On
the outbreak of the First World War in Europe,
Henry Ford, the wealthy American businessman,
soon made it clear he opposed the war and supported the decision of
the Woman's
Peace Party to
organize a peace conference in Holland. After the conference Ford
was contacted by America's three leading anti-war campaigners, Jane
Addams, Rosika
Schwimmer,
Oswald Garrison Villard, and Paul
Kellogg. They suggested that Ford should sponsor an international
conference in Stockholm to discuss ways that the conflict could be
brought to an end.
Ford came up with the idea of sending a boat of pacifists
to Europe to see if they could negotiate an agreement that would end
the war. He chartered the ship Oskar
II,
and it sailed from Hoboken, New Jersey on 4th December, 1915. The
Ford
Peace Ship
reached Stockholm in January, 1916, and a conference was organized
with representatives from Denmark, Holland, Norway, Sweden and the
United States. However, unable to persuade representatives from the
warring nations to take part, the conference was unable to negotiate
an Armistice.
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