SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #321  

This month is the 105^th anniversary of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty negotiations that ended the horrible Russo-Japanese War in 1905. President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the agreement. (Only three other presidents – Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama – have since received this honor.)  (Continued below) 

Even historians often mistakenly believe that Roosevelt was here in Portsmouth during the month-long negotiations at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard or staying with delegates at Wentworth by the Sea Hotel. He was not. But the error makes sense if we look at the confusing publicity surrounding the successful treaty. Roosevelt did meet with the key delegates near his summer home at Oyster Bay, NY. This front-page, wire service newspaper photo shows Teddy in the center with the Russian and Japanese negotiators on board the ship Mayflower en route to Portsmouth. The illustration shows Roosevelt, again in the center, in an imaginary handshake between Japanese Emperor Mutsuhito (left) and Russian Emperor Nicholas II (right). The caption reads: “We are good fighters, but we want peace.”  (SeacoastNH.com Collection)

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