Presidents Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, and Carter Recognized for Ending Conflict
Aug 18, 2009
The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901. Since then, the prize has gone to statesmen, writers, organizations, and those who strove to make a better world, like Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Three American presidents were awarded the Peace Prize for their efforts at building a framework for peace either globally or in specific conflict situations. Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter received the singular honor.
Theodore Roosevelt and the Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 demonstrated that a modern Asian power could inflict serious damage on a Western, colonial power. Russia lost two fleets during the war and was in danger of complete collapse in Asia. President Theodore Roosevelt offered to mediate an end to the conflict, a meeting that took place in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in September 1905.
Historians are quick to point out that Roosevelt’s actions had their primary focus on American Pacific interests. Historian Greg Robinson, in his book By Order of the President, argues that Roosevelt was concerned that total Russian defeat at the expense of an expanding Japan might affect U.S. regional interests, notably the Open Door trade policy.
The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine was another example of TR’s attempt to forestall war in the Caribbean or with Latin and South American nations that had defaulted on debts owed to European powers. The United States would act as debt collector. The policy was severely challenged by Germany over Venezuelan debts but the Kaiser withdrew his warships after Roosevelt ordered Admiral Dewey into the region.
Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations
Wilson’s passionate idealism may have been tied to his strong Calvinist upbringing and lifelong beliefs. At the end of World War I, Wilson traveled to war-torn Europe to present his Fourteen Points, a blue print for redressing immediate injustices and for ensuring a lasting global peace through the creation of an international organization of nations.
His steadfast belief in the “Covenant of the League” was such that he accepted no compromises, even from well-meaning Senators that sought to protect the sovereignty of the United States as well as the checks and balances of the Constitution. Although the League was formed, albeit without U.S. participation, historians have long argued that Wilson’s Utopian vision could never stand the test of time or aggression. Japan retired from League before invading China; Germany left the League after Hitler came to power in 1933. Italy’s Mussolini clearly demonstrated the weakness of the League after invading Ethiopia, a League member.
Jimmy Carter and Middle East Peace
In 1978 President Jimmy Carter invited Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Mechachem Begin to Washington, DC to work out a peace treaty that would return the Sinai to Egypt and address the needs of the Palestinians. The Camp David Accords were viewed as a first major step toward solving the conundrum of Middle East peace.
But events in the Middle East precluded any meaning steps after the Camp David Accords. In 1979, the Iranian Revolution drove the Shah from power and eventually held 58 American embassy workers hostage. Muslim extremists gained control of the government and the balance of power was altered in the region.
The Peace Prize and Utopian Idealism
The Nobel Prize recognized significant attempts by three Presidents to confront conflict. In this, only Roosevelt, the realist, was successful. Wilson and Carter, idealists, valiantly strove to create a new world order based on justice and freedom, but were ultimately undermined by the realities of nation-state security interests.
Sources:
- Stephen E. Ambrose and Douglas G. Brinkley, Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 (Penguin Books, 1997)
- H. W. Brands, T.R. The Last Romantic (Basic Books, 1997)
- Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (Harvard University Press, 2001)
- Gene Smith, When the Cheering Stopped: the Last Years of Woodrow Wilson (William Morrow and Company, 1964)
 |
