Frank Billings Kellogg was a farm boy turned lawyer,
Who rose to work for Theodore Roosevelt in the White House where
He was charged with busting up monopoly corporations,
And became the President of the American Bar Association.
He supported war against Germany and eventually
Became U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom,
And Secretary of State, where he did, well, nothing
To engage the U.S. in the new League of Nations.
When Briand sought a France-U.S. security pact,
Kellogg sought to let all nations join.
The Briand-Kellogg pact was to guarantee that
Aggressors’ (Germany, it was feared) advances would thus be enjoined.
Kellogg’s ‘devotion’ to peace was arguable, was vague,
But he supported the International Court – as a judge – at the Hague.
June Edvenson 