The Peace Memorial Day

This weekend, Americans observe Memorial Day, to justly honor the sacrifices of our service men and women.

I would also like to remember the men and women who have worked tirelessly for peace. The following are the Americans who have won the Nobel Peace Prize. This honor was bequeathed by Alfred Nobel, "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

2007 : AL GORE JR. for his efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

2002 : JIMMY CARTER JR., former President of the United States of America, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.

1997 : JODY WILLIAMS for her work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.

1986 : ELIE WIESEL, Chairman of 'The President's Commission on the Holocaust'. Author, humanitarian.

1973 : HENRY A. KISSINGER, Secretary of State, State Department, Washington.

1970 : NORMAN BORLAUG, for research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

1964 : MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, campaigner for civil rights.

1962 : LINUS CARL PAULING, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. Campaigner especially for an end to nuclear weapons tests.

1953 : GEORGE CATLETT MARSHALL, General, President American Red Cross, ex-Secretary of State and of Defense, Delegate to the U.N., Originator of the Marshall Plan.

1950 : RALPH BUNCHE, Professor Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Director of the UN Division of Trusteeship, Acting Mediator in Palestine 1948.

1947 : THE AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE (The Quakers), Washington. The society's first official meeting was held in 1672.

1946 : The prize was divided equally between:

EMILY GREENE BALCH, former Professor of History and Sociology, Honorary International President Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

JOHN RALEIGH MOTT, Chairman of the first International Missionary Council, President of the World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations .

1945 : CORDELL HULL, Former Secretary of State. One of the initiators of the United Nations.

1931 : The prize was divided equally between:

JANE ADDAMS, Sociologist. International President of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, President of Columbia University. Promoter of the Briand-Kellogg Pact.

1929 : FRANK BILLINGS KELLOGG, Former Secretary of State, Negotiated the Briand-Kellogg Pact.

1925: CHARLES GATES DAWES, Vice-President of the United States of America. Chairman of the Allied Reparation Commission. Originator of the Dawes Plan .

1919 : THOMAS WOODROW WILSON, President of the United States of America. Founder of the Société des Nations (League of Nations)

1912 : ELIHU ROOT, Former Secretary of State. Initiator of several arbitration agreements.

1906 : THEODORE ROOSEVELT, USA. President of the United States of America. Drew up the 1905 peace treaty between Russia and Japan.