International Peace Conference

Serge Ricard studies the attitude of the United States government to arbitration and disarmament proposals put forward by the First and Second Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907. Ricard notes that the United States approved of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, but he stresses that the nation, especially under the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, did not pursue disarmament proposals. Ricard asserts that Roosevelt always favored preparedness over disarmament as the best means to avoid war, and he notes that the United States’ traditional policies of isolationism and non-interference in European affairs made it unlikely the country would embrace international bodies. Ricard notes that Secretary of State Elihu Root managed America’s participation in the Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907.

Six photographs and one illustration accompany the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

John A. Gable reviews two works in the “Book Reviews” section. Gable praises James B. Reckner’s history of the Great White Fleet and notes that the work favors the military and technological aspects of the cruise, and he emphasizes that the cruise served as an important test for the navy in many respects. Gable also favors Louis Auchincloss’s The Vanderbilt Era: Profiles of a Gilded Age which looks at how the fortune of the Vanderbilt family helped shape American art and architecture in a quest to create an “American Renaissance.”

Two photographs appear in the section: one of Reckner and one of the USS Theodore Roosevelt underway in the Mediterranean Sea with other ships of her battle group and planes from her air wing.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

John A. Gable explores the two Theodore Roosevelts, the mythic “Teddy Roosevelt” and the real Roosevelt. Gable says that there are three kinds of mythic Roosevelts: the Boy Scout, the American Mussolini, and the Teddy Brewster which represent the inspirational leader, the macho imperialist, and the cartoonish buffoon. Gable examines the real Roosevelt by looking at his many accomplishments as president in conservation and foreign affairs and by highlighting his intellectual life, especially his numerous books and essays. He argues that Roosevelt sought to achieve Jeffersonian goals of democracy through Hamiltonian means, and he asserts that both liberals and conservatives can find things to embrace in Roosevelt’s record.

A photograph of Gable with author Tom Wolfe and a photograph of P. James Roosevelt, Ruth Stafford Peale, Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, and Brigadier General Chuck Yeager at the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal Awards Dinner accompany the text. 

This edition of “News and Notes,” seven pages in length, is divided into six sections. “TR Quasquicentennial Year Ends” covers events marking the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth at venues in Indianapolis, Indiana, Oyster Bay and Buffalo, New York, Harvard University, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. It notes that the final event of the celebration year was appropriately held at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in New York City, and it highlights some of the lectures and interviews given by John A. Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), during 1983. An illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion and a photograph from the 125 Anniversary Dinner in New York City supplement the section.

The “Annual Meeting of the TRA Board of Trustees” examines the financial health of the TRA and notes that there needs to be an increase of revenue for the Association. It also covers changes to the By-Laws of the TRA regarding membership categories and terms for members of the Board of Trustees. It closes by noting the governance of the TRA and listing its officers and members of the Executive Committee.

“Filming ‘The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt'” discusses the production of this documentary film and highlights the narration provided by actor George C. Scott and the music of John Philip Sousa. It notes its fluid mixing of reenactments and archival film footage. A photograph of the Roosevelt family as portrayed by actors and descendants and one of Gable in a cameo role accompany the section.

In “TR and the Wall Street Journal,” Gable attacks an article written by Art Pine of the Journal about the history of debt collection from foreign nations because of its sometimes “misleading” and “false” statements about Roosevelt. Gable enlists the work of historians Barbara Tuchman and Frederick W. Marks to refute some of Pine’s reporting.

In the context of President Jimmy Carter’s work negotiating a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, William C. Sexton reviews President Theodore Roosevelt’s mediation of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and argues that Roosevelt’s actions set the table for future presidents to act as peacemakers. He looks at Roosevelt’s actions during the negotiations, reviews some of his administration’s other accomplishments, and says that advances in technology like those pioneered by the Wright brothers added to America’s power and prestige.

A listing of the Officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association is found on the second page of this article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Emperor William II assures President Roosevelt that everything Andrew Carnegie heard in London was “foul and filthy lies” to harm relations between Germany and the United States. He says that King Edward VII disapproves of the Hague Peace Conference, and fears that it will increase “friction.” Emperor William also disapproves of it, but insists that Germany is not building its naval strength with “aggressive tendencies.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907

List of unknown origin titled “American Members of the League for International Conciliation,” enclosed with a letter created by Nobel Prize winner Nicholas Murray Butler. Andrew Carnegie and Andrew D. White are listed as “Honorary Presidents,” 12 people are listed under “Council of Direction,” and 46 people are listed as “Members.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-05

The author offers commentary on portions of President Roosevelt’s recent message to Congress, especially those pertaining to war. The author criticizes Roosevelt’s prioritization of military strength and his desire to spend more on the military, especially when he could have led a push for armament limitation in the Hague Conference. A handwritten note to Roosevelt from Secretary of State Root reads, “Your name which it is mud. I am an angel.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01

The London Times criticizes the recent peace conference in the Hague, finding that the delegates have avoided most of the hard questions at hand. While the aims of the conference for the equality of nations and the limitations of arms are laudable, most aims of the conference cannot reasonably be enforced and rely upon the goodwill of more powerful nations such as Great Britain, Germany, and the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-19

Representatives from many foreign nations converge on the figure of Peace, who is returning weapons to each ruler. Edward VII, King of Great Britain; Emile Loubet; and William II, Emperor of Germany are walking away with their arms full. Andrew Carnegie stands off to the left handing out sheets of paper labeled “Words & Music of the Conference.”

Comments and Context

Puck magazine’s reliably cynical cartoonist Carl Hassmann addressed the Second International Peace Conference at The Hague, Netherlands, as he had when it was first called, idealistically, by United States Secretary of State John Hay shortly before his death; and as the mutually suspicious latent antagonists convened; and during the posturing of poseurs — monarchs who had no intention to limit arms or agree to land-war treaties they had no intentions of obeying.

As the conference ended, Hassmann shows the military-uniformed leaders rushing to the hat-check clerk to redeem their armaments.

A sickly looking dove is caught in a birdcage fashioned from rifles and swords, with “Powder” kegs at the ends of a perch labeled “Peace Conference,” and topped with the flags of “England, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Japan, Russia, Spain, [and] U.S.” Caption: “Caged.”

Comments and Context

The second Hague Peace Conference — formally, the International Tribunal on Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land — was generally regarded as a bust before it began a few months subsequent to Puck‘s cover cartoon.

The “call” for the conference had been a last act, idealistic but futile, of United States Secretary of State John Hay just before he died in 1905. The other main instigator was Imperial Russia, whose Czar Nicholas II had been bled dry by the Russo-Japanese War, whose treasury and armaments were dry, and whose many peoples were restive, if not revolution-minded. Nicholas’s fellow monarchs — many of them blood relatives — were not fooled by his fig-leaf desire for a confab, but most countries had their own motives for attending. Peace was not a prime motive, in most cases.

A visitors’ gallery at the 2nd Peace Conference at the Hague shows tyrants, invaders, and conquerors seated, including: Frederik II, Oliver Cromwell, Ramses, William I, Hannibal, Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great, Richard the Lion Hearted, Caesar, Saladin, Napoleon I, Charlemagne, and Theodorick. They are all laughing.

Comments and Context

The Second International Peace Congress at the Hague — considered the last and most idealistic act of United States Secretary of State John Hay before he died in 1905 —  might have died stillborn because most nations of the civilized world were arming and re-arming at alarming rates at the time. Even the world’s most prominent peace advocate, Andrew Carnegie, who financed many of the conference’s expenses, had sold massive quantities of armor-plate and steel that was clearly to be used for battleships and weapons.

A dizzying number of treaties and secret agreements between powers in the decade before the actual outbreak of the Great War (and smaller regional wars, for instance in the Balkans and in geographical vacuums caused by the disintegration of Russia and Austria) all masked the universal arms build-ups — or so their rulers thought.

W. T. Stead relays the history of Russian Emperor Nicholas II’s reign up to this point, and asserts that his unpopularity with his people and inability to act rests on the bureaucracy built up by his ministers. Stead believes that Nicholas will be “emancipated” from the limits of autocracy and bureaucracy by the upcoming election of the Duma. When the Tsar and Duma meet, Stead predicts that they will be able to work well together.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-12

The Emperor of Russia urges the United States to participate in a second Hague Conference. Russia would like to set forth proposals as the basis for deliberations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-13

The writer believes that the adoption of Article 27 of the Arbitration Project ensures the success of the Hague Conference and of efforts for peace. The Article recognizes the duty of each nation to seek arbitration in the Permanent Court of the Hague of any dispute that threatens to lead to war. Had the Article been adopted earlier, the Spanish-American War could have been avoided.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-09

Theodore Roosevelt would like to talk with Francis William Bird about the country’s pacifist response to international affairs, which treat the Hague peace conventions as mere “scraps of paper.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-09-03

Theodore Roosevelt appreciated Charles Sumner Bird’s editorial. He would like to talk to Bird and to his son about the country’s failure to stand for international justice, in response to Germany’s recent actions, which “trample under foot” the Hague peace conventions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-09-02

Theodore Roosevelt agrees with Albert J. Beveridge’s opinion that additional battleships would have given Spain the excuse to avoid the Spanish War. Roosevelt mentions the high quality of the naval program when he was president and reiterates that World War I was not caused by anything connected to the freedom of the seas.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-01-24

President Roosevelt writes a letter of praise for Rear Admiral Charles S. Sperry, noting his various achievements during the course of Roosevelt’s administration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-02-27

President Roosevelt stands by his decision to expand the Navy despite earlier statements that he would not do so. Roosevelt tells Andrew Carnegie that while confidentiality prohibits him from revealing all of the reasons for his decision, rising global tensions and the failure of the Second International Peace Conference at The Hague to establish a way to enforce disarmament provide ample reason for him to want to improve the United States’ own Navy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-19