Theodore Roosevelt - Biographical Theodore Roosevelt The Nobel Peace Prize 1906 Theodore Roosevelt Share this: Theodore Roosevelt - Biographical Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858–January 6, 1919) was born in New York into one of the old Dutch families which had settled in America in the seventeenth century. At eighteen he entered Harvard College and spent four years there, dividing his time between books and sport and excelling at both. After leaving Harvard he studied in Germany for almost a year and then immediately entered politics. He was elected to the Assembly of New York State, holding office for three years and distinguishing himself as an ardent reformer. In 1884, because of ill health and the death of his wife, Roosevelt abandoned his political work for some time. He invested part of the fortune he had inherited from his father in a cattle ranch in the Badlands of Dakota Territory, expecting to remain in the West for many years. He became a passionate hunter, especially of big game, and an ardent believer in the wild outdoor life which brought him health and strength. In 1886 Roosevelt returned to New York, married again, and once more plunged into politics.

President Harrison, after his election in 1889, appointed Roosevelt as a member of the Civil Service Commission of which he later became president. This office he retained until 1895 when he undertook the direction of the Police Department of New York City. In 1897 he joined President McKinley's administration as assistant secretary of the Navy. While in this office he actively prepared for the Cuban War, which he saw was coming, and when it broke out in 1898, went to Cuba as lieutenant colonel of a regiment of volunteer cavalry, which he himself had raised among the hunters and cowboys of the West. He won great fame as leader of these «Rough-Riders», whose story he told in one of his most popular books. Elected governor of the state of New York in 1898, he invested his two-year administration with the vigorous and businesslike characteristics which were his hallmark. He would have sought reelection in 1900, since much of his work was only half done, had the Republicans not chosen him as their candidate for the second office of the Union.

He held the vice-presidency for less than a year, succeeding to the presidency after the assassination of President McKinley on September 14, 1901. In 1904 Roosevelt was elected to a full term as president. In 1902 President Roosevelt took the initiative in opening the international Court of Arbitration at The Hague, which, though founded in 1899, had not been called upon by any power in its first three years of existence. The United States and Mexico agreed to lay an old difference of theirs, concerning the Pious Foundations of California, before the Hague Tribunal. When this example was followed by other powers, the arbitration machinery created in 1899 was finally called into operation. Roosevelt also played a prominent part in extending the use of arbitration to international problems in the Western Hemisphere, concluding several arbitration treaties with European powers too, although the Senate refused to ratify them. In 1904 the Interparliamentary Union, meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, requested Roosevelt to call another international conference to continue the work begun at The Hague in 1899.

Roosevelt responded immediately, and in the autumn of 1904 Secretary of State John Hay invited the powers to meet at The Hague. Russia, however, refused to participate in a conference while engaged in hostilities with Japan. After the peace of 1905, the matter was placed in the hands of the Russian government, which had taken the initiative in convening the first Hague Conference. In June, 1905, President Roosevelt offered his good offices as mediator between Russia and Japan, asking the belligerents to nominate plenipotentiaries to negotiate on the conditions of peace. In August they met at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and after some weeks of difficult negotiations concluded a peace treaty in September, 1905. Roosevelt's candidate for president, William Howard Taft, took office in 1909. Dissatisfied with Taft's performance, Roosevelt bolted the regular Republican Party in 1912 and accepted the presidential nomination by the Progressive Party. He outpolled Taft, but Woodrow Wilson outpolled each of them. In 1917 Wilson refused his offer to raise and command a division to fight in World War I.

Roosevelt was an historian, a biographer, a statesman, a hunter, a naturalist, an orator. His prodigious literary output includes twenty-six books, over a thousand magazine articles, thousands of speeches and letters. In 1919, at the age of sixty, he died in his sleep. Selected Bibliography The Theodore Roosevelt Collection in the Library of Congress contains some 150,000 Roosevelt letters besides drafts of state papers and speeches. The Roosevelt Memorial Association Collection at Harvard University contains his diaries, some original M S S, microfilms, and most of his publications. Beale, Howard, K., Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1956. Beers, Henry A., «Roosevelt as Man of Letters» in Four Americans. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1920. Bradford, Gamaliel, «The Fury of Living: Theodore Roosevelt» in The Quick and the Dead. New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1931. Dennett, Tyler, Roosevelt and the Russo-Japanese War.

New York, Doubleday, 1925. Hagedorn, Hermann, ed., The Works of Theodore Roosevelt. 24 vols. Memorial ed. New York, Scribner, 1923-1926. Harbaugh, William H., The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. New York, Straus and Cudahy, 1961. Lorant, Stefan, The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. New York, Doubleday, 1959. Morison, Elting E., ed., The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt. 8 vols. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1951-1954. Pringle, Henry F., Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography. New York, Harcourt Brace, 1931. Richardson, James D., ed., Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Washington, D. C., 1908. Volumes X and XI, along with a Supplement (1910), contain texts of all Roosevelt's state papers. Roosevelt, Theodore, African and European Addresses. New York, Putnam, 1910.

Roosevelt, Theodore, African Game Trails. New York, Scribner, 1910. Roosevelt, Theodore, An Autobiography. New York, Scribner, 1913. Roosevelt, Theodore, Oliver Cromwell. New York, Scribner, 1900. Roosevelt, Theodore, The Rough Riders. New York, Scribner, 1898. Roosevelt, Theodore, The Winning of the West. 4 vols. New York, Putnam, 1889-1896. Wagenknecht, Edward C., The Seven Worlds of Theodore Roosevelt. New York, Longmans, Green, 1958. From Nobel Lectures , Peace 1901-1925, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972 This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel . It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures . To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.

The 26th US President - Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt George W. Bush ï¿½ Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th US President (1901-1909) after the assassination of President William McKinley. Nicknamed Teddy, he was one of the most popular and important Presidents ever to serve in the Chief Executive Office. A hero in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, his foreign policy was summed up in the phrase "Speak softly and carry a big stick." The Panama Canal was built during his tenure in the White House. Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858 into a prosperous Dutch New York City family. As a child he was sickly, suffering from asthma and poor eyesight. He exercised vigorously to improve his health and increase his body strength. He was a man of hearty enthusiasm and was devoted to physical fitness. When he was pleased he would say "Bully!" Roosevelt enjoyed big game hunting, and toy makers created the teddy bear after a cartoonist drew Roosevelt with a bear cub. His hunting produced a unique collection of animals that he donated to the Smithsonian Institute. Teddy Roosevelt was also an author.

Between 1880 and 1900 he wrote more than a dozen books, the best known of which is "The Winning of the West", which was published in four volumes. Teddy was much loved by the public, and he thoroughly enjoyed his presidency. Upon leaving office, he said, "I do not believe that anyone else has ever enjoyed the White House as much as I have." Theodore Roosevelt's first taste of politics came when was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1882. In 1884, bereaved by the deaths of his mother and his wife, Alice Hathaway Lee (who died giving birth to a daughter who did survive), he left New York and retired to his ranch in the Dakota Territory. He spent the next two years ranching and hunting for big game. In 1886, Roosevelt both remarried and reentered politics. After an unsuccessful campaign in 1886 for mayor of New York City and a failed bid to get on the national Republican ticket in 1888, he was finally, in 1889, appointed United States Civil Service Commissioner. He was re-appointed in 1893.

From 1895 to 1897, he served as New York City's police commissioner. In 1887 he met and subsequently married Edith Carow. In 1896, Roosevelt had once again tried and failed to get a spot on the national Republican ticket. McKinley won that election and appointed Roosevelt Assistant Secretary of the Navy, where "TR", as he was called, worked to broaden and upgrade the service. In 1898, Roosevelt, along with physician and soldier Leonard Wood, formed the Rough Riders. The Rough Riders' victory at the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba made Roosevelt a popular national figure. After that (in 1899), he was elected governor of New York. As governor he followed his own mind and heart above the wishes of the Republican Party. Nevertheless, in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became William McKinley's Vice President; and when McKinley was assassinated in September of that year, Roosevelt assumed the presidency. At the age of forty-three, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest man to ever become President of the United States. As President, Roosevelt took a moral approach toward the nation's social problems.

He used his Presidential powers as none before him had. He handled the coal miners strike of 1902 by appointing a commission to investigate. The Sooner Act of 1902 was drafted to gain the right to build a canal to create a shipping route through what is now Panama, but what then was part of Columbia. Columbia refused to ratify The Sooner Act, but a new Panamanian government was established in 1903, which did pass it. Having gained the right to build the Panama Canal, The United States began construction immediately. Also in 1903, the United States won a dispute with Great Britain over the boundary between lower Alaska and Canada. Teddy Roosevelt was able to keep the Germans from interfering with Venezuela in 1902, and he declared that only the U. S. had the right to intervene in South American affairs. During his administration Theodore Roosevelt initiated forty lawsuits against big trusts and initiated measures for the conservation of national resources. He had 125 million acres set aside as National Forests. Later he added another 85 million acres in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Roosevelt was reelected to the presidency in 1904 with ease.

In that year The Roosevelt Corollary, stating that the United States had "police power" over Latin America, was added to the Monroe Doctrine. Roosevelt's second term was also noted for the Hepburn Act of 1906 and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. The Hepburn Act strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and prevented the railroad from charging unjust rates. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 established the Food and Drug Administration. Also in 1906 Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize when his mediation in the Russo-Japanese War led to The Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the war between Russia and Japan. He also helped to settle a conflict between Germany and France over control of Morocco. When several international crises arose between 1904 and 1906, Roosevelt was key in keeping the balance of European power intact. During both terms of his presidency, Roosevelt fought to broaden and upgrade the Navy and other armed forces. He got Congress to agree to build more battleships and cruisers. In 1907 he sent the battle forces on a world tour to show off United States naval ability.

This impressed the Japanese so that Taft was able to negotiate agreements with them that settled the dispute over immigration. In his last public appearance as President, Roosevelt inspected the naval fleet when it returned from its world tour. Upon leaving the White House, Teddy Roosevelt left politics for four years, returning in 1912 when he split the Republican Party by running as the third party Progressive candidate. During this campaign, while in Milwaukee Wisconsin, Roosevelt was shot in an assassination attempt; but he went ahead and gave his speeches before going to the hospital. He brushed off the attack saying, "It takes more than that to kill a bull moose." From that time on, the Progressive Party became known as the Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt lost that election to Woodrow Wilson. In 1914, while in the Amazon, Teddy Roosevelt caught tropical fevers. On January 6, 1919, he died in his sleep in Oyster Bay, N.Y. His failing health did not prevent him from remaining active until the very end of his life.

How Teddy Roosevelt Won the Nobel Peace Prize How Teddy Roosevelt Won the Nobel Peace Prize Thursday Apr 28, 2016 · 12:01 PM PDT 2016/04/28 · 12:01 In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for helping to negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt was the first of four American Presidents to win a Nobel Prize. Newspaper illustration celebrating the Peace Treaty At the end of the 19th century, eastern Asia was an arena of conflict. The prize was China. The vast country, with its numerous resources and its huge potential commercial market, was far too weak to defend itself from outsiders, and was occupied by a number of Western powers. Germany had control of several Chinese ports; the British held large coastal areas and had fought the Opium Wars to protect its commercial interests. The United States, which had just entered the world stage after beating Spain in the Spanish-American War in 1898, had declared its "Open Door" policy in China (guaranteeing free American access to the Chinese market) to expand its own commercial and military interests in the Pacific.

Another newcomer was Japan. For centuries Japan had closed itself off from the world, expelling foreigners and closing its ports to outsiders. But after the United States sent a naval fleet to Tokyo force a treaty, the Japanese realized that their only survival strategy was to beat the West at their own game and to become an imperial power herself. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan under its new Emperor began an enthusiastic program of "modernization". Western styles of dress were adopted, and students were sent to universities all over the world to be trained in Western science, economics and technology. The traditional samurai warrior class was abolished, and a modern Army and Navy, trained by British and German officers, was formed. By 1894, Japan was strong enough to claim her own piece of China, seizing Korea and Taiwan in the Sino-Japanese War. And when Japanese ambitions then turned towards Manchuria, it brought her into direct conflict with Russia. By the first decade of the 20th century, the Russian Empire, ruled by Tsar Nicholas II, was already rotting from the inside. It was a backward agrarian nation that lacked modern industry, and it was torn by political rebellion against its autocratic government.

But Russia had a huge Army and Navy, and was still considered a world-class military power. Most of the territory that Japan now coveted in the Far East was claimed by the Tsar, and Russia had a large naval base at Port Arthur to protect it. If the Japanese wanted to seize their own piece of Asia, they would have to deal with the Russians. In February 1904, the Japanese made their move, with a surprise attack on Port Arthur. Thousands of Japanese troops swarmed ashore and, although they failed to capture the fortress, they did surround it and kept it cut off from the rest of the war, as other Japanese troops seized coastal areas in Manchuria. The Tsar dispatched his Baltic Fleet to the area; both he and the rest of Europe, confident in the superiority of the "white race" over the "Asiatics", assumed he would quickly crush the Japanese upstarts. Instead, to everyone's shock, the Imperial Japanese Navy intercepted the Russian Fleet in the Straits of Tsushima in May 1905, and completely destroyed it. But now the Japanese faced a problem.

Although they had proven themselves militarily superior to the Russians, Japan did not have the enormous manpower reserves or economy that Russia did, and did not have the necessary resources to carry the war through to the end. So the Japanese Emperor looked for a diplomatic solution through a negotiated peace, and turned to the United States for help, asking President Theodore Roosevelt if he would act as a mediator with the Russians. Roosevelt had his own expansionist reasons for becoming involved. The US had territories in the Pacific, including Hawaii, the Philippines, and Guam, and also had its own commercial interests in China. The Japanese, with their willingness to use military force in the cause of expansionism, had demonstrated that they were now potential rivals, and Roosevelt wanted to limit their territorial expansion as much as possible. So when the US agreed to the Japanese diplomatic request, it had its own agenda in mind. Roosevelt agreed to act as an intermediary only after Japan first agreed to accept the US "Open Door" policy in China. At first, Russia flatly refused negotiations. Despite his heavy military losses, the Tsar was still convinced that he would win.

It took an extraordinarily blunt diplomatic message from US Ambassador George Meyer, informing the Russian Government that not only the US but all of Europe believed that the Russians would be defeated by Japan and lose all of their Asian possessions, to change the Tsar's mind. He reluctantly agreed to send a representative to negotiations to be held in Portsmouth, Maine. When the talks began in August 1905, the two sides were far apart. Japan wanted all the territory it had conquered during the war to be permanently ceded to it, and also wanted Russia to pay a lump sum of money as "war reparations". Russia refused both demands. Roosevelt went into action behind the scenes, meeting with representatives from both sides and encouraging them to find common ground for a settlement. Through diplomatic channels, he talked other world leaders into pressuring Tsar Nicholas for concessions (including Nicholas's cousins, King George of England and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany), and also sent cables to the Japanese Government advising it to not be "greedy" and to moderate its territorial demands. In September 1905, agreement was finally reached. Japan would be allowed to keep a portion of the territory she occupied, and Russia would not be obligated to make any payments of reparations or indemnities.

The Treaty of Portsmouth ended the Russo-Japanese War. In 1906, in recognition of his diplomatic success in ending the war, Teddy Roosevelt became the first American to win a Nobel Peace Prize. The award was not without controversy. Many European leftists considered Roosevelt to be an unapologetic imperialist who had seized territory for the Panama Canal and had waged a bloody counter-insurgency in the Philippines, and whose actions therefore made him unsuitable for a Peace Prize. There were also whispers that the Nobel Committee itself had political reasons for awarding Roosevelt: when the Nobel Prize Committee had been formed, Norway was a part of Sweden, but in 1906 Norway had just become an independent nation, and it was suspected by many that the Norwegian committee that awarded the Peace Prize was trying to kiss up to America in a bid to win political support for Norway from an emerging world power. Roosevelt himself would go on to advocate the creation of an international political organization that would have "police power"--but then he opposed American affiliation with the League of Nations in 1919. The issues that sparked the Russo-Japanese War, meanwhile, were never settled.

Japan was still determined to carve out an empire of her own in East Asia, and after fighting on the side of the Entente Allies in the First World War, Japan would invade Manchuria in the 1930's, leading to direct conflict with the United States in the Second World War. NOTE: As some of you already know, all of my diaries here are draft chapters for a number of books I am working on. So I welcome any corrections you may have, whether it's typos or places that are unclear or factual errors. I think of y'all as my pre-publication editors and proofreaders. ;) The Nobel Peace Prize 1906 - Presentation Speech Presentation Speech The Nobel Peace Prize 1906 Theodore Roosevelt Award Ceremony Speech Presentation Speech by Gunnar Knudsen, Presiding, on December 10, 1906 * As the Nobel Committee meets today, the tenth of December, perhaps for the last time in this hall 1 , to announce to the Norwegian Parliament its decision concerning the award of the Peace Prize, it is appropriate to recall that the Norwegian Parliament was one of the first national assemblies to adopt and to support the cause of peace.

Twelve or fifteen years ago, Gentlemen, the cause of peace presented a very different aspect from the one it presents today. The cause was then regarded as a utopian idea and its advocates as well-meaning but overly enthusiastic idealists who had no place in practical politics, being out of touch with the realities of life. The situation has altered radically since then, for in recent years leading statesmen, even heads of state, have espoused the cause, which has now acquired a totally different image in public opinion. The United States of America was among the first to infuse the ideal of peace into practical politics. Peace and arbitration treaties have now been concluded between the United States and the governments of several countries. But what has especially directed the attention of the friends of peace and of the whole civilized world to the United States is President Roosevelt's happy role in bringing to an end the bloody war recently waged between two of the world's great powers, Japan and Russia 2 . On behalf of the Norwegian Parliament, I now present to you, Mr. Ambassador, the Peace Prize along with its insignia, and I add the request that you convey to the President the greetings of the Norwegian people and their gratitude for all that he has done in the cause of peace.

I would also add the wish that this eminent and highly gifted man may be blessed with the opportunity of continuing his work to strengthen the ideal of peace and to secure the peace of the world. * President Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1906 on December 10 of that year. He asked Mr. Herbert H.D. Peirce, American envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Norway, to accept for him. Having completed his presidency in 1909, Mr. Roosevelt set out on an extensive travel and speaking tour, one of his last engagements being to deliver his postponed Nobel lecture on May 5, 1910, in Oslo. There are two speeches of interest from the ceremony of December 10, 1906, which are given here. The first speech by Mr. Gunnar Knudsen (1848-1928), the Norwegian statesman - and later, prime minister - who was presiding, is one of presentation of the prize to Mr. Peirce. Its translation is based on the text in the Norwegian language in Les Prix Nobel en 1906. In the second speech, Mr.

Peirce accepts the prize and reads a telegram from President Roosevelt. 1. The hall in which the Norwegian Parliament customarily met. Mr. Knudsen anticipates, no doubt, that future sessions for this purpose would be held in the Norwegian Nobel Institute, which had recently been constructed. 2. Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The laureate offered his good offices to mediate the dispute; the result was the Treaty of Portsmouth signed by Russia and Japan on September 5, 1905, at Portsmouth, N.H., U.S.A. From Nobel Lectures , Peace 1901-1925, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972 The Treaty of Portsmouth (Portsmouth Peace Treaty) 1713 Treaty Portsmouth Peace Treaty Living Memorial Cherry Trees In 2012, the 100th anniversary of the gift of the iconic Washington DC cherry trees to the US by Japan, the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire learned that those famous trees were a direct result of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, negotiated in Portsmouth NH in 1905, ending the Russo-Japanese War.

Research showed that the Mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, who facilitated the cherry tree gift, described in his autobiography a desire to thank the US for its role in ending the War. That conclusion resulted in a 2012 op-ed in the Washington Post by the Ambassador of Japan to the US, noting “Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki, who was thankful for the role the United States had taken preparing negotiations leading to the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War, seized this opportunity.” The Japan-America Society arranged to receive cherry trees descended from the Washington trees in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the diplomatic gift and began planting those trees at key sites related to the Treaty history, as a living memorial to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty and the citizen diplomacy involved in reaching the successful conclusion. In 2015, for the 110th anniversary of the Treaty, cherry trees were planted around the city of Portsmouth and throughout the state. Although President Theodore Roosevelt never came to Portsmouth, having promised Japan and Russia that he would not be at the table, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906, for orchestrating the negotiations.

Each town receiving a Portsmouth Peace Treaty Living Memorial cherry tree becomes part of the statewide celebration of Portsmouth Peace Treaty Day, proclaimed by the Governor, by law, each year on September 5th (the day the Treaty was signed in 1905). In return for the tree, each location makes the commitment to care for the tree, to host a program explaining the Portsmouth Peace Treaty and NH citizen diplomacy and to ring bells on September 5th at 3:47 pm (the moment of the signing) in conjunction with fellow citizens across the state. “The cherry trees are famous as the symbol of friendship from Japan, a gesture of people-to-people diplomacy,” said Charles B. Doleac, president of the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire. “The Japan America Society of NH showcases cherry trees that are directly associated with the Treaty and the iconic Washington trees to keep the spirit of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty and its many branches of citizen diplomacy alive.” For more information on Portsmouth Peace Treaty Living Memorial cherry tree locations, click here . To raise money for the memorial, an original oil painting by celebrated maritime painter, and seacoast resident, Christopher J. Ward was commissioned.

A limited edition of 900 museum quality prints has been published by the Memorial Fund for local, national and international distribution and sale. Treaty of uncommon commitment to peace became a common virtue. PORTSMOUTH, NH September 5, 2005 marked the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, a remarkable event which brought to an official end the largest, bloodiest, and most costly war in the history of the world up to 1905. The peace process that ended the war between Japan and Russia was orchestrated by US President Theodore Roosevelt who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his efforts. The story of how the treaty came to be signed has ramifications to this day. To celebrate the treaty, and the efforts that led up to it, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Anniversary Committee has established a Portsmouth Peace Treaty Memorial Fund, the proceeds of which will enable the commissioning of a memorial to be located in Portsmouth. The memorial is to be a permanent reminder of the event and a celebration of the roles Russia, the US Navy, the State of New Hampshire, and the citizens of Portsmouth played in the treaty negotiations.

According to the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire, one of the organizations involved with the Memorial Fund Committee, the Treaty exemplifies the ability of local citizens to mediate informally international disputes. As hosts for thirty days in August 1905, the State of New Hampshire, the people of Portsmouth, and the United States Navy fostered goodwill between Russian and Japanese delegates during the critical peace negotiations that ended the Russo-Japanese War. The Portsmouth Peace Treaty provides an example to the world of the enlightened foreign policy for peace by Japan, Russia, and the United States. It is considered one of the most powerful symbols of peace in the world, and the most significant, shared peace in the history of Russia, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, an uncommon commitment to peace became a common virtue." The committee commissioned a painting by celebrated maritime painter, and seacoast resident, Christopher J. Ward, from which limited edition prints were made. The painting depicts the arrival of the Russian and Japanese delegates in August 1905 and their transit through Portsmouth Harbor transit, in US Navy motor launches, to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard where the Treaty was negotiated and signed. It includes images of the USS Dolphin, the North Church steeple, St.

John's Church, Merchant's Row storehouses, the Moffatt-Ladd House, the SS Mineola Isles of Shoals ferry, and other historically accurate sights of 1905. A limited edition of 900 individually signed and numbered prints is now available. To view an image of the print, click here . Purchasers of the prints will be credited as "Founders" of the Memorial and their names will be listed on the permanent Portsmouth Peace Treaty website ( click here ) and in a commemorative piece. Individually signed, numbered, and embossed prints have been produced on Arches Infinity sheets, a museum quality archival paper. A limited number of the prints were remarqued by the artist. A certificate of authenticity from the Peace Treaty Memorial Fund accompanies each print. The unframed print is available in two sizes: Large (13'" x 30") and Small (10" x 22") for the same price of $695. The prints are available at Kennedy Studios Gallery & Custom Framing, 41 Market Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Telephone 603-436-7007.

Matted and framed prints (neutral linen mat and gilded rope edge wood frame) are also available through the Japan-America Society of NH. These framed prints are 25" x 39" overall and are $950. Telephone: 603-436-4010. The Japan-America Society of NH is currently creating a Portsmouth Peace Treaty Living Memorial in the form of cherry trees. These trees, given to JASNH on the 100th anniversary of the planting of the iconic cherry trees in Washington DC , are descended from those trees. Portsmouth is one of just 32 cities nationwide to receive the trees. Research uncovered in 2012 determined that the Washington trees were given to the US by Japan in thanks for diplomacy that ended the Russo-Japanese War with the Portsmouth Peace Treaty. For more on the Living Memorial project, click here .

Milestones: 1899–1913 - Office of the Historian Milestones: 1899–1913 The Treaty of Portsmouth and the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905 The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. The negotiations took place in August in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and were brokered in part by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. The final agreement was signed in September of 1905, and it affirmed the Japanese presence in south Manchuria and Korea and ceded the southern half of the island of Sakhalin to Japan. Photograph from the Russo-Japanese War By 1904, Russia and Japan had endured several years of disputes over control of Manchuria. The Russians had entered the region during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 and, along with Germany and France, was a part of the “Triple Intervention” that forced Japan to give up its demands for ports in South Manchuria and the Liaodong Peninsula in the wake of its victory in China.

Instead, Russia moved into the area and took control of Port Arthur, a warm water port with strategic and commercial significance. A Japanese attempt to stage a coup in adjacent Korea was thwarted in part by the Russian presence in the region, and the two nations’ divergent interests appeared more and more likely to clash. In 1904, the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur before the formal declaration of war was received in Moscow, surprising the Russian navy and earning an early victory. Over the course of the next year, the two forces clashed in Korea and the Sea of Japan, with the Japanese scoring significant, but costly, victories. War casualties were high on both sides. At the battle over Mukden, the Russians lost 60,000 soldiers and the Japanese lost 41,000 soldiers. The military costs were high as well. A Russian fleet made the long trip from the Baltic Sea around Africa and India, only to be half destroyed by the Japanese upon its arrival in Northeast Asia. By 1905, the combination of these losses and the economic cost of financing the war led both countries to seek an end to the war. Photograph of Attack on Port Arthur The Japanese asked U.S.

President Roosevelt to negotiate a peace agreement, and representatives of the two nations met in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1905. For the sake of maintaining the balance of power and equal economic opportunity in the region, Roosevelt preferred that the war end on terms that left both Russia and Japan a role to play in Northeast China. Though excited by the Japanese military victories, Roosevelt worried about the consequences to American interests if Japan managed to drive Russia out entirely. The negotiations centered on access to ports and territories in Manchuria and Korea, control of Sakhalin Island, and the question of who was responsible for paying war costs. The chief aims of the Japanese negotiator included first control in Korea and South Manchuria, then the negotiation of an indemnity and control of Sakhalin Island. The Russians wanted to maintain Sakhalin Island, refused to pay a war costs indemnity to the Japanese, and hoped to maintain their fleet in the Pacific. The indemnity issue, along with the dispensation of Sakhalin Island, were the major sticking points in the negotiation, although given its financial straits in 1905, Russia was likely unable to pay an indemnity even if required by a treaty to do so.

When negotiations reached an impasse, Roosevelt stepped in with the proposal that Russia “buy back” the northern part of Sakhalin from Japanese control. The Russians were adamant that they would not pay any amount of money, which would act as a disguised indemnity, when the territory ought to be theirs. After long internal debate, Japan eventually agreed to take only the southern half of the island, without any kind of payment. Theirs had not been a decisive enough victory to force the point. The Treaty ultimately gave Japan control of Korea and much of South Manchuria, including Port Arthur and the railway that connected it with the rest of the region, along with the southern half of Sakhalin Island; Russian power was curtailed in the region, but it was not required to pay Japan’s war costs. Because neither nation was in a strong financial position to continue the war easily, both were forced to compromise in the terms of the peace. Still, the Japanese public felt they had won the war, and they considered the lack of an indemnity to be an affront. There was a brief outbreak of protests and rioting in Tokyo when the terms of the agreement were made public.

Similarly, the Russian people were also dissatisfied, angry about giving up half of Sakhalin. Individuals gathered to work out what became the Treaty of Portsmouth Throughout the war and the peace talks, American public opinion largely sided with Japan. Believing that the Japanese were fighting a “just war” against Russian aggression, and that the island nation was equally committed to the Open Door and the territorial integrity of China, the American people were anxious to support it. This sense did not really change over the course of the negotiations, in spite of the best efforts of the Russian negotiator to improve the press coverage of his nation’s position. The final decision of the Japanese to forgo an indemnity only served to strengthen U.S. approval of Japan’s actions throughout the conflict. The anti-treaty and, at times, anti-American demonstrations in Tokyo that followed the ratification of the treaty caught many Americans off-guard. The Treaty of Portsmouth marked the last real event in an era of U.S.-Japanese cooperation that began with the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Instead, competition between the two nations in the Pacific grew over the years that followed. Conversely, Japanese relations with Russia improved in the wake of the treaty.

Although the actual importance of Roosevelt’s mediation and personal pressure on the leadership in Moscow and Tokyo to the final agreement is unclear, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in moderating the talks and pushing toward peace. Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) 26th president of the United States (1901-09) and writer, explorer, and soldier, who expanded the powers of the presidency and of the federal government on the side of public interest in conflicts between big business and big labour. He also engaged the nation in affairs of Asia and Europe. He won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906 for mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese War, and he promoted the construction of the Panama Canal (1904-14). The early years. Roosevelt was born into a moderately wealthy family of Dutch ancestry; his mother, Martha Bulloch of Georgia, was of Scots-Irish and Huguenot descent. He received an excellent education from private tutors and at Harvard College; he was one of the few presidents endowed with an encompassing intellectual curiosity. In 1880 he entered Columbia University Law School.

But historical writing and politics soon lured him away from a legal career. During the same year he married Alice Hathaway Lee of Boston and after her death, in 1884, married Edith Kermit Carow, with whom he lived for the rest of his life at "Sagamore Hill," a mansion near Oyster Bay, Long Island, N.Y. Though a physical weakling during his youth, Roosevelt developed a rugged physique by persistent exercise and became a lifelong advocate of strenuous activity. He was a born competitor against both nature and his fellow man, and he used the same enormous energy in public life. At the age of 23 he successfully ran for the New York State Assembly, in which he soon became one of the Republican leaders, known for his opposition to corrupt, party-machine politics. Misfortune then struck in the form of three successive political defeats. But after two years spent ranching in the Dakota Territory he reentered public life and continued his reform activities as a member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission (1889-95) and as the president of the New York City Board of Police Commissioners (1895-97).

As assistant secretary of the Navy under President William McKinley he vociferously advocated war with Spain. When war was declared in 1898, he abruptly resigned, organized the 1st Volunteer Cavalry, known as the Rough Riders, and took them to Cuba that year. Roosevelt's leadership was spectacular. Disdaining army red tape and even orders, his colourful exploits, especially in the Battle of Santiago, made him something of a national hero. Roosevelt returned home just when Thomas C. Platt, the Republican boss of New York, was looking for a respectable candidate for governor. Platt distrusted him, but, upon Roosevelt's promise that he would not attack the machine, he was easily elected. An excellent governor, he removed several corrupt politicians from office and over Platt's opposition secured a corporation franchise tax and a civil service system. Enraged, Platt maneuvered Roosevelt into the 1900 nomination for vice president on the McKinley ticket and thus secured his elimination from state politics. McKinley and Roosevelt won, but Roosevelt was completely bored by his powerless office until Sept. 14, 1901, when McKinley died after being shot by an assassin, and he himself became president.

Although Roosevelt announced that there would be no change in policy, it soon became apparent that a new lifestyle had been introduced at the White House. Guest lists were expanded to include cowboys, prizefighters, explorers, and distinguished artists. Young, college-educated men were appointed to administrative positions. Presidential speeches overflowed with indignation and moral righteousness. It soon became apparent that Teddy--as he was known nationwide--was enjoying himself immensely. But for all the office's satisfactions, Roosevelt also had reasons for subdued reflection. He was always conscious that he had become president by accident, and his chief ambition was to be elected in 1904. A highly sensitive politician, he was aware that William Jennings Bryan's defeat for the presidency in 1896 had not quieted the popular demands that he represented for control of the trusts, regulation of railroads, and a reduction of import duties. But he also knew that both houses of Congress were controlled by conservative Republicans bitterly opposed to all reforms. He met this perplexing situation by asking for little legislation and by using executive power in appeasing the rising popular discontent. The Square Deal. In 1902 Roosevelt took three steps that virtually assured his reelection.

From Congress he asked for the establishment of a Bureau of Corporations with powers to inspect the books of all businesses engaged in interstate commerce. Even this limited measure was resisted by leading Republican conservatives; the President secured its passage only by promising not to ask for any further regulatory measures. But this bargain did not keep Roosevelt from further executive actions, and on February 18, in one brilliant stroke, he revived the all-but-forgotten Sherman Anti-Trust Act by bringing successful suit against the Northern Securities Company. Roosevelt pursued his policy of "trust-busting" by bringing suit against 43 other major corporations during the following seven years. In the fall of 1902 Roosevelt again set an important precedent by intervening in the anthracite coal strike. When the strike threatened to result in cold homes, schools, and hospitals, he requested that representatives of capital and labour meet in the White House and accept mediation. By threatening to use the army to operate the mines he won an arbitration agreement that included a modest pay increase for the miners. Never before had the federal government intervened in a labour struggle except to assure the operation of a governmental service or to protect property.

Roosevelt promptly labeled his actions against industry and indirectly for labour a manifestation of a "Square Deal" between labour and capital. In the long run, however, the most significant aspects of his actions were the precedents that they set for governmental intervention in the affairs of business and labour for the public interest. Once overwhelmingly elected in 1904 as president in his own right, Roosevelt immediately asked Congress for substantial powers to regulate interstate railroad rates. The Hepburn Act of 1906, giving the Interstate Commerce Commission authority to set maximum rates, created the first of the government's regulatory commissions and thus was a milestone on the long road to the modern social-service state. Roosevelt's pressure on Congress also led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug and the Meat Inspection acts (1906) which laid the basis for the modern concept of consumer protection. Responding to the rapid disappearance of the federal domain, Congress had empowered the president 15 years before to convert portions of the remaining land to national forests. Under Roosevelt's three predecessors only about 40,000,000 acres (16,000,000 hectares) had been transferred.

Roosevelt not only rapidly accelerated the pace but also broadened the powers of the act to reserve for future generations parks and mineral, oil, and coal lands, as well as waterpower sites. In seven years, 194,000,000 additional acres of the federal domain were closed to commercial development. Foreign policy. In international affairs Roosevelt believed that strong countries survived while weak ones perished. He also sensed that the relatively peaceful period that had preceded his administration was being replaced by one in which force was the principal arbiter. Every year he asked for larger naval appropriations, and to induce Congress to grant him new ships he occasionally exaggerated the seriousness of international incidents. By the end of his term Roosevelt had built the U.S. Navy into a major sea force. Twice during Roosevelt's years in office European powers threatened intervention in Venezuela and once in the Dominican Republic, presumably to collect debts owed to their nationals. To meet a threat of possible permanent intervention the secretary of war, Elihu Root, and Roosevelt framed a policy statement in 1904 that eventually became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

It stated that not only would the United States prohibit non-American intervention in Latin-American affairs but it would also police the area and guarantee that these countries met their international obligations. The corollary sanctioning U.S. intervention was to be applied in 1905 when, without Congressional approval, Roosevelt forced the Dominican Republic to accept the appointment of a U.S. "economic advisor," who quickly became the financial director of the small state. Quoting an African proverb, Roosevelt once said that the proper way to conduct foreign affairs was to "speak softly and carry a big stick." Roosevelt was to use big-stick diplomacy again in the acquisition of the Canal Zone from Colombia in 1903, in the formation of a provisional government in Cuba in 1906, and to some extent in the quarrel with Canada over the Alaskan and Canadian border. He also played a notable part in inspiring the subsequent Panamanian revolution that assured U.S. control of the zone and enabled the United States to start construction of the canal before the presidential election of 1904. If Roosevelt's dealings with small countries were often brusque, his negotiations with major powers were characterized by far more caution. The U.S.

Pacific position, he said in 1903, "is such as to insure our peaceful domination of its waters." But the steadily rising power of Japan caused him to revise that estimate. His efforts to resolve the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 included bringing both countries to the Portsmouth Peace Conference and mediating between them. His direct motive, however, was to construct a balance of power in East Asia that might peacefully aid U.S. interests. He helped to allay the friction caused by anti-Japanese sentiment in California by introducing the so-called "Gentlemen's Agreement" of 1907, restricting Japanese immigration to the United States. By another informal executive agreement, Japan accepted the U.S. position in the Philippines while the United States recognized the Japanese conquest and occupation of Korea. Later, in 1910, Roosevelt became convinced that the Philippines were indefensible against a Japanese thrust and that there was no hope of American "dominance" in East Asian waters. During his last years as president, Roosevelt was worried by the possibility of a general European war. Because he saw British and U.S.

interests generally coinciding, he was strongly inclined to support Great Britain whenever it would not jeopardize official neutrality, violation of which would have brought strong protest from Congress and the country. The secret instructions given to the U.S. representatives to the Algeciras Conference of 1906, called to prevent a European war over Morocco, were therefore ambiguous. The envoys were told to maintain American neutrality but also to do nothing that would imperil the existing Franco-British understanding, the continuation of which was "to the best interest of the United States." But, for all the talk of neutrality, Roosevelt had in effect deviated from the traditional position of neutrality in non-American affairs. U.S. representatives had attended a strictly European political conference; their actions favoured Great Britain and France as against Germany; and by signing the agreement the United States presumably undertook to sustain it. Algeciras pointed unerringly toward U.S. entry into World War I on the side of the Allied powers. Last years as president. The end of Roosevelt's presidency was anything but calm.

His crusade against "race suicide," prompted by his alarm at the decreasing birth rate, his public indictment of amateur naturalists, and his order to the government printers to use a simplified system of spelling all developed into national arguments. Especially after the financial panic of 1907, his quarrels with Congress became more vehement. His rather high-handed disciplining of a black regiment involved in a riot at Brownsville, Texas, and his suggestion that members of Congress who were opposed to increasing the secret-service funds had something to hide produced bitter controversy. But most of the trouble with Congress came from the split that had developed in his party between the Roosevelt progressives and the party's conservatives, who blamed the financial panic of 1907 on Roosevelt's attacks on big industry. Later years. After leaving the White House in March 1909, Roosevelt took a 10-month hunting trip through Africa and made a grand tour of Europe. On his return he was reluctantly drawn into politics. Though he attempted to support both his old progressive friends and President William Howard Taft, the two men soon were violently opposed over policy matters. The conflict became personal in October 1910 when Taft authorized an antitrust suit against the U.S.

Steel Corporation regarding a merger to which Roosevelt as president had tacitly agreed. Personal animosity and the developing split in the Republican Party finally prompted Roosevelt to contest Taft's 1912 renomination. The resulting bitter campaign and convention practically ensured a Democratic victory. Roosevelt himself made that outcome inevitable by founding the Progressive Party and running for president as an independent after he had lost the Republican nomination. In seeking votes, the former president, through both logic and necessity, was forced to radical proposals. Both the Progressive platform and its candidates' campaign for a "New Nationalism" looked forward to a powerful regulatory and social-service state. The results of the campaign were as expected, with Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate, winning by a large electoral vote. Because the Progressive Party had managed to elect only a handful of candidates to minor offices, Roosevelt knew immediately that it was doomed. He kept it alive for bargaining purposes and, in the meantime, occupied himself with an expedition into the Brazilian jungles and with writing. After World War I broke out, he became a strong partisan of the Allied cause.

Although ambitious for the 1916 Republican nomination, he was ready to support almost any candidate who opposed Wilson and who was not personally involved in his own defeat in 1912. Amid much bitterness he abandoned the Progressive Party and vigorously supported the Republican candidate, Charles Evans Hughes, but again his efforts ended in failure. His anger against Wilson increased when his offer to lead a volunteer division to France was rejected. Although he had previously supported an international peace-keeping organization, he was adamantly opposed to Wilson's League. By 1918 he felt that the Republicans might nominate him for president in the next election, but the years of inordinate activity had taken their toll, and he died suddenly in his sleep in 1919. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Roosevelt's 2,000 published works include several books and hundreds of articles on history, politics, travel, and natural history; many of them are collected in The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, memorial ed. 24 vol., (1923-26), which also includes the most comprehensive collection of his more than 150,000 personal letters. A superb collection of his more important letters appears in Elting E.

Morison (compiler and ed.), The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 8 vol. (1951-54). A Bully Father: Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children (1995), shows his affection for his offspring. Biographies include Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979); William H. Harbaugh, The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt, new rev. ed. (1975); John Milton Cooper, The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt (1983); and Nathan Miller, Theodore Roosevelt: A Life (1992). Henry F. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt, rev. ed. (1956), although brilliantly written, is perhaps prejudiced against its subject. Comprehensive works on his early life include Carleton Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt (1958), covering the years 1858 to 1886; and David McCullough, Mornings on Horseback (1981). Particularly brilliant short interpretations are G. Wallace Chessman, Theodore Roosevelt and the Politics of Power (1969); and John Morton Blum, The Republican Roosevelt, 2nd ed.

(1977). David H. Burton, The Learned Presidency: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson (1988), advances the concept that the philosophies of these three presidents helped transform the passive presidencies of the 19th century into the dynamic presidencies of the 20th century. Other special studies of value are George E. Mowry, Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement (1946); Howard K. Beale, Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power (1956); G. Wallace Chessman, Governor Theodore Roosevelt (1965); Frederick W. Marks III, Velvet on Iron: The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt (1979); Lewis L. Gould, The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt (1991); and H. Paul Jeffers, Commissioner Roosevelt: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt and the New York City Police, 1895-1897 (1994), and Colonel Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt Goes to War, 1897-1898 (1996), covering Roosevelt's participation in the Spanish-American War.

General histories of Roosevelt's times are Harold Underwood Faulkner, The Quest for Social Justice, 1898-1914 (1931); George E. Mowry, The Era of Theodore Roosevelt, 1900-1912 (1958); and Richard H. Collin, Theodore Roosevelt: Culture, Diplomacy, and Expansion: A New View of American Imperialism (1985). Main Page | About Us | All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Timeline of Nobel Prize Winners is not affiliated with The Nobel Foundation. External sites are not endorsed or supported by Copyright © 2003 All Rights Reserved. Treaty of Portsmouth -- By Dean Dexter The Treaty of Portsmouth, N. H. Ended the Russo-Japanese War By DEAN DEXTER A significant event in New Hampshire that captured the attention of the world in the early twentieth century, but which has since fallen away from the public mind is The Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War.

The treaty was signed on September 5, 1905 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, situated on Seavey Island in the middle of the Piscatiqua River, between Maine and New Hampshire. It was the first international peace conference to be held in the United States and earned then-President Theodore Roosevelt the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. As the country entered a new century, the Treaty of Portsmouth signaled a kind of coming of age for the Republic, a debut on the world stage that would in but a few years see a swirl of events demanding more and more world leadership from Washington. Indeed, it can be argued that the Russo-Japanese War helped ferment tensions in Europe which eventually led to World War I. The domino-effect of events that in turn followed later launched the second World War and the nearly 50 years of East-West tensions known as the Cold War. In fact great international questions remain to this day, rooted in the nearly forgotten Russo-Japanese conflict -- nearly forgotten maybe by the MTV generation and their hardworking, two income producing parents -- but not lost on the leaders of the two nations involved.

To this day, Russia and Japan have not signed a peace treaty ending World War II, partly due to bitterness traced to their bloody 1904-1905 engagement. Nor is this bit of history forgotten by people involved in such organizations as the Japan-America and Russian Societies of New Hampshire, and an organization called the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum, which keeps alive the spirit of community interest in global affairs nurtured in Portsmouth in 1905 by locally hosting international meetings of scholars and diplomats. "What was unique about events surrounding the Treaty of Portsmouth was that the people of the city were the real hosts of the event," says Charles Doleac, an attorney and president of the Treaty Forum and a longtime student of Russo-Japanese relations. Doleac emphasizes that the whole community was behind the event, lending a warm spirit of hospitality and goodwill that certainly added to the peace process and which was also not lost on negotiators from the two nations. Unlike similar frenetic events of today which involve photo opportunities, daily press conferences, and instantaneous TV coverage - in which the President seems always a dominating presence - the environment surrounding the Portsmouth negotiations were much different.

Although the foreign and domestic press was on hand - represented by big city newspapers and such popular periodicals as Harper's Weekly, the pace and tone of the historic meetings, which lasted about 30 days, were methodical and sedate. The commodious Wentworth By-the-Sea Hotel (where both delegations were housed), with its refreshing ocean breezes, long verandahs, and excellent cuisine, added to the relaxing, businesslike pace of the talks, which were held a few miles away at the shipyard, in a brick store house where a museum commemorating the treaty is now located. So, the dominant outside factor of the peace negotiations in Portsmouth was not the fishbowl effect of instantaneous worldwide press exposure, nor the onsite hovering of a President as micromanager. Rather, it was the gracious role played by the proud but discrete host community itself, a historic city in its own right which pre-dates the American Revolution.

Roosevelt, who originally lobbied to bring the two nations together, never set foot in Portsmouth during the talks, but instead was holed up for the summer at Sagamoe Hill, his estate at Oyster Bay, New York, where he was regularly kept abreast of the meetings via telegraph. In fact, the reason the parlay was not held in Washington was due to the insufferable humidity the Capital City is subject to from June to September, making work there impossible prior to air conditioning. Before World War II, Washington virtually shut down each summer. Actually, the Portsmouth site won out over a mini-competition between Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine, Newport, Rhode Isalnd, and Atlantic City, New Jeresy. Portsmouth was chosen because of the security and communications resources of the Shipyard, its closeness to Oyster Bay, and because of the community's growing reputation as a desirable tourist area. The Russians had originally wanted to meet in Europe, the Japanese in Asia, but at Roosevelt's invitation, they agreed to meet in the United States. According to one historian, New Hampshire Governor John McLane and the Executive Council dispatched an invitation to Roosevelt that June promoting the Granite State as the best site.

Word of the Portsmouth choice was relayed later that month by Assistant Secretary of State Herbert H.D. Pierce, who would later remain on the scene throughout the talks as a special liaison to Roosevelt. Leading the Russian delegation was Sergius Witte, former imperial Minister of Finance, and veteran diplomat Baron Roman Rosen. Heading the Japanese delegates were Baron Iutaro Komura, veteran foreign service officer and 1878 graduate of Harvard, and Japan's ambassador to Washington, Kogoro Takashira. Henry W. Denison of Lancaster, N.H., a veteran U.S. vice consul in Japan and long-time technical advisor to Japan's foreign office, assisted the Japanese team. Main conference room, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The conference table was once at RPI (Troy, N.Y.), now it is in Japan as an icon to a great moment in history. Gov. McLane and the Council welcomed the delegates to Portsmouth at a festive reception at the old Rockingham County Courthouse on August 8, which included a parade through the city with many diplomats and other dignitaries attending. N.H. National Guard and U.S. Marine units acted as honor guards. The formal talks began on August 10.

The meetings were conducted in four languages (Japanese, Russian, English and French). Three-hour morning and afternoon sessions were held throughout, with variations in this schedule as stalemates developed. The delegates reportedly visited Roosevelt at Oyster Bay on only one occasion each. The governor and his staff remained at the Wentworth throughout the negotiations, facilitating an air of helpfulness and hospitality when the delegates were not in formal meetings. Following the treaty signing, the Japanese and Russian delegations were so impressed with this hospitality and of the local people they had met, each made a cash donation to Governor McLane of $10,000 on behalf of their governments for charitable purposes, to be determined by McLane. (When news of the treaty's signing was delivered to Roosevelt by his secretary William Loeb -- father of the late publisher of the Manchester Union Leader and N.H.

Sunday News of the same name -- the jovial President reportedly bounded down the stairs of his mansion yelling, "That's bully for the Russians, the Japanese, and me!") As it turns out, the Russian and Japanse negotiators thought they were being hosted by the state of New Hampshire, when in fact the owner of the Wentworth (the estate of the late Portsmouth beer baron Frank Jones) provided accommodations free of charge. McLane in turn -- as an act of goodwill and diplomacy -- invested the gifts in Japanese and Russian government bonds. A commission was then established by the state legislature to oversee the investments and disburse the charitable donations throughout the state. That commission is still in existence. Although the Russian government defaulted on bond payments following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 (Lenin was not about the honor the Czar's debts), the Japanese have honored the instruments. (Note: The Japanese defaulted for nine years during World War II and after, but issued new bonds in 1951, doubling yearly interest payments for the following nine years to make up for the lapse. Attempts by the commission to have the Soviets honor the bonds were not successful during the Cold War.

The current government has not been approached to date, perhaps due to Russia's tenuous financial standing.) Today the small museum at the shipyard is the only memorial to the events that once focused the world's attention on this venerable New England seaport where Capt. John Paul Jones once lived and built one of the U.S. Navy's first ships. That, and the decaying shell of the old Wentworth* that looms like a ghost over-looking the sea -- it's great piazzas long gone as are the stiff, dignified men in silk hats who here one summer long ago ended a war in a far off land. circa 1980's _______________ *Since this writing, new owners of the long vacant Wentworth By-the-Sea began a complete restoration. Closed since 1982, the hotel reopened on May 15, 2003 with 161 delux rooms, including many waterfront suites with balconies overlooking the water. The original building was built in 1874. The restored hotel is now the Wentworth-by-the-Sea Marriott Hotel and Spa. It is truly once again one of New Hampshire's grand hotels.

Access the Wenworth's website here. _______________ Dean Dexter is a former contributing editor of New Hampshire Magazine, and is a former New Hampshire state representative and Belknap County Commissioner. See Dexter's cover story on the Treaty of Portsmouth in the April, 1997 issue of New Hampshire magazine. An editorial by Dexter on the Wentworth's restoration appeared in the July 29, 1999 of The Union Leader (Manchester, N. H.) and may be viewed at that publication's web archive site at: . Ceremony marking Treaty of Portsmouth anniversary - The Portland Press Herald increase font size Ceremony marking Treaty of Portsmouth anniversary The Russo-Japanese War ended with the signing of a peace treaty in Kittery on this day in 1905. Share PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — It’s the 109th anniversary of the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War. Gov. Maggie Hassan is taking part in a ceremony Friday marking Portsmouth Peace Treaty Day. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt invited envoys of Russia and Japan to the United States to negotiate an end to the war.

The peace conference was held at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in nearby Kittery that summer. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed at 3:47 p.m. on Sept. 5. Roosevelt won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Speech presenting the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize to President Theodore Roosevelt As the Nobel Committee meets today, the tenth of December, perhaps for the last time in this hall, to announce to the Norwegian Parliament its decision concerning the award of the Peace Prize, it is appropriate to recall that the Norwegian Parliament was one of the first national assemblies to adopt and to support the cause of peace. Twelve or fifteen years ago, Gentlemen, the cause of peace presented a very different aspect from the one it presents today. The cause was then regarded as a utopian idea and its advocates as well-meaning but overly enthusiastic idealists who had no place in practical politics, being out of touch with the realities of life. The situation has altered radically since then, for in recent years leading statesmen, even heads of state, have espoused the cause, which has now acquired a totally different image in public opinion.

The United States of America was among the first to infuse the ideal of peace into practical politics. Peace and arbitration treaties have now been concluded between the United States and the governments of several countries. But what has especially directed the attention of the friends of peace and of the whole civilized world to the United States is President Roosevelt’s happy role in bringing to an end the bloody war recently waged between two of the world’s great powers, Japan and Russia2. On behalf of the Norwegian Parliament, I now present to you, Mr. Ambassador, the Peace Prize along with its insignia, and I add the request that you convey to the President the greetings of the Norwegian people and their gratitude for all that he has done in the cause of peace. I would also add the wish that this eminent and highly gifted man may be blessed with the opportunity of continuing his work to strengthen the ideal of peace and to secure the peace of the world. Share

Question: Theodore Roosevelt won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation leading to the Treaty of Portsmouth that ended which war?
Answer: RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR