Roosevelt Wins Nobel Peace Prize: First American Honored
Roosevelt didn't want the damn war — Japan and Russia were bleeding each other dry over Manchuria and Korea, 130,000 dead between them. He hosted both sides in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, spent five days shuttling between rooms because the diplomats refused to sit together. The treaty gave Japan control of Korea, Russia kept Manchuria's northern half. Neither side was happy. Roosevelt pocketed the $36,734 prize money (about $1.2 million today) and immediately gave it away to fund industrial peace efforts. First American Nobel winner. The war he "ended" just taught Japan they could beat a European power — something they'd remember in 1941.
December 10, 1906
120 years ago
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