Peace: 1925

1) Chamberlain, Sir Austen (1863-1937), was a leading statesman in the United Kingdom who won the Nobel Prize for peace in 1925. Chamberlain was the oldest son of Joseph Chamberlain and the half-brother of Neville Chamberlain, who were also prominent British politicians.

Joseph Austen Chamberlain was born in Birmingham, England. He graduated from Rugby School and from Cambridge University, where he attended Trinity College.

Chamberlain entered the British Parliament in 1892. Beginning in 1895, he held a variety of posts within the government, including chancellor of the exchequer, the United Kingdom's chief financial officer.

Chamberlain was appointed secretary of state for India in 1915. He resigned in 1917 amid criticism of his handling of a failed military campaign during World War I (1914-1918). In 1918, he became a member of the War Cabinet in the coalition government led by David Lloyd George. From 1919 to 1921, Chamberlain held the post of chancellor of the exchequer for the second time. He led the Conservative Party from 1921 to 1923.

Chamberlain served as foreign secretary of the United Kingdom from 1924 to 1929. In 1925, he attended the Locarno Conference, which brought seven European nations together to resolve problems left over from World War I. Chamberlain, United States Vice President Charles G. Dawes, French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand, and German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann played especially significant roles. For their efforts, Chamberlain and Dawes received the Nobel Prize for peace in 1925, and Briand and Stresemann received the prize in 1926.

In 1929, King George V made Chamberlain a Knight of the Garter, the highest order of British knighthood. In 1931, he was appointed first lord of the Admiralty, the government department in charge of naval affairs.

2) Dawes, Charles Gates (1865-1951), a Republican, served as vice president of the United States from 1925 to 1929 under President Calvin Coolidge. He shared the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize for arranging a plan for Germany to pay for damages it caused in World War I.

Dawes was on the Allied General Purchasing Board during World War I. He became the first director of the federal budget in 1921. From 1929 to 1932, he was ambassador to Britain. President Herbert Hoover named him president of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932. Dawes resigned from the post later that year. Dawes was board chairman of the City National Bank & Trust Company of Chicago from 1932 until his death. He was born in Marietta, Ohio.

Contributor: James S. Olson, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of History, Sam Houston State University.