Carlos Saavedra Lamas

Facts

Carlos Saavedra Lamas

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Carlos Saavedra Lamas
The Nobel Peace Prize 1936

Born: 1 November 1878, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Died: 5 May 1959, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Residence at the time of the award: Argentina

Role: Foreign Minister; President of the Assembly of the League of Nations; Mediator in a conflict between Paraguay and Bolivia

Prize motivation: “for his role as father of the Argentine Antiwar Pact of 1933, which he also used as a means to mediate peace between Paraguay and Bolivia in 1935”

Prize share: 1/1

Latin America's First Peace Prize Laureate

The first Peace Prize Laureate from a country outside Western Europe and the United States was the Argentine Carlos Saavedra Lamas. He came of landed gentry and got a PhD in law before becoming professor of constitutional law. At the age of thirty he was elected as a conservative representative to the legislative assembly, and after serving as both Minister of Justice and Minister of Education he took over the post of Foreign Minister in 1932.

When Argentina joined the League of Nations in 1932, Saavedra Lamas deserved much of the credit, and he played a leading role in the organization's condemnation of Italy's war on Ethiopia in 1936. He made important contributions to the peace negotiations between Paraguay and Bolivia after the so-called “Chaco war” in the 1930s. He also won praise for his work on South America's anti-war pact, which by 1936 had been signed by 31 states altogether. The pact promoted the principle under international law of condemning all wars of aggression.

To cite this section
MLA style: Carlos Saavedra Lamas – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Tue. 19 Mar 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1936/lamas/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Eleven laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2023, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. Their work and discoveries range from effective mRNA vaccines and attosecond physics to fighting against the oppression of women.

See them all presented here.
Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.