Peace Ship - Wikipedia
The Peace Ship was the common name for the ocean liner Oscar II, on which American industrialist Henry Ford organized and launched his 1915 amateur peace mission to Europe;[ 1] Ford chartered the Oscar II and invited prominent peace activists to join him.[ 2] He hoped to create enough publicity to prompt the belligerent nations to convene a peace conference and mediate an end to World War I,[ 1] but the mission was widely mocked by the press, which referred to the Oscar II as the "Ship of Fools" as well as the "Peace Ship".[ 3] Infighting between the activists, mockery by the press contingent aboard, and an outbreak of influenza marred the voyage.[ 4] Five days after Oscar II arrived in Norway, a beleaguered and physically ill Ford abandoned the mission and returned to the United States.[ 5] The peace mission was unsuccessful, which reinforced Ford's reputation as a supporter of unusual causes.[ 6] The ship was named after the former Swedish Monarch H.M. King Oscar II of Sweden (until 1905 also King of Norway) who, according to Ford, was a peaceloving monarch.
In early 1915, Ford began to express pacifist sentiments publicly and to denounce the ongoing war in Europe.[ 7] Ford made an announcement to the press that he would fund an effective peace initiative that would assist in mediating and ending World War I. He principally offered one million and later increased it to ten million dollars.[ 8] Rosika Schwimmer, Hungarian activist, heard the news through a colleague, Louis P. Lochner, fellow feminist, pacifist, and acting secretary of the International Federation of Students, who soon set up a meeting.[ 9] By November, American peace activist Louis P. Lochner and Hungarian journalist Rosika Schwimmer approached Ford, now commonly recognized as a pacifist, with a proposal to launch an amateur diplomatic mission to Europe to broker an end to World War I.[ 7] Known as a radical, Schwimmer was well respected on the Eastern European front, accredited with the founding of the Women’s Peace Party,[ 10] the Campaign for World Government,[ 11] and the International Criminal Court as well as participating in various international conferences.[ 12] This project aligned with her her known projections and ambitions. Schwimmer claimed to possess diplomatic correspondence that proved that the European powers were willing to negotiate, which was an outright fabrication.[ 7] Nevertheless, Ford agreed to finance a peace campaign.[ 7]
