Roosevelt's Nobel Peace Prize
A Nobel Prize for a Noble Effort
On May 5, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt delivered a (delayed) speech addressing his Nobel Peace Prize. In 1906, Roosevelt had become the first American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, for his role in mediating peace in the Russo-Japanese War. As Norwegian statesman Gunnar Knudsen later described it, President Roosevelt played a "happy role in bringing to an end the bloody war recently waged between two of the world’s great powers, Japan and Russia." For his part, President Roosevelt felt it necessary to intervene both to maintain the balance of power in Asia and to further augment America’s role in the world order.
In 1904, after a period of protracted military tensions, war broke out between the Russian and Japanese Empires over control and influence in East Asia – particularly Manchuria and Korea. Tensions finally boiled over when the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack against the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in Manchuria. Although Japan maintained the military upper hand throughout the conflict, Russia refused to cease fighting despite being torn apart by civil strife.
Roosevelt had declared both American and personal neutrality in the conflict, issuing executive orders and memorandums to this effect. But he also believed that it was a prime opportunity for the United States to further strengthen its position on the world stage. He also felt it important to protect the balance of power in Asia so as to protect American interests. Roosevelt had begun following the situation closely as early as 1903, working through both official advisors and backchannel communications, Roosevelt hoped to create a situation where negotiations were close to finished before a peace conference ever began. In the summer of 1905, it was the Empire of Japan, lacking the financial means to continue the war and going through a long streak of costly victories, who asked Roosevelt to mediate a peace. After haggling over the venue and other details, Russia, Japan, and the United States agreed to a peace conference.
Once all parties had accepted the terms, Roosevelt invited Russia’s Count Sergei Witte and Japan’s Baron Jutarō Komura to Sagamore Hill to begin the personalized diplomacy he favored. Once they arrived with their delegations, the negotiators then went to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and finally on to the presidential yacht, the Mayflower. Eventually, thanks in part to the adroit negotiating of Roosevelt and American diplomats, both sides agreed that Russia would give up any rights to Port Arthur and the southern half of Sakhalin Island, but would not pay indemnities to Japan, and that Japan could exercise control over Korea. Russia and Japan promised to evacuate Manchuria. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on September 5, 1905, and Roosevelt was hailed across America and Europe as a hero.
Although peace had been successfully brokered, the treaty was domestically disastrous for both Russia and Japan. The Russian public had been against escalating the war to begin with and felt humiliated and embarrassed at the defeat of their military forces. The Treaty of Portsmouth could be seen as the straw that broke the camel’s back in the ongoing Russian Revolution of 1905. Tsar Nicholas II was forced by his advisors to implement reforms under the October Manifesto, and a new constitution in 1906. In Japan, the people felt they had not been sufficiently rewarded – and Russia not sufficiently punished – for their military victories. Public protests escalated into the Hibiya Riots, a series of literally incendiary incidents over the course of two days that collapsed the sitting government under Prime Minister Katsura Tarō. This is now seen as the beginning of what is known as the Era of Popular Violence, a period of mass protesting that lasted through 1918.
On December 10, 1906, Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the success of his efforts. Although he was unable to travel to Norway to accept the prize in person, he directed his Minister to Norway, H. D. Peirce, to deliver a message on his behalf. “I am profoundly moved and touched by the signal honor shown me thru your body in conferring upon me the Nobel peace prize,” Roosevelt wrote. “... what I did I was able to accomplish only as the representative of the nation of which for the time being I am President.” He went on to tell the committee that he intended to use the prize money to establish a permanent Industrial Peace Committee in Washington. (He did not ultimately achieve this, and eventually the money went to other charitable causes during the Great War.)
Following his departure from the presidency, Roosevelt felt it best to create space for his hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft, to work without being too much in Roosevelt’s shadow. Roosevelt put space between them most literally by embarking on a year-long safari, and then a tour of Europe. On May 5, 1910, Roosevelt delivered a lecture to the Nobel Prize Committee and an audience of over 2,000 in Christiana (now Oslo), Norway. Speaking on the topic of “International Peace,” Roosevelt argued that keeping the peace requires a willingness to fight. “No man is worth calling a man,” he argued, “who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong. No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease, or to the deification of a warped and twisted sentimentality.”
Roosevelt always tried to back up his ideals with practical suggestions, and here was no different. “Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we cannot attain all at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step, reasonably content so long as we do actually make some progress in the right direction,” he told the committee. Roosevelt suggested that the continued use of arbitration treaties, particularly as administered through the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, were crucial in preserving world peace. He also argued for establishing a “League of Peace” with more concrete power and stronger bonds than the Hague Tribunal, which would lead to greater enforcement of peace. “The ruler or statesman who should bring about such a combination would have earned his place in history for all time and his title to the gratitude of all mankind,” he said.
Of course, there were caveats to that statement - When President Wilson later put forward his own proposal for the League of Nations, Roosevelt attacked his plans as vague and toothless. As a general rule, Roosevelt held a deep and intense hatred of Woodrow Wilson and his policies. It didn’t help that Roosevelt had continued to offer his own plan, which the Wilson administration thoroughly rejected. Wilson became the third American, after Roosevelt and Elihu Root, to win the Nobel Peace Prize, for his role in creating the League of Nations.
TR was a great American and maybe first American superstar icon. He was celebrated like a Hollywood star used to be in the past. Easily could have won another presidential term except he turned things over to Taft who later split with him. If he had lived he could have been elected in 1920 instead of nonentity Harding. That would have changed history greatly. In 60 years of life he did more than someone living 120 years.