Peace Ship (1915-1916) Also known as: Ford Peace Expedition (1915-1916)

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Item Relations

Mentioned in (96)
Participated in (159)
Member of (5)
Published in (1)
Related to (3)
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Helen Norton Peck Flexer to Jan Addams, March 31, 1915

Jane Addams to Ida Husted Harper, November 24, 1915

William Hope Harvey to Jane Addams, November 26, 1915

Rosika Schwimmer to Jane Addams, November 26, 1915

Statement on the Ford Peace Ship, December 1, 1915

Rosika Schwimmer and Louis Paul Lochner to Jane Addams, December 2, 1915

Alice Hamilton to Rosa Schwimmer and Louis Paul Lochner, December 2, 1915

Louise de Koven Bowen to Louis Paul Lochner, December 2, 1915

Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs to Jane Addams, December 4, 1915

Emily Heney Denison to Jane Addams, December 4, 1915

Emily Greene Balch to Jane Addams, December 4, 1915

Mabel L. Hyers to Elizabeth Glendower Evans, December 4, 1915

Harriet Park Thomas to Crystal Eastman, December 6, 1915

Rosika Schwimmer, Lola Maverick Lloyd, Florence Holbrook, Alfred Will Kliefoth to Jane Addams, December 8, 1915

Harriet Park Thomas to Clara Jane Bryant Ford, December 9, 1915

The Food of War, December 13, 1915

Jane Addams to Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs, December 13, 1915

Jane Addams to Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs, December 14, 1915

Harriet Park Thomas to Laura Hughes, December 15, 1915

Excellent Talks on Preparedness, December 16, 1915

Chrystal Macmillan to Emily Arnesen, Anna Sofia Kleman, and Clara Sophie Sarauw Tybjerg, December 7, 1915

Chrystal Macmillan to Jane Addams, December 17, 1915

Annie B. Ford to Jane Addams, December 20, 1915

Henry Ford to Jane Addams, December 21, 1915

Mary Rozet Smith to Florence Kelley, December 15, 1915

Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs to Jane Addams, December 23, 1915

Madeleine Zabriskie Doty to Jane Addams, December 23, 1915

Harriet Park Thomas to Marion Tilden Burritt, December 23, 1915

Harriet Park Thomas to Clara Jane Bryant Ford, December 24, 1915

Ch Skoog to Jane Addams, December 26, 1915

Jane Addams to Rosika Schwimmer, December 26, 1915

Carrie Chapman Catt to Harriet P. Thomas, December 27, 1915

Jane Addams to David Starr Jordan, December 28, 1915

David Starr Jordan to Henry Ford, January 3, 1916

Harriet Park Thomas to William Hope Harvey, January 5, 1916

David Starr Jordan to Jane Addams, January 6, 1916

Rosika Schwimmer to Jane Addams, January 10, 1916

David Starr Jordan to Jane Addams, January 12, 1916

Chrystal Macmillan to Jane Addams, January 14, 1916

David Starr Jordan to Jane Addams, January 19, 1916

Willis Garrett Conant to Jane Addams, January 23, 1916

Harriet Park Thomas to Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs, January 25, 1916

Rosika Schwimmer to Jane Addams, January 26, 1916

Mabel L. Hyers to Minnie Bell Stuart, January 26, 1916

Eleanor Daggett Karsten to Harriett. S. Webber, May 6, 1916

Rosika Schwimmer to Jane Addams, August 19, 1916

Jane Addams to Rosika Schwimmer, August 22, 1916

Jane Addams to Benjamin W. Huebsch, September 21, 1916

Browse all documents that mention "Peace Ship (1915-1916)"

Adams, Edward August (1885-1955)

Aked, Charles Frederic (1864-1941)

Anderson, Katrina Mynderse Brewster (1894-?)

Babb, Mary Fulton Gibbons (1886-1959)

Barry, John Daniel (1866-1942)

Bethea, Andrew Jackson (1879-1945)

Bidwell, Daniel Doane (1865-1937)

Braley, Marion Rubincam (1891-1986)

Bullitt, William Christian (1891-1967)

Conant, Willis Garrett (1888-1949)

Cushing, Charles Phelps (1884-1973)

Dahlinger, Raymond Carl (1885-1969)

English, John William (1882-?)

Grose, Ada Morse Clark (1874-1959)

Hanna, Louis Benjamin (1861-1948)

Hartzell, Arthur Edmond (1887-1940)

Holbrook, Florence (1860-1932)

Holt, Frederick Holford (1867-1929)

Jones, Jenkin Lloyd (1843-1918)

Kliefoth, Alfred Will (1889-1969)

Lindsay, Samuel McCune (1869-1959)

Lindsey, Benjamin Barr (1869-1943)

Lochner, Louis Paul (1887-1975)

Marquis, Samuel Simpson (1866-1948)

Reeder, Nellie May (1889-1975)

Schumacher, Boris (1888?-1920?)

Smitheman, Nora A. Conrad (1882-?)

Steep, Thomas White (1877-1944)

Weatherly, Arthur Lon (1868-1944)

Weir, Ora Fern Guessford (1893-1968)

Wenzel, Elizabeth Joy von Strauceheidt (1868-1929)

Browse all participants in this event

Crisp, James Van Devanter (1891-1963)

Delavigne, Theodore (1890-1937)

Evans, Harry Carroll (1858-1932)

Maverick, Lewis Adams (1891-1973)

Phillips, Eleanor Wilson Parker (1897-?)

Stanton, James Robert (1892-1934)

They Only Can Who Think They Can, December 4, 1915

Madeleine Zabriskie Doty to Jane Addams, December 23, 1915

Peace Expedition Committee of Administration

Comments

Founding Date

1915-12-05

Ending Date

1915-12-18

Description

The Peace Ship was a well-publicized effort, led by Henry Ford and Rosika Schwimmer, to create public pressure for a conference of neutral nations to negotiate an end to World War I. When Rosika Schwimmer was unable to convince President Woodrow Wilson to sponsor the conference, she sought the help of Henry Ford, known for his opposition to the war. Ford bankrolled the expedition with the aim of "taking the boys from the trenches by Christmas Day." On November 24, 1915 he chartered the Oscar II, from Hoboken to Norway and invited well-known politicians and leaders, including William Jennings Bryan, Thomas Edison, and Jane Addams to join him at his expense. The effort did not have the backing of the either the American or British government, and some saw it as a plot by the Germans to end the war. Many of the famous names, including Jane Addams, decided not to participate. The ship sailed on December 4, from Hoboken, with a crowd of thousands to see it off.

The Peace Ship attracted negative press in the United States and other countries. Even before it arrived in Norway, reports from journalists aboard described strife between the delgates, who challenged Schwimmer's assertions that she had evidence that the belligerent nations were open to the idea of negotiation. The delegates argued over what their peace platform should be, with Rev. Charles Aked demanding that they sign off on opposition to any increase in the U.S. armaments. The delegation arrived in Norway on December 18. Ford, claiming illness, returned to America on December 24. The rest of the pacifist delegation continued on, meeting with compatriots in Sweden and Holland. On February 11, 1916 the delegates formed the Neutral Conference for Continuous Mediation in Stockholm, which continued to meet in Europe on mediating a negotiated peace. The Peace Ship delegates returned to the United States over the course of the spring and summer of 1916 with Ford's financial support. They continued the work of the conference until the end of 1916. The expedition cost Henry Ford over $500, 000.

Source

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Collection

Events

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Rights

Public domain

Contributor

Hajo, Cathy Moran

Bibliography and Links

Autocratic Leader Split Ford's Party, <em>New York Times</em>, January 31, 1916, p. 2.

Barbara Sarina Kraft, Some Must Dream: The History of the Ford Peace Expidition and the Neutral Conference for Continuous Mediation, (Ph.D. The American University, 1976).

Finding aid, Henry Ford Peace Ship Collection, Columbia University

Ford Asks Bryan to be First Mate on His Peace Ship, New York Times, November 26, 1915, p. 1.

Ford Quits Peace Party, Sails Home; Tired of Strife Among His Pilgrims, New York Evening World, December 24, 1915, p. 1.

Ford is Having Trouble Filling His Peace Ship, Harrisburg Telegraph, Nov. 26, 1915, p. 1.

Jane Addams, "The Neutral Conference plus the Ford Ship," Chapter in Peace and Bread in Time of War (New York: MacMillan, 1922): 17-29.

London Resents Peace Ship Plan, Baltimore Sun, November 26, 1915, p. 1.

Neutral Conference Holds First Meeting, <em>Ithaca Journal,</em> February 11, 1916, p. 1.

SNAC

Wikipedia

Citation

“Peace Ship (1915-1916),” Jane Addams Digital Edition, accessed October 5, 2023, http://mail.digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/8368.