Ralph Bunche accepts the Nobel Prize for Peace

UN peace mediator Ralph Bunche accepts the prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace. The honor was awarded to him for his successful efforts in negotiating the peaceful settlement of the Middle East conflict between the new State of Israel and her Arab neighbors in 1949. The Nobel Laureate delivered his acceptance speech before the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, on 10 December 1950.

On War and Peace

"Amidst the frenzy and irrationality of a topsy-turvy world, some simple truths would appear to be self-evident...There are some in the world who are prematurely resigned to the inevitability of war. Among them are advocates of "preventive war", who in their resignation to war, wish merely to select their own time for initiating it. To suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form of war-mongering. The objective of any who sincerely believe in peace clearly must be to exhaust every honorable recourse in the effort to save the peace."

— Excerpt from Bunche's Nobel Prize Lecture, Oslo, Norway, 10 December 1950