Elihu Root

Elihu Root (1845–1937) was an American lawyer, statesman, and diplomat who served as Secretary of War under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Secretary of State, US Senator from New York, and the inaugural president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Graduating from NYU School of Law, Root became one of Wall Street's most formidable corporate attorneys.

As Secretary of War (1899–1904), Root reorganized the War Department: creating the Army War College, instituting the Army General Staff system, and designing civil administrative frameworks for Puerto Rico, Cuba (the Platt Amendment), and the Philippines. As Secretary of State, he championed pan-American diplomacy and concluded international arbitration treaties. Awarded the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize, he served in 1920 on the commission of jurists that created the Permanent Court of International Justice (the World Court) at The Hague.