donations from angel investor Ron Conway — will be part of the fruit and vegetable garden at the center, and it will include a garden classroom and garden workroom.
Pelosi is one of a number of “icons and everyday heroes” that will be honored by name at the Obama Presidential Center, according to the Obama Foundation. Among those with their own named space will be Chicago civil rights leader Timuel Black, Holocaust survivor and activist Elie Wiesel, and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
In a statement, Pelosi told MS NOW that having an eponymous pavilion at the Obama Presidential Center is “deeply celebratory” for her because of her admiration for the former president.
“President Barack Obama’s mission throughout his entire life in public service has been training leaders for the future — and now he continues that focus at the Obama Presidential Center in an unsurpassed way,” she said.
Pelosi’s garden at Obama’s presidential center epitomizes the close working relationship the two Democrats shared, as they produced several pieces of significant legislation.
With Obama at the White House and Pelosi atop the House, Democrats approved a stimulus package during the 2009 economic crisis, enacted a bill to overhaul the U.S. financial system after the recession, and repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which allowed gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals to serve in the military.
Most notably, however, was passage of the Affordable Care Act, which Pelosi points to as the crowning achievement of her career.
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During an interview with MS NOW in March, Pelosi called Obamacare “the legacy piece” and said it’s “the source of greatest pride.”
“I think we have a very robust legislative legacy of accomplishments, most important among them the Affordable Care Act,” Pelosi told MS NOW’s Ali Vitali.
Pelosi said she called Obama that month to mark the 16th anniversary of the bill becoming law.
“We chatted about how that was, and my favorite story about that is the night that we passed it,” Pelosi said. “He called me — President Obama called me and said, ‘I’m happier tonight than the night I was elected president.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m pretty happy tonight too, but if you weren’t elected president, we wouldn’t have this night.’”
“But that was a lovely thing that he said,” Pelosi said. “So we reminisced about that this week.”
After serving as chair of the California Democratic Party, Pelosi was first elected to Congress in 1987, winning a special election to succeed the late-Rep. Sala Burton, D-Calif.
She has been on Capitol Hill ever since, climbing the House Democratic leadership ranks to serve as the top Democrat in the House for 20 years — from 2003 to 2023. In 2007, she became Speaker of the House, making history as the first woman to ever wield the gavel. She returned to the top job in 2019, when Democrats retook control of the House.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.