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History In 1929 Chicago attorney Salmon O. Levinson established the William Edgar Borah Outlawry of War Foundation at the University of Idaho to honor and continue the work of Idaho Senator William Borah on behalf of peace. In 1931 the Borah Foundation was officially inaugurated at the University of Idaho by Senator Borah himself and by Dr. Manley Hudson, Professor of International Law at Harvard University. In 1938, the Borah Foundation sponsored its first program, an address by Eleanor Roosevelt, a well known advocate for peace and human rights. To commemorate her visit to the campus, she planted a Douglas fir tree which can still be seen across from the main entrance to the UI Administration Building. 1988 Borah Symposium Since 1948 the Foundation has sponsored an annual program devoted to understanding the causes of war and the conditions for establishing a lasting peace. Many well known speakers have addressed the annual symposium or conference over the years including: Frank Church, Les Aspin, Thurgood Marshall, Benjamin Spock, Philip Habib, Al Gore Sr., William Kuntsler, Eugene McCarthy, Frances Moore-Lappe, Betty Williams, Andrei Codrescu, Stephen Jay Gould, and Arun Gandhi. Each symposium is planned by a faculty-student committee which determines each year's topic, with office, meeting space, and administrative support provided by the Martin School of International Studies & Conflict Resolution. Over the years the Borah Foundation has sponsored a variety of educational programs and activities. In addition to the annual symposium, in recent years the Borah Committees have sponsored Borah mini-courses for University of Idaho students, established a special collection in the UI library with books about peace and conflict as well as volumes related to each year’s specific topic, begun a Borah International Peace Grove within the UI Arboretum with a tree planted each year, and in a number of years have sponsored an essay contest on peace and conflict resolution for both high school and college students. For further information about the Borah Foundation, contact the Martin Institute either by phone (208) 885-6527 or by e-mail: martin@uidaho.edu. Brief Biography of William Borah William and Mary Borah Born in Illinois in 1865, William Edgar Borah moved to Idaho in 1890 to practice law. By 1892 he was involved in Idaho state politics, was a part-time secretary for Governor William McConnell and, in 1895, married the governor's daughter, Mary McConnell. In 1907 Borah was elected to the U.S. Senate where he served until his death in 1940. Known for his public speaking skills and his independent and often controversial positions on political issues, he was a strong advocate for peace, disarmament and the major proponent for the outlawry of war. In 1919 he worked closely with Salmon Levinson on a campaign to outlaw war, proposing that international peace be established by declaring war illegal and creating a judicial substitute for war to resolve disputes and administer legal sanctions. In 1923 he introduced Senate Resolution 441 to outlaw war and create a "judicial substitute for war," a bill that he reintroduced again in 1926 and 1927 although it never passed. Senator Borah was instrumental in the passage of the Pact of Paris Treaty (also known as the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact) which outlawed war as an instrument of national policy which the Senate ratified in 1928 by an 85-1 vote. The agreement between the United States, France, Great Britain, Japan and Germany was "to condemn war as an instrument of national policy" in their relations with each other. Unfortunately, the codification of international law and the formation of an international judicial system that was a vital component of the plan to outlaw war, was not included in the Pact, thus rendering it an idealistic but ultimately ineffective agreement. Senator Borah was, however, undaunted and continued to advocate for the "outlawry of war" and non-military solutions for peace throughout the rest of his political career.