Charles G. Dawes
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Charles Gates Dawes
The Nobel Peace Prize 1925
Born: 27 August 1865, Marietta, OH, USA
Died: 23 April 1951, Evanston, IL, USA
Residence at the time of the award: USA
Role: Vice-President of United States of America; Chairman of Allied Reparation Commission (Originator of Dawes Plan)
Prize motivation: “for his crucial role in bringing about the Dawes Plan”
Charles Gates Dawes received his Nobel Prize one year later, in 1926.
Prize share: 1/2
The Dawes Plan for Détente
Charles Dawes received the Peace Prize for 1925 for having contributed to reducing the tension between Germany and France after the First World War.
Dawes' background was as a lawyer and businessman. He came into politics when he headed the presidential election campaign of the Republican candidate William McKinley in 1896. McKinley won but was shot in 1901, and Dawes returned to business life. Dawes did not return to public life until USA entered World War I in 1917. He was sent to Europe as an officer, and was put in charge of all supplies to the Allies at the front.
After the war, the Germans resented France's occupation of parts of the country, intended to force them to pay reparations. Tension between the two countries rose. Dawes headed an international committee set up to assess Germany's situation. In 1924, the committee presented the Dawes Plan. Germany was granted American loans enabling it to pay indemnity. In return, France ceased its occupation.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
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