Nicholas Murray Butler

Nicholas Murray Butler was a prominent American philosopher, diplomat, and educator.

He played many different roles in American society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in 1862 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, he was the son of Mary Butler and Henry Butler. Henry worked in manufacturing. Butler pursued a deep academic path at Columbia College. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1882, his master's degree in 1883, and his doctorate in 1884. His rapid academic success led President Theodore Roosevelt to call him "Nicholas Miraculous."

Butler spent much of his career shaping Columbia University.

He became acting president in 1901 and was formally installed as president in 1902. His tenure lasted 43 years, making it the longest in the university's history. He oversaw a massive expansion of the campus through new buildings and departments. One major achievement was the creation of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. This was the first academic medical center in the world. Because of his long leadership, Columbia named several things after him, including the Butler Library.

Beyond the university, Butler was a major figure in international peace efforts. He was instrumental in persuading Andrew Carnegie to provide $10 million for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Butler served as the president of this endowment from 1925 to 1945. He also led the European branch of the organization from its headquarters in Paris. For his work promoting the Kellogg-Briand pact, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. He also worked to help restore the University of Leuven after its library was destroyed in World War I.

Butler's political life was also very active. He served as a delegate for the Republican National Convention many times between 1888 and 1936. In 1912, he was designated to receive the electoral votes for the vice-presidential slot after James S. Sherman died. He also sought the Republican presidential nomination for himself in 1920. Butler was a strong opponent of Prohibition. He worked actively to help achieve the Repeal of Prohibition in 1933. He based his political principles on the ideas of Alexander Hamilton and John W. Burgess.

Despite his many achievements, Butler held views that were highly controversial and criticized. In 1919, he changed the admissions process at Columbia to limit the number of Jewish students. This made Columbia the first American institution of higher learning to use a quota for Jewish students. This policy reduced the number of students from New York City from 54% to 23%. Because of this action, Butler is often called an anti-semite. Historians note that his antisemitism and economic views influenced his failure to understand the nature of Nazism.

Butler's relationship with authoritarian leaders was a source of significant criticism. He was a longtime admirer of the Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. In the 1920s, he even commented on the "stupendous improvement" Fascism had brought. In 1931, he told Columbia freshmen that totalitarian systems produced men with stronger character than election systems. He was also criticized for his silence regarding Hitler's regime until the late 1930s. In 1936, he expelled a student, Robert Burke, for leading an anti-Nazi protest on campus. Butler only clearly condemned Nazi Germany after the Kristallnacht event.

Even his work with the arts faced challenges due to his leadership. As the head of the Pulitzer board, he intervened in the 1941 selection process. The jury had chosen Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" for the prize. Butler found the novel offensive and persuaded the board to reverse their decision. As a result, no novel received the Pulitzer Prize that year. Hemingway did not receive a Pulitzer for his later work, "The Old Man and the Sea," until 1952. This occurred after Butler's death in 1947. He was interred at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in his home state of New Jersey.