Peace: 1910

Friday, September 25, 2009

International Peace Bureau (IPB), an international peace federation, is one of the oldest and most extensive peace organizations in the world. It brings together many different groups of people working for peace--pacifists, youth groups, women's organizations, and political and professional bodies. The aim of the IPB is to serve the cause of peace by encouraging international cooperation and the prevention, or nonviolent resolution, of disputes and conflicts. It supports attempts to promote peace and disarmament made by the United Nations (UN), by national governments, and by individuals. The IPB organizes international peace projects, provides information and help to peace campaigns, publishes books and other documents relating to international peace issues, and organizes conferences and seminars. The IPB was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1910.

Organization: The IPB is made up of 186 member organizations from more than 40 countries. The IPB Assembly, which all members are entitled to attend, meets every three years. The Assembly elects a council, which meets annually and consists of the elected officers and regional representatives. A steering committee guides the work of the IPB office at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The head of the IPB is its president. The secretary-general serves as the IPB's chief executive.

A second IPB office in Oslo was created in 1990. It works full-time for IPB campaigns, focusing on press work, fund-raising, and the distribution of books and films.

History: The IPB was founded in 1891 as a permanent office for coordinating the work of the peace societies that had grown up mainly in Europe and North America. The office was needed to bring together the efforts of national peace groups everywhere and organize the annual Universal Peace Congresses. The newly established international office was named Bureau international permanent de la paix (Permanent International Peace Bureau). The word "permanent" was later dropped from the title. It was located in Bern, Switzerland.

One of the founders, Fredrik Bajer of Denmark, was elected the first president of the IPB. Other leaders who were involved with the organization at an early date included Elie Ducommun and Charles-Albert Gobat, both of Switzerland, who were the first two people to hold the post of secretary-general of the IPB, and the Austrian campaigner Bertha von Suttner. All these founding members of the IPB later became individual winners of the Nobel Prize for peace.

From the beginning, the IPB focused its efforts on disarmament and resolving conflicts. It also sought to help in the development of international law. The encouragement and urging of von Suttner and others led to the international peace congresses known as the Hague Conferences in 1899 and 1907. The IPB was also actively involved in prompting the idea of a League of Nations, the forerunner of today's United Nations. In 1924, the IPB moved its head office to Geneva to be near the headquarters of the League of Nations.

The Swiss government took temporary control of the assets of the IPB during World War II (1939-1945), but, in 1946, some of the bureau's member organizations sought to revive it. They set up a new organization called the International Liaison Committee of Organizations for Peace (ILCOP). In 1961, this umbrella organization acquired the assets of the old IPB. Three years later, ILCOP readopted the name International Peace Bureau for the actual peace-promoting organization and formed the ILCOP Foundation to administer the bureau's funds.

Since the 1960's, the IPB has focused on the abolition of nuclear weapons, the ending of the arms trade, the right to be a conscientious objector, the effects of military build-ups on the environment, and women and peace. The IPB campaigned against such conflicts as the Vietnam War (1957-1975) and the PERSIAN GULF WAR OF 1991). In the late 1990's, its most important project was the Hague Appeal for Peace, a campaign aimed at abolishing war.

Peace: 1909

1) Beernaert, Auguste Marie Francois pronounced BAYR nart, (1829-1912), a Belgian politician and pacifist, won the 1909 Nobel Prize for peace for his work on the Permanent Court of Arbitration The court was established in 1899 to handle legal disputes between nations. Beernaert shared the prize with Paul d'Estournelles of France.

Beernaert served as prime minister of Belgium from 1884 to 1894. During that time, he effected social and judicial reforms in Belgium in order to protect the welfare of working people. He also revised the constitution to grant suffrage (voting rights) to many more people than had previously been allowed to vote.

Internationally, Beernaert became heavily involved in attempts to abolish slavery after being shocked at Belgium's exploitation of the Congo Free State in Africa. He also presided for several years over the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a world organization of parliaments of sovereign states, which was founded in 1889. In 1902, at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Beernaert represented Mexico in its dispute with the United States.

Beernaert was born at Ostend in Belgium into a middle-class Catholic family. In 1846, he entered the University of Louvain where, in 1851, he received his doctorate in law with the highest distinction. He then spent two years at the universities of Paris, Heidelberg, and Berlin studying the status of legal education in France and Germany.

Beernaert was admitted to the bar in 1853 and in 1873 was appointed to the cabinet as minister of public works. In 1874, he was elected to parliament. His party was defeated in 1878 but regained power in 1884. From then until 1894, Beernaert served as prime minister of Belgium, and afterwards returned to his legal practice while continuing to work for the government in an advisory capacity. He was president of the International Law Association from 1903 to 1905. He died in Lucerne, Switzerland.

2) Estournelles de Constant, Paul Henri d' pronounced ehs toor NEHL duh kawns TAHN, (1852-1924), Baron d'Estournelles, was a French diplomat, political leader and author. In 1909, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as a delegate to the Hague peace conferences in 1899 and 1907. He also served on the Permanent Court of Arbitration. In 1902, he persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to submit a dispute between the United States and Mexico to the court, the first case to be so arbitrated. Estournelles was born at La Fleche, France.

Peace: 1908

1) Arnoldson, Klas Pontus (1844-1916), a Swedish journalist and politician, was a dedicated pacifist and antimilitarist who campaigned strongly for Scandinavian unity. In 1908, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace for founding the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society 25 years before. He shared the prize with Fredrik Bajer of Denmark.

In 1881, after 21 years working for the Swedish railways--first as a clerk and then as a stationmaster and inspector--Arnoldson was elected to the Riksdag, Sweden's parliament. As a politician, he campaigned for the extension of religious freedom and for the guaranteed neutrality of Sweden. In 1883, he helped to found the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society and became the society's secretary. He worked for Nordiska Dagbladet--a north Scandinavian daily paper, and founded a new paper in 1883 called Tiden (Times). He left Tiden in 1886, and worked from 1892 to 1894 for the Nordsvenska Dagbladet.

In 1895, during the constitutional crisis that led to Norway's independence from Sweden, Arnoldson's sympathy for Norway and strong support for a peaceful solution attracted much controversy (Independence). His 1908 Nobel Peace Prize outraged many Swedes. Newspapers claimed that the award was a disgrace to the Swedish people, especially since Alfred Nobel himself had been Swedish.

In addition to his many newspaper articles, Arnoldson wrote several important works on peace and similar themes, including Pax Mundi (1890), a historical essay on international law, and Religion in the Light of Research (1891).

Arnoldson was born in Goteborg, Sweden.

2) Bajer, Fredrik pronounced BY uhr, (1837-1922), a Danish pacifist, helped to found the International Peace Bureau (IPB) in Berlin in 1891 and served as its president from its foundation until 1907. The aim of the IPB is to serve the cause of peace by encouraging international cooperation, and the prevention--or nonviolent resolution--of international disputes and conflicts. He received the 1908 Nobel Prize for peace for his work with the Peace Bureau, and shared the prize with Klas Arnoldson.

Bajer believed in neutrality as the best way of ensuring peace in the Scandinavian countries. In 1870, he established the Nordisk Fristats Samfund (Society of Nordic Free States) to promote Nordic unity and cooperation. In 1882, under the influence of the French pacifist Frederic Passy, Bajer helped to found the first Danish peace society, Foreningen til Danmarks Neutralisering (Society for the Promotion of Danish Neutrality). This later developed into the Danish Peace and League of Nations Society. Bajer was also a leading spokesman for women's rights and was among the founders of the Dansk Kvindesamfund (Danish Women's Association).

Bajer was born at Vester Egede, Denmark. In 1856, he enrolled for two years at a military school. In 1856, he joined the Dragoons, a mounted infantry unit, with whom he served until 1865. During this period, he took two years out from 1860 to 1862 to study at a second military school. In 1865, he was discharged from the army. Afterwards, he resumed his studies and learned French, Norwegian, and Swedish. He worked as a teacher and translator in Copenhagen. In 1872, he entered politics and was elected to the Folketing (Danish parliament), where he served for 23 years.

Peace: 1907

1) Moneta, Ernesto Teodoro, pronounced moh NAYT uh, ayr NEHS toh tay oh DAWR oh (1833-1918), an Italian journalist and peace activist, was awarded half of the 1907 Nobel Prize for peace for his work promoting world peace. The other half of the prize was awarded to Frenchman Louis Renault.

Moneta was born in Milan, Italy. Moneta spent much of his time between 1848 and 1866 fighting for Italian unification and independence. Moneta became editor of Il Secolo (The Century), a daily newspaper to which he had previously contributed theater reviews. Despite being a Roman Catholic, he allowed Il Secolo to take a secular (nonreligious) stance in the interests of Italian unity. He founded the Lombard League for Peace in 1887 and organized several peace conferences in Italy. He was also the Italian representative to the International Peace Bureau, founded in 1891.

After retiring as editor of Il Secolo, Moneta founded an annual almanac called L'Amico della Pace (The Friend of Peace) and a pacifist periodical, La Vita Internazionale (International Life). He wrote a four-volume work, Wars, Insurrections and Peace in the Nineteenth Century, which was published between 1903 and 1910.

Moneta was often called a "militant pacifist" because he campaigned for patriotism and national defence on the one hand, and international peace on the other. In 1911, he supported Italy's war against Turkey and, in 1915, he argued that Italy should enter World War I (1914-1918) to combat Austria-Hungary and Germany.

2) Renault, Louis, pronounced reh NOH, lwee (1843-1918), was a French jurist (expert in law), university professor, educator, and pacifist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1907 for his work on peace conferences. Renault shared the prize with the Italian pacifist Ernesto Moneta.

Louis Renault was born in Autun, France. He studied literature at the University of Dijon and law at the University of Paris. He returned to Dijon to be a lecturer in Roman and commercial law, and then went back to Paris to lecture in criminal law. In 1874, he was asked to become a professor of international law and, despite his initial reluctance, he continued in the field with such distinction that by 1881 he was offered the chair of international law. He wrote several books, including Introduction a l'Etude de Droit International (Introduction to the Study of International Law, 1879) and, with Charles Lyon-Caen, Traite de Droit Commercial (Treatise on Commercial Law, 1889-1899).

Much of Renault's work before 1890 centered on the problems of ownership rights in art and literature. In 1890, however, Renault became an adviser on legal matters to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, he advised the ministry on international law and represented France at many international conferences.

In 1914, Renault was appointed to the panel of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, in the Netherlands, and became president of the Academy of International Law at The Hague, which was created in 1914.

Peace: 1906

Roosevelt, Theodore pronounced ROH zuh vehlt, (1858-1919), was the youngest man ever to become president of the United States. He took office at the age of 42. Roosevelt had been vice president for only six months when President William McKinley was assassinated in September 1901. Roosevelt won wide popularity, and millions of Americans affectionately called him "Teddy" or "T.R." In 1904, the voters elected him to a full term as president. He ran for president again in 1912, as the "Bull Moose" party candidate, but lost to Woodrow Wilson.

Roosevelt was a man of great energy and practiced what he called the "strenuous life." He enjoyed horseback riding, swimming, hunting, hiking, and boxing. He often expressed enthusiasm for something by describing it as "bully." Cartoonists liked to draw Roosevelt with his rimless glasses, bushy mustache, prominent teeth, and jutting jaw. One cartoon showed him with a bear cub. Soon, toymakers were producing stuffed animals that are still known as "teddy bears."

As commander of the fearless Rough Riders, Roosevelt became a national hero during the Spanish-American War in 1898. He led this famous cavalry regiment against the Spaniards in Cuba. Roosevelt came home and won election as governor of New York. Two years later, he was elected vice president.

As president, Roosevelt used his power of leadership to help the United States meet challenges at home and abroad. "I did not usurp power," Roosevelt said, "but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power."

Roosevelt fought for reforms that would benefit the American people. He became known as a "trust buster" because he tried to limit the power of great business corporations. During his administration, Congress passed laws to regulate the railroads, to protect the public from harmful foods and drugs, and to conserve the nation's forests and other natural resources.

In foreign relations, Roosevelt worked to make the United States a world leader. He felt that this leadership must be supported by strong armed forces. He expressed his foreign policy as: "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Roosevelt strengthened the U.S. Navy, began the construction of the Panama Canal, and kept European nations from interfering in Latin America. He helped end the Russo-Japanese War, and became the first American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

While Roosevelt was president, millions of Americans traveled by bicycle-even women in their sweeping, ankle-length skirts. But automobiles, along with electric lights and telephones, started to come into widespread use. Guglielmo Marconi and his staff sent and received the first radio message across the Atlantic Ocean, and a telegraph cable was laid across the Pacific to the Philippines. The air age was born when the Wright brothers flew the first successful airplane. Roosevelt enjoyed taking a ride in one of the early models.

Roosevelt regarded public life as a great stage. As president, he joyfully held the center of that stage. When Roosevelt left office, he wrote: "I do not believe that anyone else has ever enjoyed the White House as much as I have." He was probably right.

Early life

Boyhood and education: Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York City on Oct. 27, 1858. He was the second of the four children of Theodore and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt. "Teedie," as the family called him, was younger than his sister Anna, and older than his brother Elliott and his sister Corinne.

Roosevelt's ancestors, the Van Roosevelts, had come to America from Holland in the 1640's. One of these ancestors, Klaes Martensen Van Roosevelt, settled in New York, which was then called New Amsterdam. Klaes was also an ancestor of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States. Most of the Van Roosevelts were wealthy landowners and business leaders.

Theodore Roosevelt's mother came from a prominent Georgia family. One of her brothers was an admiral in the Confederate Navy. She sympathized with the South during the Civil War. Her husband, an importer of plate glass, supported the North. But the Roosevelts did not let their differences keep them from providing a happy home life for their family.

Like his father, Teedie had great energy, curiosity, and determination. He enjoyed an active childhood although he was puny and frequently ill. He suffered greatly from asthma. While playing with friends one day, he discovered that he also was nearsighted. The other children easily read an advertisement on a billboard some distance away. "Not only was I unable to read the sign, but I could not even see the letters," Roosevelt wrote later. From then on Theodore wore glasses.

Theodore loved both books and the outdoors. He combined these interests in nature study. His bureau drawers smelled of dead mice and birds, and so, often, did Theodore. When he was 10, and again when he was 14, Theodore went with his family on yearlong trips abroad. He visited Europe and the Middle East.

When Theodore was about 12, his father told him that he would need a strong body to give his mind a chance to develop fully. The next year, while alone on a trip to Maine, Theodore was tormented by two mischievous boys. He felt ashamed because he was not strong enough to fight back. Roosevelt's father built a gymnasium in the family home, and Theodore exercised there regularly. He overcame his asthma and built up unusual physical strength.

Roosevelt studied under tutors until he entered Harvard University in 1876 at the age of 18. He earned good grades in college. Once he asked so many questions during a lecture that the professor exclaimed: "Now look here, Roosevelt, let me talk. I'm running this course!" Roosevelt graduated from Harvard in 1880.

First marriage: In October 1879, Roosevelt met Alice Hathaway Lee (1861-1884). She was the daughter of a wealthy official of a Boston investment firm. Roosevelt courted Alice during his senior year at Harvard. They were married on his 22nd birthday.

A double tragedy struck on Feb. 14, 1884. Alice Roosevelt died two days after the birth of a daughter, also named Alice (1884-1980). On the same day, Roosevelt's mother died of typhoid fever.

Political and public activities

State legislator: After graduation from Harvard in 1880, Roosevelt did not know what to do for a living. His father, who had died in 1878, had left him some money. But Theodore needed to earn more in order to live comfortably. He enrolled in the Columbia University Law School, but the courses did not interest him. While studying law, he wrote The Naval War of 1812, a technically excellent but dull book.

Roosevelt decided to enter politics as a means of public service. He joined a Republican club in New York City. He recalled that his friends "laughed at me, and told me that politics were "low ...' I answered that ... the people I knew did not belong to the governing class, and that the other people did-and that I intended to be one of the governing class."

In the fall of 1881, at the age of 23, Roosevelt won election to the New York State Assembly. He wore sideburns and dressed elegantly. The other legislators thought he looked like a "dude." But his intelligence, courage, and energy won their respect. He was reelected twice, in 1882 and 1883.

Party leader: In 1882, Roosevelt served briefly as leader of the Republican minority in the Assembly. State party bosses expected him to follow orders, but he refused to obey blindly. The bosses removed him as minority leader. However, Roosevelt remained the most influential man in the Assembly. He worked closely with Governor Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, and became interested in civil service reform.

Rancher and writer: After the death of his wife and mother in 1884, Roosevelt left politics. He ran two cattle ranches on the Little Missouri River in the Dakota Territory. The hard life and endless activity of a rancher helped him recover from his sorrow. Wearing cowboy clothes, Roosevelt often spent 14 to 16 hours a day in the saddle. He hunted buffalo and other wild animals, tended cattle, and even helped law officers capture a band of outlaws.

Roosevelt wrote steadily. In one period of less than three months, he completed a biography of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. Roosevelt also wrote a four-volume series called The Winning of the West.

Severe snowstorms in the winter of 1885-1886 destroyed most of Roosevelt's cattle. He returned to New York City in 1886 and at the request of Republican leaders, ran for mayor. He was badly defeated.

Second marriage: During several trips home from his ranches, Roosevelt had visited a childhood friend, Edith Kermit Carow (1861-1948). They were married on Dec. 2, 1886, and lived in Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt's home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. Edith Roosevelt had a strong influence on her husband. He came to depend on her advice. "Whenever I go against her judgment, I regret it," he said.

The Roosevelts had five children: Theodore, Jr. (1887-1944); Kermit (1889-1943); Ethel Carow (1891-1977); Archibald Bulloch (1894-1979); and Quentin (1897-1918). Mrs. Roosevelt reared Alice Roosevelt, Theodore's daughter by his first wife, as her own child. Roosevelt loved to play with his children.

Civil Service commissioner: Benjamin Harrison won the Republican nomination for president in 1888. Roosevelt went on a speaking tour for Harrison, who was elected in November. Partly as a reward for Roosevelt's service, Harrison appointed him to the Civil Service Commission. Roosevelt brought publicity to the commission, which previously had attracted little attention. He improved the merit system by establishing examinations for some Civil Service jobs. He opposed the awarding of government jobs to political friends. Many Republicans resented his attitude. But President Grover Cleveland reappointed him in 1893.

Police commissioner: In 1895, Roosevelt gladly accepted the post of president of the Board of Police Commissioners in New York City. For the next two years, he fought to stamp out dishonesty on the police force. Sometimes he patrolled the streets at night to check on police officers suspected of illegal activities.

A national figure

Assistant secretary of the Navy: In 1895, some friends asked Roosevelt if he might be a candidate for president. "Don't you dare ask me that!" Roosevelt exclaimed. "Don't you put such ideas into my head . ... I must be wanting to be president. Every young man does. But I won't let myself think of it ... because if I do, I will begin to work for it, I'll be careful, calculating, cautious... and so-I'll beat myself. See?"

Roosevelt campaigned vigorously for William McKinley, the Republican candidate for president in 1896. McKinley won, and Roosevelt asked him for a government appointment. McKinley did not want this brash young man in Washington, but Roosevelt had powerful support. The president finally made him an assistant secretary of the Navy.

Roosevelt believed that sea power was the decisive factor in world history. He worked to strengthen the Navy. He also believed that war for a righteous cause brought out the finest virtues in people and nations. "No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumphs of war," he said soon after taking office. "The diplomat is the servant, not the master, of the soldier."

The Rough Riders: Since 1895, Cuban rebels had been revolting against their Spanish rulers. Many Americans demanded that the United States help the Cubans. On Feb. 15, 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor. Roosevelt tried to rush preparations for war against Spain. He became impatient with McKinley's attempts to avoid war. In private, Roosevelt complained that the president had "no more backbone than a chocolate eclair."

On April 25, 1898, the United States declared war on Spain. Roosevelt immediately resigned as assistant secretary of the Navy so he could fight. Even before resigning, he had started to recruit men for a cavalry regiment. This unit became the First Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. Under Roosevelt's command, it won fame as the Rough Riders. Most of the men were former college athletes and Western cowboys.

On July 1, 1898, American troops attacked a ring of fortified hills surrounding Santiago, Cuba. Colonel Roosevelt led his men in a charge up Kettle Hill, which flanked the Spanish blockhouse on San Juan Hill. He and the Rough Riders became nationally famous. Twenty years later he declared: "San Juan was the great day of my life."

Governor of New York: The Republicans faced defeat in New York in 1898 because of a scandal over state canal contracts. The state party leader, Senator Thomas C. Platt, did not like Roosevelt. But Platt knew that Roosevelt's reputation might save the Republicans. Roosevelt agreed to run for governor. He won, largely because of his war record.

As governor, Roosevelt did not break with Platt. Neither did he follow Platt's wishes. He described this policy to a friend: "I have always been fond of the West African proverb: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far. ' " Roosevelt became an efficient, independent administrator. He supported mild reform legislation, including a law affecting civil service in the state. He angered large business interests by approving a bill for the taxation of corporation franchises.

Vice president: McKinley's renomination in 1900 seemed certain. Roosevelt had no wish to oppose the president, who he knew had nationwide support. But Roosevelt wondered whether he himself might get the nomination in 1904. As the Republican National Convention drew near, a movement began to nominate him for vice president.

Roosevelt felt that being vice president would take him out of active politics. In this way, his chances for the presidential nomination in 1904 would be weakened. Roosevelt also knew that Senator Platt wanted to get rid of him as governor of New York. Roosevelt felt he might not win a second term as governor in opposition to Platt. He finally consented to be McKinley's running mate. The Republicans nominated both men by acclamation. In the election, McKinley and Roosevelt defeated their Democratic opponents, William Jennings Bryan and former Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson.

On Sept. 6, 1901, only six months after his second inauguration, President McKinley was shot by an assassin. The tragedy occurred while McKinley was at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Doctors told Roosevelt that McKinley would probably recover. But, while vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains, Roosevelt learned McKinley was near death. He hurried to Buffalo, but McKinley died before Roosevelt arrived. That same day, Sept. 14, 1901, Roosevelt took the oath of office as president.

Roosevelt's first administration (1901-1905)

Roosevelt became president just six weeks before his 43rd birthday. He kept all the members of McKinley's Cabinet. He said he would continue McKinley's policies "absolutely unbroken." But Roosevelt had too much originality to follow another person's plans.

Most business leaders feared Roosevelt because of some reforms he had introduced as governor of New York. Several of these reforms had brought about stricter government control over industry. Early in his administration, Roosevelt tried to convince business people that he would not interfere with them. He also tried to persuade conservative Republican leaders that he was not dangerous. But he never won them over completely. They considered much of his legislation dangerously progressive, even socialistic. The Republicans controlled Congress throughout Roosevelt's presidency. But because of conservative opposition, Roosevelt had increasing difficulty getting Congress to act on his recommendations.

"Trust buster." Many Americans had become worried about the trusts, or large business monopolies. These trusts were increasing rapidly in both number and power. The trusts had increased productivity and had raised the standard of living. But prices had also risen, and the people blamed the trusts. In his first message to Congress, in December 1901, Roosevelt expressed this feeling. "Captains of industry ... have on the whole done great good to our people," he said. But he also pointed to "real and grave evils." Roosevelt recommended that "combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but supervised and, within reasonable limits, controlled."

In 1902, the government sued the Northern Securities Company on charges of trying to reduce competition. This firm had been formed by J. P. Morgan and other financiers to control key railroads in the West. Roosevelt said he did not want to use the power of the government to ruin Morgan. Rather, he wanted to keep order among all the great economic forces in the nation. The Supreme Court upheld the government's view in 1904. It dissolved the Northern Securities Company.

During Roosevelt's presidency, the government filed suits against 43 other corporations. In major cases, the government ended John D. Rockefeller's oil trust and James B. Duke's tobacco trust. Many people called Roosevelt a "trust buster." But the president declared that he wanted the government to regulate, not "bust," trusts.

Friend of labor: Roosevelt wanted the government to act justly toward labor unions as well as toward business. Government intervention in labor disputes was not new. But it had usually favored management.

In May 1902, about 140,000 members of the United Mine Workers went on strike in the hard-coal fields of Pennsylvania. Public opinion favored the strikers, who demanded more pay and better working conditions. As the strike continued, coal supplies began to run low in Eastern cities. Many hospitals and schools had no fuel. Winter was approaching.

Roosevelt had no legal authority to intervene in the strike. But he called a conference of leaders of both sides. He proposed that the strike be settled by arbitration. The miners agreed, but the mine owners refused. Roosevelt threatened to have the army seize and operate the mines. At Roosevelt's request, J. P. Morgan helped reach a compromise with the mine owners. The miners got a pay raise the next March. Roosevelt said later that he had tried to give the miners a "square deal." He often used this phrase to refer to his policy of social reform. In 1903, Congress established the Department of Commerce and Labor.

Foreign policy: Roosevelt believed that the government needed a "big stick," or threat of force, to carry out its foreign policies. He used this policy in relations with Europe and Latin America.

The Venezuela Affair. The Monroe Doctrine held that the United States should keep European powers out of the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt upheld this doctrine in what was known as the Venezuela Affair.

Venezuela had borrowed large sums of money in Europe. In December 1902, German and British ships blockaded Venezuelan ports to force payment of the debts. Roosevelt feared that Germany planned to seize Venezuelan territory. He warned the Germans that he might have to use force if they took any part of Venezuela. The Germans withdrew their warships. Later, Roosevelt helped settle the dispute peacefully.

The "Roosevelt Corollary." In 1904, the Dominican Republic found it could not pay its debts to several European countries. Again, Roosevelt feared European intervention. He announced that the United States might be forced "in flagrant cases of ... wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power." This policy was called the "Roosevelt Corollary" of the Monroe Doctrine.

Roosevelt ordered American officials to take over the customs system of the Dominican Republic in 1904. American control, which began the next year, brought order to the Dominican Republic's finances.

The Panama Canal. Between 1902 and 1905, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to approve building 10 battleships and 4 armored cruisers for the U.S. Navy. He believed the larger fleet would give the nation greater influence in international affairs. But the fleet would need to shift rapidly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A canal across Central America seemed necessary.

In 1902, Roosevelt began negotiating with Colombia for the right to build a canal across Panama, a province of Colombia. The negotiators signed a treaty, but the Colombian Senate rejected it. Roosevelt then supported a revolutionary government that took control of Panama, and the United States recognized the Republic of Panama. Less than two weeks later, the United States and Panama signed a treaty granting to the United States the use and control of a strip of land on which to dig a canal. Roosevelt said he was prouder of the canal than of any other accomplishment of his administration. He visited Panama in 1906-the first president to travel in a foreign country while in office.

The Alaskan boundary dispute. No one cared about the exact boundary between Canada and Alaska until gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1896. Then Canada claimed a line that gave it control of important routes to the gold fields. The United States disputed the claim. Early in 1902, the United Kingdom asked that the matter be settled by arbitration. At first, Roosevelt refused. But then he agreed that the dispute should be settled by a tribunal of six "impartial jurists" appointed by both countries. In 1903, the tribunal ruled in favor of the United States.

Conservation: Roosevelt made notable achievements in conservation. He added about 150 million acres (61 million hectares) to the national forests and in 1905 established the United States Forest Service. He also set up five new national parks. Congress passed the Reclamation Act of 1902, which provided for the reclamation and irrigation of dry Western lands. Roosevelt then started 25 irrigation or reclamation projects. He also set aside 18 sites as national monuments and worked to preserve wildlife. By executive order, he created the first 51 federal bird reservations and established the first four national game preserves.

Life in the White House was never dull during Roosevelt's presidency. The Roosevelt children and their friends became known as the "White House Gang." The president sometimes joined in the children's games. One day, he heard that the gang was preparing an "attack" on the White House. He sent a message to the children through the War Department, ordering them to call off the "attack." Once Roosevelt scolded his sons for decorating a portrait of President Andrew Jackson with spitballs. But he allowed the boys to bring their pets, including a pony and snakes, into the White House.

The president often played tennis on the White House lawn with friends. These friends came to be known as the "tennis cabinet." The group also went horseback riding and hiking. More than once, on winter hikes, Roosevelt and his friends swam across the Potomac River through chunks of floating ice.

In 1902, the White House was remodeled and enlarged. The east and west wings were built. Workers installed new plumbing, heating, and electrical systems.

Edith Roosevelt was an efficient and gracious White House hostess. She carefully kept out of politics. The president's daughter by his first marriage was called "Princess Alice" by newspaper reporters. In 1906, Alice married Representative Nicholas Longworth of Ohio, who later served as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Their wedding took place in the White House.

Election of 1904: The Republicans unanimously nominated Roosevelt for president at their 1904 national convention. They chose Senator Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana for vice president. The Democrats nominated Judge Alton B. Parker of the New York Supreme Court for president, and Henry G. Davis of West Virginia for vice president.

During the election campaign, Roosevelt called on the voters to support his "square deal" policies. Parker appealed for an end to what he called "rule of individual caprice" and "usurpation of authority" by the president. Roosevelt won the election by more than 2 1/2 million popular votes. No earlier president had won by so large a margin.

Roosevelt's second administration (1905-1909)

Domestic problems: Roosevelt believed that laws were badly needed to control the nation's railroads. The Elkins Act of 1903 had prohibited railroads from making rebates, or returning sums of money, to favored shippers. But the act had not stopped such practices, which often put rival shippers out of business. Roosevelt demanded legislation to curb the abuses. In 1906, Congress passed the Hepburn Railway Rate Act despite conservative opposition. The act did not end the rebates, but it was a step in that direction.

The food and drug industries were also affected by reforms. In 1906, Roosevelt read Upton Sinclair's new novel The Jungle. It described unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry. Roosevelt ordered an investigation and received what he called a "sickening report." He threatened to publish the report if Congress did not correct the situation. That same year, Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Food and Drugs Act.

In 1907, the stock market slumped. A financial panic spread throughout the country. The business community blamed Roosevelt and his progressive legislation. But most historians believe that speculation and inefficient business management actually caused the panic. Prosperity returned by 1909.

Friction with Japan: In 1905, Roosevelt helped end the Russo-Japanese War. He brought representatives of Russia and Japan together in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Then the president served as mediator in the peace talks that led to the Treaty of Portsmouth. In 1906, Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the first American to win a Nobel Prize.

As the victors in the war, the Japanese demanded compensation payments from Russia. During the peace talks, Roosevelt had opposed this demand. His attitude angered the Japanese and also Japanese Americans in the United States. Their anger grew in 1906, when the San Francisco school board decided to segregate children of Japanese descent.

Relations between the United States and Japan became more strained. Roosevelt feared a Japanese attack on the Philippines. Many Americans thought war with Japan was near. But the president persuaded the San Francisco school board to end its segregation policy. He also negotiated a gentlemen's agreement with Japan to keep Japanese laborers out of the United States. In 1908, Japan and the United States signed the Root-Takahira Agreement. In this pact, the two nations promised not to seek territorial gains in the Pacific, and to honor the Open-Door Policy in China.

In 1907, Roosevelt decided to display American naval power. He sent 16 new battleships on a good-will tour of the world. These ships became known as the Great White Fleet because they were painted white. The fleet received enthusiastic welcomes in Japan and other countries. Roosevelt viewed the tour as a part of "big stick" diplomacy.

European power balance was maintained with Roosevelt's help. In 1905, Germany demanded a share in the control of Morocco, which was dominated by France. Two alliances of nations-one headed by Germany, the other by the United Kingdom and France-came close to war. Roosevelt persuaded Germany to attend an international conference in Spain in 1906. At the conference, the United States sided with France and the United Kingdom. Germany backed down on its demand.

A party split developed among the Republicans as Roosevelt neared the end of his presidency. Conservative Republicans put up increased resistance to Roosevelt's progressive policies. Roosevelt fought harder for "political, social, and industrial reform." But during his last year in office, he got little congressional action. His Republican opponents dared to resist him because they believed he would leave office in 1909.

Roosevelt had declared after his election in 1904 that he would "under no circumstances" run for president again. He decided to keep this pledge. He selected William Howard Taft, his secretary of war, to succeed him. At the Republican National Convention of 1908, he persuaded most of the delegates to support Taft for president. In this way, he assured Taft's nomination. Taft won an easy election victory over the Democratic candidate, William Jennings Bryan.

Later years

After leaving the presidency in March 1909, Roosevelt sailed for Africa to hunt big game. Some conservative congressmen wished "health to the lions." But Roosevelt and his party brought down 296 big-game animals, including 9 lions. When Roosevelt arrived home in June 1910, he found himself the center of national attention. Progressive Republicans felt that Taft had betrayed them. They turned to Roosevelt.

"Bull Moose" candidate: Roosevelt tried to bring together the progressive and conservative wings of the Republican Party. But he failed. He had become identified too closely with the progressives.

In 1910, on a speaking tour of the West, Roosevelt proclaimed a policy of "New Nationalism." It became the policy of the progressive Republicans. Roosevelt declared that the president must be the "steward of public welfare." He frightened conservatives with his views on private property. He said that property was "subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it."

In 1912, Roosevelt gave in to pleas that he run for a third term as president. He said that his statement in 1904 had meant not running for a third consecutive term. He won many victories in primary elections. These victories indicated he was the popular choice of the party. But President Taft controlled the party machinery and was renominated by the Republican National Convention. Roosevelt and his followers formed the Progressive Party, or Bull Moose party. The name came from Roosevelt's reply when a reporter asked how he felt. "I feel as strong as a bull moose," he said.

On Oct. 14, 1912, a saloonkeeper named John N. Schrank tried to assassinate Roosevelt. Schrank shot Roosevelt just before he made a speech in Milwaukee. A glasses case in Roosevelt's pocket deflected the bullet and probably saved his life. Even with the bullet in his chest, Roosevelt insisted on making the speech. He recovered from the wound in about two weeks. Schrank was committed to a mental hospital.

Roosevelt's candidacy split the Republican vote. The Democratic candidate, Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, easily won the election.

World War I began in 1914. Roosevelt called for American preparedness against a "strong, ruthless, ambitious, militaristic ... Germany." He developed an intense dislike of Wilson, mostly because the president did not lead the nation into war immediately. After the United States entered the war in 1917, Roosevelt asked Wilson for permission to raise a division of troops to fight in France. Wilson refused the request.

Roosevelt's sons served in France. Quentin, an aviator, was killed in an air battle with a German pilot.

Death: In 1914, Roosevelt had explored the River of Doubt in the Brazilian jungle. He contracted a form of jungle fever and returned weak and prematurely aged. Early in 1918, Roosevelt underwent operations to remove abscesses on his thigh and in his ears. The abscesses resulted from the jungle fever. He lost the hearing in his left ear. At about this time, Roosevelt revealed that he had been blind in his left eye since 1908. He lost the sight in the eye as a result of an injury he received boxing with a military aide in the White House.

Roosevelt opposed American membership in the League of Nations, which he felt would limit the United States in foreign relations. He might have won the Republican presidential nomination in 1920. But Roosevelt died unexpectedly of a blood clot in the heart on Jan. 6, 1919. He was buried in Youngs Memorial Cemetery, near Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, New York. His second wife died in 1948 and was buried beside him.

Roosevelt's birthplace in New York City and Sagamore Hill are national historic sites, as is the Wilcox Mansion in Buffalo, New York, where Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1901. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in western North Dakota, includes one of the ranches Roosevelt operated in the 1880's. Roosevelt's other ranch is nearby. Theodore Roosevelt Island, in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., has a large statue of the former president. Roosevelt is also one of the four presidents whose faces are carved on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

Contributor: John A. Gable, Ph.D., Executive Director, Theodore Roosevelt Association.

Peace: 1905

Suttner, Baroness Bertha von, pronounced ZOOT nuhr, BEHR tah fawn (1843-1914), was an Austrian novelist who is said to have influenced Alfred Nobel in his creation of the Nobel Prize for peace. Suttner was awarded the prize in 1905 for promoting pacifism and founding an Austrian peace society.

Suttner was born Countess Bertha Felicie Sophie Kinsky in Prague, then part of Austria-Hungary, into an aristocratic Austrian family. In 1873, she became governess to the wealthy Suttner family and, in 1876, moved to Paris to become Alfred Nobel's secretary. After only a week, she returned to marry Arthur von Suttner, an engineer and the youngest son of the family. She then took the name Baroness Bertha, Freifrau von Suttner. She only saw Nobel again twice, but they wrote many letters to each other. In 1891, she founded a pacifist organization called the Austrian Peace Society. Her dedication to peace was instrumental in causing Nobel to institute a prize for peace among the other awards.

Suttner's written works include Inventarium einer Seele (Inventory of a Soul, 1883); Das Maschinenzeitalter (The Machine Age, 1889); and Die Waffen nieder! (Lay Down Your Arms!, 1889). Die Waffen nieder! was popular and influential, and Suttner gave the title Die Waffen nieder! to the peace journal that she founded in 1892.

Peace: 1904

Institute of International Law (IIL) is a private, unofficial association devoted to the study and development of international law. It carries out its work by means of a number of activities. These include formulating general legal principles that conform to civilized moral standards; cooperating in the drafting of international laws; and winning official recognition or acceptance of principles that reflect the needs of modern societies. The Institute of International Law also seeks to help preserve peace and ensure that countries abide by the laws of war; offers judicial advice in controversial or doubtful cases; and promotes the success of justice and humanity as the chief guiding principles of international law through publications, public education, and other means. The IIL was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize for peace.

The IIL was founded in 1873 by an international group of jurists headed by Gustave Rolin Jaequemyns, a Belgian legal expert. The institute quickly proved itself a valuable and influential body when several international treaties of the 1880's embodied its recommendations on the Suez Canal and on submarine communications cables. The Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 also drew on the IIL's studies of the laws of war, notably those on land war drawn up in 1880 at Oxford and known as the Oxford Manuals.

The people who make up the IIL are drawn from all nations of the world. They are selected on the basis of their academic achievements in law, their services to international law, and their ability to remain free from political pressures. The members of the IIL meet every two years, and these sessions take the name of the town in which they are held.

The Bureau of the Institute of International Law is the executive body of the IIL. It is made up of one president, three vice presidents, a secretary-general, and a treasurer. The bureau is elected by, and answers to, the assembly, which is the IIL's decision-making body. The IIL has no power to help settle international disputes and its resolutions are not binding on any country. It has, however, proved to be an influential organization. Both the League of Nations and the United Nations have considered its recommendations. The IIL is funded from an endowment built up over the years from gifts, awards, and bequests.

Peace: 1903

Cremer, Sir William Randal (1838-1908), a British politician, advocated a system of international arbitration that would enable countries to settle their differences peacefully. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Cremer founded the Workmen's Peace Association, later renamed the International Arbitration League, with the aim of keeping Britain neutral during the war. He worked for an arbitration agreement between Britain and the United States. Cremer was born in Fareham, in the county of Hampshire, England.

Peace: 1902

1) Ducommun, Elie (1833-1906), a Swiss journalist, lecturer, business executive, and editor, was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1902 for his work as honorary secretary of the International Peace Bureau. He shared the prize with Charles Albert Gobat of Switzerland. In 1891, Ducommun became head of the newly formed bureau, which was based in Bern, Switzerland. In 1895, he became editor of the bureau's Correspondance bi-mensuelle (Bimonthly Correspondence).

Ducommun was born in Geneva, Switzerland. In his twenties, he was the editor of the Revue de Geneve (Geneva Review), a political journal. In 1865, he moved to Bern and founded a radical journal published in two languages as Fortschritt in German and Progres in French (Progress). In the late 1860's and early 1870's, he also edited L'Helvetia (Switzerland) and Les Etats-Unis d'Europe (The United States of Europe).

2) Gobat, Charles Albert pronounced goh BAHT, (1843-1914), a Swiss politician, writer, administrator and philanthropist was the administrator of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. For this work, he was awarded the 1902 Nobel Prize for peace, sharing the prize with Elie Ducommun.

After working as a successful lawyer, Gobat became interested in politics in the early 1880's. His political career included being a member of the Council of States of Switzerland from 1884-1890, president of the cantonal government during the mid-1880's, and a member of the National Council from 1890 until his death. Gobat presided over the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1892 and became director of its newly-established Inter-Parliamentary Bureau. In 1906 he took over the directorship of the International Peace Bureau and dealt with movements for peace, and conciliation between the parliaments of different countries. Gobat held the position of director for the next seventeen years. The Bureau won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910.

Gobat also wrote works on international affairs and history, including Republique de Berne et la France pendant les guerres de religion (The Bern Republic and France during the Wars of Religion ,1891), Histoire de la Suisse racontee au peuple (A People's History of Switzerland, 1900), and Le cauchemar de l'Europe (The Nightmare of Europe, 1911).

Charles Albert Gobat was born in Tramelan, Switzerland. He studied at the Universities of Basel, Heidelberg, Bern, and Paris.

Peace: 1901

1) Dunant, Jean Henri, pronounced doo NAHN, zhahn ahn REE (1828-1910), a Swiss banker, was the founder of the International Red Cross. As a young businessman, he accidentally saw the battle of Solferino in 1859. He was shocked at the lack of care given the wounded. His book, Recollections of Solferino (1862), influenced the rulers of Europe tremendously, and in 1863 the Permanent International Committee was organized in Geneva. In 1864, delegates of 16 countries agreed to the Geneva Convention for the treatment of wounded and prisoners. Dunant went bankrupt and for 15 years his whereabouts was unknown. He was found in 1890, living in an almshouse, and in 1901 shared the first Nobel Peace Prize. He was born in Geneva.

Contributor: Alan Keith-Lucas, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

2) Passy, Frederic pronounced pah SEE, (1822-1912), a French economist and pacifist, was awarded the 1901 Nobel Peace Prize for founding a French peace organization.

Passy promoted free trade, believing that drawing nations together as partners in commerce would avoid antagonism and war. In 1867, he established the Ligue Internationale et Permanente de la Paix (International and Permanent Peace League). Later, he became one of the three presidents of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which he had helped to set up. This organization, made up of presidents throughout the world, sought peaceful solutions to international conflicts, particularly in situations where arbitration (the settlement of a dispute by a third party) seemed desirable.

Passy was born in Paris, where he lived all his life. He studied law before entering the civil service as an accountant in the State Council and, later, studied economics.

In 1857, a collection of his essays was published as Melanges Economiques (Economic Mixtures). From 1881 to 1889, he served in the French Chamber of Deputies (national parliament).

Literature: 1910

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Heyse, Paul von (1830-1914), a German poet, playwright, and fiction writer, won the 1910 Nobel Prize for literature. He was the first German author to win the prize. Heyse was popular during much of his lifetime, but his reputation had declined by the time he won the prize and he is little read today.

Heyse wrote lyric poetry and tragedies in verse that are largely forgotten today, but critics have praised his short novels called novellas. He discussed his theory of the novella in his introduction to Treasury of German Novellas, published in 24 volumes from 1870 to 1876. Heyse wrote more than 100 novellas as well as 7 novels. He also translated Spanish and Italian literature into German. Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse was born in Berlin.

Literature: 1909

Lagerlof, Selma pronounced LAH gehr luhf, (1858-1940), a Swedish writer, won the 1909 Nobel Prize for literature. She is best remembered for the meaning and depth she gave to materials of folk origin. Gosta Berling's Saga (1891), her first novel, is her most admired book. It is a fantastic romance in loosely related episodes that deal with a swashbuckling defrocked minister and his fellow adventurers. Like much of Lagerlof's fiction, the book is set in Varmland, the province in west-central Sweden where Lagerlof was born.

Religion plays an important part in Lagerlof's writing. In her two-volume novel Jerusalem (1901-1902), she tells of a Swedish religious group awaiting the second coming of Christ.

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1906-1907) is a geography textbook in fairy tale form. It describes Sweden through the eyes of a boy traveling over the country on the back of a wild goose. The book is both factually sound and full of charm. Lagerlof also used fairy tale elements in Liljecrona's Home (1911), which is a story based on her own family in the early 1800's. The trilogy The Ring of the Lowenskolds (1925-1928) combines mystery, romance, and family history. It consists of The General's Ring, Charlotte Lowenskold, and Anna Svard.

Selma Ottiliana Lovisa Lagerlof was born in Marbacka, her family home in Varmland. Her home is now a Swedish national shrine.

Contributor: Niels Ingwersen, Cand. Mag., Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Literature: 1908

Eucken, Rudolf pronounced OY kehn, (1846-1926), a German philosopher, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1908 though he wrote no works of literature. Eucken wrote many treatises on philosophy in which he strongly criticized naturalistic philosophy and advocated a philosophy of ethical activism.

Rudolf Christoph Eucken was born in Aurich, Germany. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Basel in Switzerland from 1871 to 1874 and professor of philosophy at the University of Jena in Germany from 1874 to 1920.

Literature: 1907

Kipling, Rudyard, pronounced RUHD yuhrd (1865-1936), was a leading English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He is best known for his stories about India during the late 1800's, when India was a British colony. Kipling wrote more than 300 short stories, which illustrate a wide variety of narrative techniques. He also wrote children's stories that became popular worldwide. In 1907, Kipling was the first English writer to receive the Nobel Prize in literature.

Childhood: Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, on Dec. 30, 1865. His father, John Lockwood Kipling, had come to Bombay after being appointed to a teaching post at a Bombay school of art. Indian servants took care of Rudyard and taught him the Hindi language of India.

When Kipling was 5 years old, his parents brought him to Southsea, England, near Portsmouth. It was the custom of English parents living in India to remove their children from the heat and deadly diseases of the colony by sending their children to school in England. In Southsea, Kipling was boarded with paid foster parents. He felt he had been deserted during his five unhappy years there. Kipling later recalled this period in a bitter short story, "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" (1888).

At the age of 12, Kipling was enrolled at the United Services College, a school established to educate inexpensively the sons of Army officers. Kipling, an eager reader, was made editor of the school journal. He developed several lifelong friendships at the school. Stalky & Co. (1899), a collection of short stories, is a fictional record of his life there. The stories emphasize adolescent brutality and practical joking but constitute a lively record of life in an English public school.

Young journalist: Limited family finances prevented Kipling from going to a university. In 1882, he returned to India instead and joined the staff of the Civil and Military Gazette, a newspaper in the northwestern city of Lahore. He learned much about life in the region by reporting on local events. By 1886, his feature articles and stories had many readers. The newspaper also printed some of his poems, later collected in Departmental Ditties (1886) and enlarged in later editions.

In 1887, Kipling joined the staff of the Pioneer, a newspaper in Allahabad. He wrote articles based on his travels in northern India. Many were later collected in From Sea to Sea (1899).

Early literary success: Kipling's first book of fiction, Plain Tales from the Hills (1888), consists of 40 stories, 32 of them originally written for the Civil and Military Gazette. Stories for the Pioneer soon were collected in six paperback books in the Indian Railway Library series. These books, sold in railroad stations, were popular with travelers and spread Kipling's fame outside India.

Kipling returned to England in 1889. His Indian Railway Library stories were reprinted in the collections Soldiers Three and Wee Willie Winkie in 1890. Kipling's first novel, The Light That Failed, was also published in 1890. The novel about an artist going blind received mixed reviews, but Kipling by this time was the most talked about writer in both England and the United States. Life's Handicap (1891) is another collection of short stories. These stories include "Without Benefit of Clergy," a powerful study of a doomed love affair between an Englishman and a young Indian woman.

Kipling's popularity grew tremendously with his Barrack-Room Ballads, which were published individually in periodicals in the early 1890's and collected in book form in 1892. Many of the Ballads are written in the Cockney dialect. They include such famous poems as "Danny Deever," "Fuzzy Wuzzy," "Gunga Din," and "Mandalay."

Kipling in America: Soon after his return to England, Kipling became friends with the American literary agent Wolcott Balestier. Shortly before his death in 1891, Balestier collaborated on Kipling's second novel, The Naulahka (1892). In January 1892, Kipling married Balestier's sister, Carrie, in London.

The Kiplings moved to Brattleboro, Vermont, in the summer of 1892. They lived there in a rented cottage for one year. This was a period of hard work for Kipling. He published Many Inventions (1893), a collection that includes the fine tale about a sea monster, "A Matter of Fact." Kipling also wrote The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895), children's stories that gained a wide international audience. These stories describe the adventures of Mowgli, an Indian child who gets lost in the jungle and is brought up by a family of wolves. While in the United States, Kipling also visited Gloucester, Massachusetts, to conduct research on fishing fleets for his sea novel, Captains Courageous (1897).

Later career: Kipling returned to England in 1896. He wrote poems for the London Times that made bold political judgments and prophesied the direction of international events. For example, "Recessional" warned the British of complacency in the face of rising militarism in Germany. Kipling also urged the need for a slow transfer of power from colonial governments to native populations in parts of the British Empire.

Kipling returned to the subject of India in his finest novel, Kim (1900). The story tells of an Irish orphan who adopts early and completely to Indian ways. The novel became a classic because of its rich rendering of the multiple cultures of India. It offers portraits of unforgettable characters--especially native Indians.

Another book of children's stories, the Just So Stories, appeared in 1902. It gives humorous explanations of such questions as how the leopard got its spots and how the elephant got its trunk. Kipling reviewed English history for children in Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) and Rewards and Fairies (1910).

Kipling's later works reveal a darkened view of the world. His daughter, Josephine, died of pneumonia in 1899, and his son, John, died in 1915 in the Battle of Loos during World War I. In addition, Kipling's concerns about his own health colored the fiction of his later years. He suffered from a bleeding ulcer for years before it was finally diagnosed in 1933. Kipling's last three volumes of short stories, A Diversity of Creatures (1917), Debits and Credits (1926), and Limits and Renewals (1932), stress the realities of pain and death. He died on Jan. 18, 1936. An unfinished autobiography, Something of Myself, was published in 1937, after his death.

Contributor: Harold Orel, Ph.D., University Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas.

Literature: 1906

Carducci, Giosue, pronounced kahr DOOT chee, jaw SWEH (1835-1907), an Italian poet, scholar, and literary critic, won the 1906 Nobel Prize for literature. His verse is variously lyrical, political, and historical. Carducci's poetry shows his political liberalism, and his belief in the ideals of classicism and opposition to romanticism. The poetry was greatly influenced by his familiarity with European literature, especially Greek, Latin, and Italian works. His major collections include New Verses (1887) and Barbarian Odes (1877-1889). His critical works had a strong influence on Italian attitudes toward literature.

Carducci was born in Tuscany. He served as professor of Italian literature at the University of Bologna from 1860 to 1904. In 1890, he was named a senator by the Italian government.

Contributor: Richard H. Lansing, Ph.D., Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature, Brandeis University.

Literature: 1905

Sienkiewicz, Henryk, pronounced shehn KYEH veech, HEHN rihk (1846-1916), was a popular Polish novelist. He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1905. His most celebrated novel is Quo Vadis? (1896), a story of Roman society under Nero. With Fire and Sword (1884) was the first of three related novels that describe society in Poland during the wars of the 1600's against the Cossacks, Turks, and Swedes.

Sienkiewicz was born on May 5, 1846, in Wola Okrzejska, near Lukow. He became a leader of patriots working for Polish independence. He died on Nov. 15, 1916.

Contributor: John J. Kulczycki, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Illinois, Chicago.

Literature: 1904

1) Mistral, Frederic, pronounced mee STRAL, fray day REEK (1830-1914), was a famous French poet who won the 1904 Nobel Prize for literature. He wrote in modern Provencal, the language of southern France. Mistral led a movement of the 1800's called the Felibrige, which tried to revive the literary tradition and enrich the language of the medieval troubadours (see TROUBADOUR).

In 1859, Mistral published his masterpiece, Mireio (also called Mireille), an epic describing the tragic love of a farmer's daughter in the valley of the Rhone River. The poem's success did much to gain sympathy for the Provencal revival in literature. In addition to Song of the Rhone (1897) and other poems, Mistral compiled Lou Tresor dou Felibrige (1876-1886), a dictionary of langue d'oc, the general term used for the dialects of southern France. He was born near Arles.

Contributor: Jean-Pierre Cauvin, Ph.D., Professor of French, University of Texas.

2) Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Jose (1832-1916), was the first important modern Spanish dramatist. He shared the 1904 Nobel Prize for literature with French poet Frederic Mistral.

Echegaray's early plays were romantic melodramas. Later in his career, he turned to more realistic dramas that explored social problems. His works are rarely performed today because they are considered dated and melodramatic. However, he achieved enormous popularity during his lifetime and had a great influence on Spanish theater because of his technical skill.

Echegaray was born in Madrid. He trained as a mathematician and became professor of mathematics at the School of Civil Engineering in Madrid while he was still in his early 20's. He entered government service in 1868, holding a variety of positions until he was appointed minister of finance in 1874. As minister, Echegaray helped establish the Bank of Spain. He did not turn to playwriting until he was 42 but still wrote almost 70 plays. The best known include Madman or Saint (1877) and The Great Go-Between (1881). In the first play, society condemns the central character as insane for his honesty in trying to return his fortune to its rightful owners. In the second play, the principal characters are destroyed by slander.

Literature: 1903

Bjornson, Bjornstjerne, pronounced BYURN suhn, BYURN styehr nuh (1832-1910), was a Norwegian poet, novelist, and playwright. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1903. Bjornson's work describes the Norwegian landscape and national character and reflects his intense patriotism and political activity. He was deeply involved in the political and moral controversies of his time.

During Bjornson's lifetime, he was as popular as the great Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. However, Bjornson's reputation has declined. His lyrical prose and poems about the Norwegian countryside are now considered his best work.

Bjornson was born in Kvikne, near Trondheim, and grew up in an area known for its scenic beauty. His short novels Synnove Solbakken (1857) and Arne (1858) portray Norwegian peasant life. In his best historical play, Sigurd Slembe (1862), he reconstructed the Norwegian past and inspired Norwegians with patriotism. In the late 1800's, Bjornson became involved in the realism movement and wrote plays and novels about social issues of his time. His play Paul Lange and Tora Parsberg (1898) criticizes political intolerance.

Contributor: Niels Ingwersen, Cand. Mag., Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison.