Friday, October 9, 2009

"Peace, peace" - when there is no peace.

Theodore Roosevelt was an unabashed war monger. Perhaps the only war he ever found distasteful was the Russo-Japanese war of the early 2oth century. For his part in brokering an end to that war, TR received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Woodrow Wilson campaigned for re-election in 1916 with the slogan "he kept us out of the war" [i.e. WW I], while he was, in fact, maneuvering to get us into the war. Wilson jailed those who spoke against our entry into the war (eg. socialist Eugene Debs). At the end of the Great War, Wilson promoted the League of Nations, a world body from which he could presumably tyrannize other peoples the way he tyrannized Americans. For his efforts on behalf of the League, and for his other work at Versailles (which paved the way for WW II), Wilson, naturally also received the Nobel Peace Prize.


Finally, today, after ninety years, another sitting president receives the Nobel Peace Prize. Barack Obama is clearly the most deserving of the three presidents to be so honored.

2 comments:

Norm said...

Excellent commentaries! I suppose the "Barack Obama is clearly the most deserving of the three presidents to be so (Nobel Peace Prize) honored" remark is intended tongue-in-cheek!

Steve Maxwell said...

Yes, I try for irony - satire without it is just demagoguery, in my view.

I didn't see your comment for 2 years - sorry about that.