After
Japan and Russia agreed to Roosevelt’s mediation, the president
then faced the difficult task of facilitating a successful
outcome for the peace talks beginning in early August 1905 at
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The
cover of the postdated August 19 issue of Harper’s Weekly
was an often-reproduced photograph
of the
pre-conference meeting of President Roosevelt (center) with the
peace envoys (left-right): Sergei
Witte, Russia’s chief negotiator and chairman of its Committee
of Ministers; Baron Roman Rosen, Russian minister to the United
States; Komura Jutaro, Japan’s chief negotiator and its foreign
minister; and Takahira Kogoro, Japanese minister to the United
States.
During the talks,
Roosevelt readily acceded to Japan’s authority over Korea,
thereby violating an 1882 Korean-American treaty. He did so believing that a disgruntled Japan might strike
against the American territories of Hawaii and the Philippines or
American interests in China.
The two key issues in conflict at the negotiations were
whether Russia should pay Japan an indemnity and which nation
would control Sakhalin Island. After resolving minor points,
the talks stalled on August 18. Three days later, President
Roosevelt proposed that Sakhalin Island be divided between the two
powers.
Although other factors
were involved, including Japan dropping its demand for indemnity,
the president’s intervention was instrumental in resolving the
deadlock. Harper’s Weekly paid tribute to
Roosevelt’s role in its September 2 cover cartoon
showing the determined “Rough Rider” forcing the fierce
“dogs of war” through the “Gateway of Peace.”
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt received the Nobel
Peace Prize for helping end the Russo-Japanese War. He was
the first American president, and the only incumbent, to win the
award. (Former
president Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002.)
The Treaty of Portsmouth
was signed on September 5, 1905.
By its terms, Japan kept Liaotung Peninsula (including Port
Arthur) and the South Manchurian Railroad, and gained hegemony
over Korea, but returned the northern half of Sakhalin Island to
Russia. In its September 16 issue, Harper’s Weekly
published a page of editorial cartoons
from other
American newspapers. The
New York American cartoon (top) exhibited concern over the
“rising sun” of the Japanese Empire.
A Japanese soldier stands tall on the peninsula of Korea
(“Corea”) as his shadow looms ominously across Japan, the
Philippines, and the United States.
The cartoon from the Pittsburg[h] Leader
(center right) credited the peace treaty to the “pure charity”
of Japanese concessions. The
images from the New York Herald, Boston Herald, and
the Richmond Times-Dispatch all emphasized Roosevelt’s
mediation. Although
popular in the United States and much of Europe, the terms of the
treaty led to riots in Tokyo and helped provoke the Russian revolt
of 1905 (after which Czar Nicholas II signed a constitutional
charter).
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1)
August 19, 1905,
p. 1179
photograph, Roosevelt with peace envoys
2)
September 2, 1905, p.
1255
cartoon, “The Gateway of
Peace”
3)
September 16,
1905, p. 1352
cartoons from various newspapers
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