Frank Kellog

Frank Kellogg was born on 22nd December, 1856. When Kellogg was a child his family moved to Olmsted County, Minnesota. After leaving school he worked on the family farm. He continued to study and taught himself law, history and Latin with the aid of borrowed books.

After passing the state bar examination in 1877 Kellogg became city attorney for Rochester. He later joined his cousin's law firm and specialized in working for the railroad and iron mining companies.

President Theodore Roosevelt employed Kellogg as the government's special attorney. He won several anti-trust cases including one against John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company.

A member of the Republican Party he was elected to the Senate in 1916. After the First World War he supported Woodrow Wilson in his campaign for the League of Nations.

In March 1923 President Warren Harding sent him on a diplomatic mission to Chile. President Calvin Coolidge also used him as a diplomat until being appointed as Secretary of State in 1925.

In 1928 Kellogg and Aristide Briand signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact (Pact of Paris). The treaty outlawed war between France and the United States. The US Senate ratified it in 1929 and over the next few years forty-six nations signed a similar agreement committing themselves to peace.

Kellogg was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929. The following year he joined the Permanent Court of International Justice. Frank Kellogg died on 21st December 1921.