Ferdinand Buisson was the oldest to take the prize, by chance,

Achieving it for his history of tireless efforts to bring

Peace and right settlements between Germany and France.

He was influenced early by Kant, that reason was the thing

To decide what was best, based on universal principles,

And that peace could be brought only then to the fore

By a public educated in rights, democracy, and example.

His life involved work to achieve education for girls,

The vote for women, separation of church and state,

His “League of the Rights of Man” in French circles

Helped reduce anti-Semitism there and ‘called out’ hate.

In the National Assembly, he promoted teaching history

Less nationalistic and more balanced, teaching peace-loving mores.

And led the French to Germany and Germans to France in peace forays.

Stresemann, German, was born into a culture

Convinced it was clearly superior to all others.

His areas were economics, business and politics.

He supported a pre-war build-up of the German war fleet,

And that Germany should wage unrelenting war on its enemies,

Then found himself in 1919 having to admit

That a negotiated peace might be necessary.

Yet, Germany, shocked, sought to dodge and tarry.

He stressed cooperation with the Allies was due,

Was elected Chancellor, worked to reduce inflation,

Helped settle border disputes – and German expectations,

And routed Hitler’s 1923 ‘Beer Hall’ coup.

Aristide Briand was French, a Socialist. Popular

Issues were class struggle, strikes and workers’ rights.

When he became Prime Minister, his karma came full circle,

As he forced workers off strike, sent in military, fired many, a fright.

He became PM again after the War had begun:

He felt France should negotiate peace but did not get it done.

Forced to step down (again), he argued at Versailles against harsh

Conditions on Germany for fear of revenge, so much blood spilt.

“The cannons scrapped yesterday could be rebuilt

Tomorrow,” he said. Then was PM again and sent (on march)

Thousands of French troops to occupy their debtor –

To force reparations, and thus found himself at Locarno.

He later worked hard for a ‘protection treaty’ with the U.S.,

Conceiving a “United States of Europe” – before his sudden death.

Chamberlain was a British politician

Who had studied in France and worked in India.

He returned in time to be involved in Versailles,

Where he worked on Germany’s reparations load.

He was a League of Nations sceptic who

Believed that individual nations could and should

Resolve their own differences, and not hew

To the orders of the League – perhaps they would.

As foreign minister for Britain, he collaborated

On the “Dawes Pact” at Locarno, which precipitated

German economic repairs and French withdrawals,

Supervision and loans, avoiding border brawls.

Later, for supporting an Irish free state he ‘paid,’

And warned of Hitler’s rise before those plans seemed laid.

Dawes, an American, began as a fledgling lawyer

Out West, defending farmers against the railroads

But this career ended. Into banking he would go,

And from Chicago banker, eventually to U.S. Comptroller.

When the War began, he asked for a related position:

By war’s end, in France, he was general of Allied supplies.

When Germany balked at paying steep reparations,

France had responded by occupying lands. Surprised,

Germans self-imploded their economy,

And the U.S. was asked to set up a Commission

On Allied Reparations. The “Dawes Plan” would be,

To modify, reorganize, monitor and see the fruition

Of terms – to improve, in particular, foreign relations

Between France and Germany that “the Locarno Pact” envisioned.

In Nineteen-hundred and twenty-three and four,

The Nobel Peace Prize was not given as an award.

The prize money went to a Special fund, allocated,

To further Peace research, to perpetuate it.

Meanwhile, Nansen continued refugee-processing,

Shocked by the disinterest of the majority.

“I see the suffering people of Europe bleeding

To death on deserted battlefields after conflicts

Which to a great extent were not their own,” saying,

“This is the outcome of the lust for power,

The imperialism, the militarism that have run amok

Across the Earth. . . Where is the remedy to be sought?”

The efforts of diplomats and politicians he felt were for nought,

But men’s salvation might be found in hard work’s hours.

Everyone knew him, his travels and accomplishments.

He pressed this to exceptional uses. To Denmark he went

To seek a King for Norway, finally free. In Britain, he chose

To speak to the Royal Geographic Society. He opposed

War with Sweden, and in World War I was sent

To negotiate food for Norway, a neutral, cut off by war’s ‘tent.’

His travels continued – to head the exchange of prisoners

Of war, still un-repatriated – for years, trapped and poor,

Held in Russia, Siberia, Germany, Austria and Hungary.

With an office in Berlin, he secured each their freedom to see

Their families and countries again. And their needs then –

Were food, clothes and medicine: with Lenin and Britain, he secured them.

His ‘Nansen passport’ allowed ‘stateless’ refugees to cross borders freely.

And he became the League’s first High Commissioner for Refugees.

Where to begin with this man of the century,

Whose love of skiing as a Norwegian boy, he embraced,

Whose talents included the sciences and zoology,

Whose studies and travels, both, proved him an Ace.

He skied across Norway to participate in ski ‘tricks,’

He skied across Greenland, the first to explore it so,

He built the Fram, a ship that could freeze in the Arctic

And move towards the Pole with prevailing ice flows.

His Fram missions solidified his unique position,

And into political life, he, as a hero, was lauded.

But he declined political offices;  his decision

Was to work as an Ambassador – for various causes.

Six hundred kilometres and Greenland’s interior mapped,

Six thousand to the North Pole, his the nearest lap.

One couldn’t be closer to the Peace prize itself, see,

Than to work for the Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway.

As advisor and secretary, he built its research library,

And embraced Peace work enthusiastically.

This led to his selection as Secretary-General

Of the Inter-Parliamentary Bureau in Brussels, Belgium.

There, he successfully built this international “Union”

To 24 countries, 4,000 members, and all

Of that work set on press when Germany invaded them.

To Oslo he fled with his family, forced to run.

From there, with funds from Norway and from Carnegie,

He helped to keep this Union afloat, its main trustee.

He later lectured on peace negotiations,

And disarmament – for the new League of Nations.

Karl Branting of Sweden shared the Nobel prize

With Norway’s Lange, a fitting compromise.

He embraced socialist ideals and strengthened Sweden’s role

In suffrage, work hours and education goals.

As an editor, statesman and first Socialist prime minister,

He worked always to embrace Peace and reason.

In 1905 when Norway left Sweden, he deterred

Those who considered aggression to prevent secession.

Branting supported Norway’s right to independence,

Encouraging workers to strike if force were used against it,

And this contributed to the issue’s resolution.

Later, as a League of Nations member, his participation

And willingness to accept adjudications of the League

Set the example for resolving disputes:  by agreeing.