Nicholas Murray Butler

Nicholas Murray Butler was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He became so well known and respected that The New York Times printed his Christmas greeting to the nation every year.

Butler was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Mary Butler and manufacturing worker Henry Butler. He enrolled in Columbia College earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1882 at the age of twenty, his masters degree in 1883, and his doctorate in 1884. Butlers academic and other achievements led Theodore Roosevelt to call him Nicholas Miraculous. In 1885, Butler studied in Paris and Berlin and became a lifelong friend of future Secretary of State Elihu Root. Through Root he also met Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. In the fall of 1885, Butler joined the staff of Columbias philosophy department.

Source: Wikipedia