By: History.com Editors

1920

Woodrow Wilson awarded Nobel Peace Prize

History.com Editors

Published: November 16, 2009

Last Updated: January 31, 2025

On December 10, 1920, the Nobel Prize for Peace is awarded to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for his work in ending the First World War and creating the League of Nations. Although Wilson could not attend the award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, the U.S. Ambassador to Norway, Albert Schmedeman, delivered a telegram from Wilson to the Nobel Committee.

Woodrow Wilson

Find out what happened when poor health sidelined Woodrow Wilson for several years of his presidency.

Wilson’s involvement in devising a plan to prevent future international conflict began in January 1918 when he laid out his “Fourteen Points.” The plan addressed specific territorial issues in Europe, equal trade conditions, arms reduction and national sovereignty for former colonies of Europe’s weakening empires, but the primary thrust of his policy was to create an international organization that would arbitrate peaceful solutions to conflicts between nations. Wilson’s Fourteen Points not only laid the foundation for the peace agreement signed by France, Britain and Germany at the end of World War I, but also formed the basis for American foreign policy in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Although the League of Nations never materialized, largely due to the fact that it was never ratified by the U.S. Congress, it formed the blueprint for the United Nations, which was established after the Second World War.

When Wilson learned of his win, he was a lame-duck president battling the residual effects of a paralyzing stroke he suffered in October 1919; he was therefore unable to accept his award in person. (The stroke occurred in the midst of an arduous cross-country tour to ask the American electorate to pressure a reluctant Congress to ratify the Versailles peace treaty and the League of Nations.) In his telegram to the Nobel Committee, Wilson said he was grateful and “moved” by the recognition of his work for the cause of peace but emphasized the need for further efforts to “rid [mankind] of the unspeakable horror of war.” Wilson did not live to see the United Nations take shape in place of his League of Nations. He died at age 68 in February 1924.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on December 10th

1690

First paper currency is authorized in the Colonies

On December 10, 1690, a failed attack on Quebec and subsequent near-mutiny force the Massachusetts Bay Colony to issue the first paper currency in the history of the Western Hemisphere. France and Britain periodically attacked each other’s North American colonies throughout the 17th and 18th Centuries. In 1690, during one such war, Governor William Phips […]

1778

John Jay is elected president of the Continental Congress

On December 10, 1778, John Jay, the former chief justice of the New York Supreme Court, is elected president of the Continental Congress. Jay, who graduated from King’s College (now Columbia University) at the age of 19, was a prominent figure in New York state politics from an early age. While Jay opposed British interference in the […]

1830

Emily Dickinson is born

On December 10, 1830, Emily Dickinson is born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Dickinson was a witty and popular student at Amherst Academy and at Mt. Holyoke but was viewed as somewhat unconventional. She made a few trips to Philadelphia and Boston but rarely left Amherst. She preferred her home, where her stern lawyer father, invalid mother, […]

1869

Wyoming grants women the right to vote

Motivated more by interest in free publicity than a commitment to gender equality, Wyoming territorial legislators pass a bill that is signed into law granting women the right to vote. Western states led the nation in approving women’s suffrage, but some of them had rather unsavory motives. Though some men recognized the important role women […]

1898

Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War

In France, the Treaty of Paris is signed, formally ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas empire. The Spanish-American War had its origins in the rebellion against Spanish rule that began in Cuba in 1895. The repressive measures that Spain took to suppress the guerrilla war, such as herding Cuba’s […]

1901

First Nobel Prizes awarded

The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite.

Julius Axelrod.

1903

Marie and Pierre Curie are awarded Nobel Prize for their work with radium

On December 10, 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie are awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking investigations of radioactivity, sharing the prize with French scientist A. Henri Becquerel. The year before, the couple had successfully isolated radioactive radium salts from the mineral pitchblende in their laboratory in Paris. In 1898, the Curies discovered […]

1905

O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” is published

Author O. Henry’s best-known and most beloved story, “The Gift of the Magi,” is published in the December 10, 1905 issue of New York Sunday World Magazine. It tells the poignantly ironic tale of a poor but devoted couple who each sacrifice their most valuable possession to buy a gift for the other. The following […]

1917

Red Cross is awarded Nobel Peace Prize

After three years of war, during which there had been no Nobel Peace Prize awarded, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the 1917 prize to the International Committee of the Red Cross. From the outbreak of World War I, the Nobel Committee had decided not to award its annual peace prize, stating officially that there had […]

1922

Canton Bulldogs claim NFL’s first title

On December 10, 1922, the Canton Bulldogs defeat the Toledo Maroons, 19-0, and are declared the first champion of the newly renamed National Football League. Canton finishes the season 10-0-2, allowing 15 points and producing nine shutouts. The league champion is determined by best regular-season record. “The Maroons never got within striking distance of Canton’s […]

1950

American diplomat Ralph Bunche receives Nobel Peace Prize

For his peace mediation during the first Arab-Israeli war, American diplomat Ralph Joseph Bunche receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Bunche was the first African American to win the prestigious award. Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1904, he entered the field of U.S. diplomacy while serving in the Office of Strategic Services and […]

1967

Soul legend Otis Redding dies in a plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin

On its final approach to Madison, Wisconsin on December 10, 1967, the private plane carrying soul-music legend Otis Redding would crash into the frigid waters of a small lake three miles short of the runway, killing seven of the eight men aboard, including Redding. His megahit “Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay” would be […]

1974

Sex scandal leads to political fallout for Arkansas congressman

Representative Wilbur D. Mills, a Democrat from Arkansas, resigns as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the aftermath of the first truly public sex scandal in American politics. On October 7, 1974, at 2 a.m., Mills was stopped by park police while driving at night with his lights off. The 65-year-old representative, an influential […]

1977

Soviets arrest dissidents on United Nations Human Rights Day

In Moscow, Soviet officials arrest four dissidents and prevent at least 20 others from attending a peaceful protest against communist political oppression on United Nations Human Rights Day. According to some of the protesters, Soviet officials threatened them with violence should the protest be held. The incident was more evidence of an increasingly hard line […]

2009

“Avatar” makes its world premiere in London

On December 10, 2009, Avatar, a 3-D science-fiction epic helmed by Titanic director James Cameron, makes its world debut in London. Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, the box-office megahit was praised for its state-of-the-art technology and earned nine Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best director. Set in the year 2154, […]

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Citation Information

Article title
Woodrow Wilson awarded Nobel Peace Prize
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 25, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 31, 2025
Original Published Date
November 16, 2009

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