Who were the most deserving Nobel Peace Prize winners of all time?

[Posteritatis]

I thought it might be interesting to see the other side of GodlyDemocrat's question as to which NPPs were the biggest travesties. Kissinger's tied for the top three or four spots in my book for that one, but looking at GD's question made me realize I hadn't thought that hard about who most deserved the recognition. That'll be rattling around my head for awhile today, I think.

So here's the list, just like in that post. Have at it!

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates /

2009 - Barack Obama
2008 - Martti Ahtisaari
2007 - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore
2006 - Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank
2005 - International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei
2004 - Wangari Maathai
2003 - Shirin Ebadi
2002 - Jimmy Carter
2001 - United Nations, Kofi Annan
2000 - Kim Dae-jung
1999 - Médecins Sans Frontières
1998 - John Hume, David Trimble
1997 - International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams
1996 - Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, José Ramos-Horta
1995 - Joseph Rotblat, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
1994 - Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin
1993 - Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk
1992 - Rigoberta Menchú Tum
1991 - Aung San Suu Kyi
1990 - Mikhail Gorbachev
1989 - The 14th Dalai Lama
1988 - United Nations Peacekeeping Forces
1987 - Oscar Arias Sánchez
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1985 - International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
1984 - Desmond Tutu
1983 - Lech Walesa
1982 - Alva Myrdal, Alfonso García Robles
1981 - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
1980 - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
1979 - Mother Teresa
1978 - Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin
1977 - Amnesty International
1976 - Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan
1975 - Andrei Sakharov
1974 - Seán MacBride, Eisaku Sato
1973 - Henry Kissinger, Le Duc Tho
1972 - The prize money for 1972 was allocated to the Main Fund
1971 - Willy Brandt
1970 - Norman Borlaug
1969 - International Labour Organization
1968 - René Cassin
1967 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
1966 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1965 - United Nations Children's Fund
1964 - Martin Luther King Jr.
1963 - International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies
1962 - Linus Pauling
1961 - Dag Hammarskjöld
1960 - Albert Lutuli
1959 - Philip Noel-Baker
1958 - Georges Pire
1957 - Lester Bowles Pearson
1956 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
1955 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1954 - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
1953 - George C. Marshall
1952 - Albert Schweitzer
1951 - Léon Jouhaux
1950 - Ralph Bunche
1949 - Lord Boyd Orr
1948 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
1947 - Friends Service Council, American Friends Service Committee
1946 - Emily Greene Balch, John R. Mott
1945 - Cordell Hull
1944 - International Committee of the Red Cross
1943 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
1942 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
1941 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
1940 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
1939 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
1938 - Nansen International Office for Refugees
1937 - Robert Cecil
1936 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas
1935 - Carl von Ossietzky
1934 - Arthur Henderson
1933 - Sir Norman Angell
1932 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1931 - Jane Addams, Nicholas Murray Butler
1930 - Nathan Söderblom
1929 - Frank B. Kellogg
1928 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1927 - Ferdinand Buisson, Ludwig Quidde
1926 - Aristide Briand, Gustav Stresemann
1925 - Sir Austen Chamberlain, Charles G. Dawes
1924 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1923 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1922 - Fridtjof Nansen
1921 - Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lange
1920 - Léon Bourgeois
1919 - Woodrow Wilson
1918 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1917 - International Committee of the Red Cross
1916 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1915 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1914 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
1913 - Henri La Fontaine
1912 - Elihu Root
1911 - Tobias Asser, Alfred Fried
1910 - Permanent International Peace Bureau
1909 - Auguste Beernaert, Paul Henri d'Estournelles de Constant
1908 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Fredrik Bajer
1907 - Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Louis Renault
1906 - Theodore Roosevelt
1905 - Bertha von Suttner
1904 - Institute of International Law
1903 - Randal Cremer
1902 - Élie Ducommun, Albert Gobat
1901 - Henry Dunant, Frédéric Passy

[dmallind]

1. 1970 gets my vote NT

[Dennis Donovan]

2. I can tell you who LEAST deserved it:

[elocs]

3. I don't think deserving has anything to do with it. It's their prize and they set the criteria

for choosing the winner. If the Norwegian Nobel Prize committee believes someone should be awarded the prize, then they believe they deserve to win. Let the rest of the world argue because it is a done deal.

[Posteritatis]

5. I agree with you; I'm asking people to argue for their favorite.

:)

[Captain Hilts]

4. Ghandi. Eleanor Roosevelt. John Paul II for forgiving his assassin and giving the boot to the USSR

And none of them won.

Bill Clinton for Ireland.

[dmallind]

6. Not picking on you but just curious why that particular incorrect spelling of Gandhi is so prevalent

I see it all the time as "Ghandi" - not just from posters on informal forums but in quasi-professional settings too.

It's a word that is neither all that long nor all that "foreign" in construction. It's not like being asked to spell "Ayodhya". It's the name of one of the most famous people in history, yet is not only frequently spelled wrongly but spelled wrongly in the same way.

Again no personal sleight intended - it is the frequency that caused the comment.

[Captain Hilts]

7. I was tired and know better! Thanks for correcting it!

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. I've misspelled it too.

For me, I think it's because the name sounds enough like Ghana that my ears use that spelling as the default for that sound.

After your observation, now it might be worth dedicating a few brain cells to a phonetic exception.

[dmallind]

16. Hmm. Ghana eh? May be something to that.... NT

[Captain Hilts]

19. For me it's the kHrusHcHev. nt

[MH1]

20. Whew - I had to go look - I've been spelling it correctly

but when I saw the other spelling I had to wonder.

I am an excellent speller but that's because I have a semi-photographic memory. (semi in that for me it only works for short words and numbers and doesn't do faces at all.)

I sometimes get hooked on a misspelling if it's common. So if "Ghandi" is a common spelling, folks like me will tend to repeat it. (Now I need to try to erase that from my memory. it's Gandhi ... Gandhi ... Gandhi ... ok think I've got it! :)

[Posteritatis]

26. "Gh" is a more common letter grouping in English than "dh"

That might have something to do with it; the latter would look "wronger" to people not used to the correct spelling.

[MH1]

21. I read on DU that Gandhi was selected for it in 1948

but was assassinated before it was awarded. And the rules state, I think, that it has to go to a living person or persons.

I think this is VERY important because the wingers like to bring up "but Gandhi never won it" as supposed evidence that it isn't very meaningful. But if Gandhi actually was selected, then that argument is bullshit.

[Posteritatis]

25. Interesting; thanks for the info! (nt)

[Captain Hilts]

9. Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. Took physical risks to bring peace to Ireland. No one cares

And Aung San Suu Kyi.

There's something about risking your neck for something bigger than yourself.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Captain Hilts]

11. You've got a shitty user name.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Captain Hilts]

13. Somehow, I don't think you are going to be here for long. nt

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mz Pip]

15. Ya think?

:rofl:

Couldn't be any more obvious.

[Solomon]

17. Well I happen to agree with him.

Time will tell.

[Captain Hilts]

23. This is not a reference to the substance of his comment. He registered today...

and has been a troublemaker.

[Faygo Kid]

18. Pretty much all deserving. Except for Kissinger. Borlaug, King, Hammarskjöld, Addams were the best.

Mandela, too. And our president, no matter how much the reich wing wants to kill him.

[MH1]

22. Hard to choose one, but Médecins Sans Frontières would be near the top of my list

[Captain Hilts]

24. Hey, I've actually held in my hand the box Lester Pearson's prize came in! nt