born Feb. 15, 1845, Clinton, N.Y., U.S.
died Feb. 7, 1937, New York, N.Y.
U.S. lawyer and diplomat.
He became a U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York in 1883. He served as secretary of war from 1899 to 1904. After the Spanish-American War , he set up a civil government in Puerto Rico and organized U.S. control of the Philippines. As secretary of state (190509) under Theodore Roosevelt , he concluded treaties with Japan and persuaded Latin American states to participate in the second Hague conference in 1907 (see Hague Conventions ). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1912. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1909 to 1915. A supporter of the League of Nations , he helped frame the statute that established the International Court of Justice .