The Everything Theodore Roosevelt Book (30 page)

The Nobel Prize Committee singled out TR for his prowess in negotiating peace between Japan and Russia. On December 10, 1906, it awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize. It was the first time in its five-year history that the Nobel Prize had been awarded to an American. It was also the first half of the singular Nobel Prize and Medal of Honor combination awarded to TR, who became the only U.S. president to earn both.

Santa brings Theodore Roosevelt the Nobel Prize in a newspaper cartoon between 1906–1907. The caption reads: “The Christmas Surprise Teddy—wonder if old Santa Claus could have made any mistake?” The Norwegian Parliament is dressed as Santa Claus delivering the Nobel Prize in a Christmas stocking to TR, who’s shown in a child’s body.

TR tried to downplay the significance of the award, which included a large gold medal, a diploma in a fancy case, and a cash stipend. He was more interested in the intangible rewards: knowing that he had ended at least one war and the prestige that went along with the prize. He vowed to donate the money to various charities. TR advised the committee accordingly in his acceptance speech, which he did not deliver personally. That honor went to Herbert H. D. Peirce, who gave it in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 1906.

Herbert H. D. Peirce, TR’s third assistant secretary of state, was responsible for arranging the deliberations of the Russo-Japanese War at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was also the first person outside the negotiating rooms there to learn that a settlement had been reached. Peirce was the U.S. minister to Norway from August 13, 1906, to May 30, 1911.

In his speech he said simply that if he had not been president of the United States, he would not have been involved in the peace process. Therefore, he advised the money truly belonged to the people of the United States.

TR, in his typical altruistic fashion, proposed to use it as seed money for a “foundation to forward the cause of industrial peace … of righteousness and justice, the only kind of peace worth having.” The foundation was never established. Instead, he donated the money to World War I relief projects.

Ed Renehan, Jr. mentioned in his book,
The Lion’s Pride
, that TR made twenty-eight war donations. He explained: “A few of the gifts included $6,900 to the Red Cross; $5,000 to Eleanor for her Y.M.C.A. project; an additional $4,000 to the YMCA National War Work Council; and $1,000 to Edith’s sister, Emily Carow, a volunteer with the Italian Red Cross at Porto Maurizo, Italy.”

TR was in no rush to pick up the money or the Nobel Prize. He waited until 1910, when he just happened to be in the area of Norway. He visited Christiana (renamed Oslo in 1925) to receive both. True to his word, TR turned the medal over to the White House, where it still resides.

Immigration Restriction Act of 1907

There was one unfinished piece of business for TR regarding Japan after he oversaw the Russo-Japanese War treaty. The Japanese had never been completely satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations. They were upset that he had blocked reparations they felt were due from the Russians.

The Japanese had another item that rankled them, which was not related to the treaty. They did not like the way Americans were treating their countrymen who had moved to the West Coast, specifically California. They believed that American farmers and laborers were mistreating Japanese immigrants.

In 1905, Japan annexed Korea, and its growing dominance in Manchuria—in defiance of China—continued. And the American public was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with Japan. By 1907, people in both countries felt that war might be imminent between Japan and the United States. TR sought to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries to avert it.

TR believed that Californians had a legitimate concern about Japanese immigration. He noted, “The people of California were right in insisting that the Japanese should not come thither in mass, that there should be no influx of laborers, of agricultural workers, or small tradesmen—in short, no mass settlement or immigration.”

Immigration complaints and dissatisfaction over the terms of the Russo-Japanese Treaty were Japanese concerns in TR’s viewpoint. He had a secondary issue to consider: the United States had established bases in the Philippines, which were closer to Japan than to the United States. He wanted to protect those bases as the United States expanded its foothold in the Eastern hemisphere, which would be difficult in the event of Japanese aggression. The president instructed Secretary of State Elihu Root to sit down with the Japanese to reach an accord.

The “Root” of the Problem

There was a small breakthrough in 1907 when the two countries reached a “gentleman’s agreement” on immigration numbers. The Japanese agreed to limit the number of people coming to the United States, while the Americans promised to recognize the presence of the Japanese already living in the United States; to permit entry to their wives, children, and parents; and to avoid legal discrimination against Japanese children in California schools. That promise did not stop some Americans from discriminating against Japanese immigrants, however.

As a follow-up to the 1907 agreement, Root struck a deal with the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Kogoro Takahira, which really did not address the core issues. In the pact signed on November 3, 1908, the United States and Japan pledged to maintain the status quo in the Far East, recognize China’s independence and territorial integrity, support an “open door” policy in China, and consult one another if further crises erupted in the Far East.

The mutual “hands-off” agreement was a temporary fix, but the clamor for and fear of war between the two countries abated after Root and Takahira arrived at their accord. Should it flare up again, TR was ready.

The “Great White Fleet”

One of the president’s primary motivators for the American Navy’s 1907–1909 grand global tour was to let the Japanese know that the United States had modern, technologically advanced ships and that he could—and would—employ them anywhere in the world if necessary. That was the underlying reason for what would become known later on as the voyage of the “Great White Fleet.”

TR said, “At that time, as I happen to know, neither the English nor the German authorities believed it possible to take a fleet of great battleships round the world. They did not believe that their own fleets could perform the feat, and still less did they believe that the American fleet could. I made up my mind that it was time to have a show down in the matter.”

As commander in chief of the armed forces, President Roosevelt was proud of “his” new navy, especially the battleships that had been added to the fleet—and which he had played a part in building. He wanted to let the rest of the world share in his pride and announce that the United States was strengthening its navy in anticipation of taking its foreign duties seriously.

In 1907, he saw a chance to showcase his innovative battleships and alert other countries to the existence of the new player in the international community. No other country had ever completed such a large undertaking satisfactorily.

TR had always believed that strong military forces were essential to keeping the peace, however oxymoronic that sounded. He wrote in his autobiography, “There would have been no war in 1812 if, in the previous decade, America, instead of announcing that ‘peace was her passion,’ instead of acting on the theory that unpreparedness averts war, had been willing to go to the expense of providing a fleet of a score of ships of the line.”

As he noted, “This is no new thing. Americans learn only from catastrophes and not from experience.”

New Ships Growing Old

TR knew that other nations were building bigger and better ships to protect their maritime resources around the globe. He had seen what the Japanese Navy had done in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and realized the potential of the British ship, H.M.S.
Dreadnought
, the first of the modern “all-big-gun” battleships, which had been launched in 1906. As modern as the “Great White Fleet” was to TR, it was in danger of becoming obsolete.

The armada TR dispatched was not known originally as the “Great White Fleet.” That nickname came into being long after the fleet completed its voyage. The name derived from the white paint on the ships’ exterior, which was the navy’s peacetime color. The bow of each vessel was decorated with gilded scrollwork and a red, white, and blue banner.

Navies were also experimenting with submarines, airplanes, and other modern weapons. The president felt that it was time for the United States to display its naval prowess. Despite opposition from several quarters, he dispatched a U.S. Navy fleet on a voyage around the world. There was a bit of chicanery in his plan.

Some of the president’s opponents, notably Senator Eugene Hale (D-Maine), chairman of the Naval Appropriations Committee, tried to thwart TR’s grandiose plan by withholding funds for the endeavor. TR met his threat. He informed Hale that he already had the money, and he challenged Congress to try and get it back. That ended the threat, and the ships sailed as scheduled.