- 1st American to win a Nobel Prize is?

- When did he get his award?

- What happened to the money given with the award?

- What about the ring with Lincoln's hair

contributors:
Dr. John A. Gable
Richard Cashman, Sagamore Hill Volunteer,
Linda Milano, Assistant Director, TRA
edited by: Rogina Jeffries 1/24/07

The negotiations to end the Russo-Japanese war began at Sagamore Hill when President Theodore Roosevelt invited diplomats on both sides, Russia and Japan, to his home in Oyster Bay. After meeting with all of them, he sent the diplomats out on board the presidential yacht Mayflower*. TR never personally owned a yacht although he did have a rowboat or two.

Negotiations continued at and near a naval base in Portsmouth, because it was federal property and cool in the summer. Delegates also went back and forth to Oyster Bay to confer with TR. TR set up the final settlement, and the treaty was signed at the US Navy base in Portsmouth. Thus the accord is called the "Treaty of Portsmouth".

TR intervened at several points as described in this delightful essay by Brian B. Wagner of U.S. Grant High School in Portland, Oregon.

Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (not Noble) in 1906 for his work in the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. This made him the first American to win a Nobel Prize in any of the categories.

The Prize consisted of:

• a large gold medal,
• a diploma in a fancy case
• and a cash award.

He intended to give away the prize money explaining to his children that to accept it would be like taking money for saving a drowning man.

On January 8, 1907, he wrote to the Nobel Prize Committee:

"The medal and diploma will be prized by me throughout my life, and by my children after my death. I have turned over the money to a committee, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Secretaries of Agriculture and Commerce and Labor, in trust, to be used as a foundation for promoting the cause of industrial peace in this country. In our modern civilization it is as essential to secure a righteous peace based upon sympathy and fair dealing between the different classes of society as it is to secure such a peace among the nations of the earth; and therefore I have felt that the use I have made of the amount of the Nobel Prize was one peculiarly in accordance with the spirit of the gift."

TR's Nobel Acceptance Speech (delivered December 10, 1906
by Mr. Herbert H.D. Peirce)

TR's Nobel Lecture

Nobel articles on TR

The Treaty of Portsmouth resolved the Russo-Japanese War and earned Theodore Roosevelt recognition by the Nobel Prize Committee.

Normally the Secretary of State would negotiate such delicate situations as this. But just prior to the negotiations Secretary of State, John Hay, the last cabinet holdover from McKinley's administration, died in July 1905. This single event creates a turning point in Theodore Roosevelt's presidency.
Hay was one of the two secretaries to Abraham Lincoln and a friend of TR's father. As a result Roosevelt couldn't, in good conscience, remove Hay as his Secretary of State. That prevented Roosevelt from pursuing his own diplomatic initiatives. However, when Hay died, Roosevelt took charge.

[Incidentally, John Hay would pay $100 for 6 strands of hair removed from Abraham Lincoln at the autopsy. The strands would be put in a ring and given to Roosevelt. He wore the ring at his inauguration.]

TR did not actually pick up the prize money (or the prize itself) until 1910, when he visited Europe after his African Safari. He did not feel right accepting the prize while he was in office. TR wore an old fashioned suit with a top hat when he went to get the award. He picked up the prize in Christiania, Norway, on May 5, 1910 and part of his speech to the Nobel Prize Committee is as follows:

"I think it eminently just and proper that in most cases the recipient of the prize should keep for his own use the prize in its entirety. But in this case, while I did not act officially as President of the United States, it was nevertheless only because I was President that I was enabled to act at all; and I felt that the money must be considered as having been given me in trust for the United States. I therefore used it as a nucleus for a foundation to forward the cause of industrial peace, as being well within the general purpose of your committee; for in our complex industrial civilization of today the peace of righteousness and justice, the only kind of peace worth having, is at least as necessary in the industrial world as it is among nations. There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships."

TR's idea for an industrial peace foundation never came to be. By 1918 it was clear the the foundation would not go forward. Instead, during World War I, he donated the funds to war relief efforts.

In his book, "The Lion's Pride", Ed Renehan, Jr. writes,

"He made twenty-eight different donations of various amounts. A few of the gifts included $6,900 to the Red Cross; $5,000 to Eleanor for her Y.M.C.A. project; an additional $4,000 to the YMCA National War Work Council; and $1,000 to Edith's sister, Emily Carow, a volunteer with the Italian Red Cross at Porto Maurizo, Italy."

The actual Medal is now in the White House.

Nothing came of this idea, and during World War I, TR asked Congress to authorize the return of the money, which had been held by a commission created by Congress. Congress passed legislation returning the prize money to Roosevelt, who then distributed the fund to charities and war relief work.

The original prize was $36,734.79. By 1918, the fund with interest was $45,482.83. On August 22,1918, Roosevelt wrote to Representative James Ambrose Gallivan, Democrat from Massachusetts, giving a full accounting of the distribution of the fund.

- Spelling is as current in 1918.
- To get a more accurate idea of what these amounts would be in today's dollars multiply them by 10 for a reasonable estimate.

August 22, 1918

My Dear Congressman Gallvan:

In accordance with the terms of the Congressional resolution introduced by you, in the House of Representatives, and by Senator Johnson, acting for Senator Williams, in the Senate, Secretary Redfield for the Commission returned to me the Nobel Peace Prize Fund. The securities when sold, plus the cash in hand, amounted to $45,482.83. I have disposed of this sum as follows:

To the American Red Cross, through the Treasurer, Mr. John Skelton Williams $6,900.00

The American Red Cross, and possibly some other war charities, or war activities will receive further sums of money from my royalties on certain scenarios of motion pictures to be shortly produced by the McClure Company; all the royalties I receive from the pictures in question during the period of the war will be thus used.

To Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., now working in the YMCA in France. $5,000.00
As Mrs. Roosevelt is working in the YMCA I suppose that some or most of the money will be used in connection therewith; but the disposal is absolutely at her discretion.

To the Young Men's Christian Association National War Work Council, through the treasurer, Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge $4,000.00

To the Knights of Columbus War Activities Committee, through the treasurer, Mr. William J. Mulligan $4,000.00

To the Jewish Welfare Board, for War Activities, through the treasurer, Mr. Walter E. Sachs $4,000.00

To the Salvation Army War Fund, treasurer Mr. G.S. Reinhardsen $4,000.00
I have sent this check through Major >Atkins, who has been doing admirable work in the battalion of the 26th Infantry in which my sons Theodore Jr. and Archibald have been serving.

To the Young Women's Christian Association War Work Council, Colored, through Mrs. Henry P. Davison $4,000.00
I have asked that Miss Eva Bolles be consulted in the disbursal of this item. My wife and I were very much struck with the work of Miss Bolles in connection with the Colored Hostess House at Camp Upton; and I have requested that the money be used for the hostess houses for colored troops in in work among colored women and girls in and about the camps and cantonments.

To Miss Emily Tyler Carow, at Porto Maurizo, Italy, for work in connection with the Italian Red Cross $1,000.00
I send this sum merely as a token of my admiration of the high gallantry and efficiency of Italy's action.

To Langdon Warner, acting American Vice-Consul at Harbin and Vladivostock, for the Czecho-Slovaks, the extraordinary nature of whose great and heroic feat is literally unparalleled, so far as I know in ancient or modern warfare $1,000.00
In this case, as in all the cases that follow, the value of the money contribution amounts to so little that it seems hardly worth sending; but the money was given to me by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee for my action in connection with the Peace of Portsmouth, which closed the Russo-Japanese War; and I wish to use it in part to show my admiration for the high heroism of the peoples who have done most and suffered most in this great war to secure liberty for all those nations, big or little, which lead self-respecting and orderly lives, and act justly and fairly by others.

To Madame Major Botchkareva, for use as she deems wise, as a token of my respect for those Russians who have refused to follow the Bolshevists in their betrayal to Germany of Russia, of the Allies, and of the cause of liberty throughout the world $1,000.00

To Herbert C. Hoover, for use in Belgium $1,000.00

To the Belgian Minister, for use among the Belgian refugees in Holland $1,000.00
In Holland the burden of caring for >the Belgian victims of the German horror has been very heavy; I suggest, but do not direct, that the money be expended through the committee to which Miss Van der Flier belongs.

To the Servian Minister, for the Servian sufferers $1,000.00

To Paul Shimmon for use among the Armenians and Assyrian Christian $1,000.00
I send this through Mr. Shimmon because so far as I know he has never sought to excuse or justify what I regard as our inexcusable dereliction in duty in having failed to declare war on Turkey, and therefore in having failed to play a manly part in the effort permanently to remedy the hideous wrongs of the subjects of the Turk in the only really effective way, by destroying Turkish rule.

To Mr. M.L. Mirman, Prefect of Meurthe-et- Moselle, the lamentable sufferings of the people of whose prefecture happen to have been brought intimately before us $500.00

To Mrs. Mary Cadwalader Jones, for further similar work in France $500.00

To Count Ishii, the Japanese Ambassador, for the Japanese Red Cross $500.00
The Japanese Red Cross, like the American Red Cross, has raised large sums of money for use in the Allied countries; I send this merely as a very slight token of my admiration for the part the Japanese people have taken in this war.

To Leslie M. Tarlton, Nairobi, for any war activity, or war charity in Uganda or British East Africa $500.00
I was in Africa with Mr. Tarlton, who is an Australian. I send this merely as a token of my admiration of what has been done in this war by the Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and Africanders, both of Boer and British blood.

To Mrs. Stewart Jobson for reconstruction work for wounded soldiers in England $500.00

To Judge Joseph L. Nunan, of Georgetown, Demerara, for wounded soldiers and their families in Ireland $500.00
I send this through Mr. Nunan because he believes in Home Rule within the Empire, and stands uncompromisingly for prosecuting the war against Germany with all possible efficiency until the enemy is completely overthrown.

To Henry P. Davison, to be used when possible for the Roumanians $500.00

To Henry P. Davison, to be used when possible for the Montenegrins $500.00

To Robert M. Thompson, for the Comforts Committee of the Navy League $500.00

To Speaker Champ Clark, for war activities or charities $500.00
I suggest but do not stipulate that this be used in Missouri.

To Mrs. James A. Gallivan, for war activities or charities $500.00
I suggest but do not stipulate that this be used in Mrs. Gallivan's own neighborhood in Massachusetts.

To Mrs. John A. Williams, for similar use $500.00
I suggest but do not stipulate that this be used in Mississippi.

To Mrs. Hiram Johnson for similar use $500.00
I suggest but do not stipulate that this be used in California.

For cabling and other expenses in connection therewith. $82.83

Total $45,482.83

I wish to express my obligations to Secretary Redfield and his associates for the promptness with which they acted.

Faithfully yours,
Theodore Roosevelt

Hon. James A. Gallivan, House of Representatives
Washington, DC

AT SAGAMORE HILL the silver plated candlestick that held the candle used to seal the Treaty of Portsmouth is on display. In the "North Room" visitors can see two Samuri swords given to TR following the treaty. They were presented by Count Komura who considered them so sacred that he refused to permit ambassador Takahira to touch them because Takahira was not of noble blood. Japanese war hero Admiral Togo presented TR with a miniature suit of Japanese armor that's also on display in the "North Room" at Sagamore Hill.