glamour.

It was inevitable that so commanding a personality should have an
influence beyond the normal sphere of his official activities.
Only a man who had earned the confidence and the respect of the
statesmen of other nations could have performed such a service as
he did in 1905 in bringing about peace between Russia and Japan
in the conflict then raging in the Far East. It was high time
that the war should end, in the interest of both contestants. The
Russians had been consistently defeated on land and had lost
their entire fleet at the battle of Tsushima. The Japanese were
apparently on the highroad to victory. But in reality, Japan's
success had been bought at an exorbitant price. Intelligent
observers in the diplomatic world who were in a position to
realize the truth knew that neither nation could afford to go on.

On June 8, 1905, President Roosevelt sent to both Governments an
identical note in which he urged them, "not only for their own
sakes, but in the interest of the whole civilized world, to open
direct negotiations for peace with each other." This was the
first that the world heard of the proposal. But the President had
already conducted, with the utmost secrecy, confidential
negotiations with Tokyo and with St. Petersburg to induce both
belligerents to consent to a face to face discussion of peace. In
Russia he had found it necessary to go directly to the Czar
himself, through the American Ambassador, George von Lengerke
Meyer. Each Government was assured that no breath of the matter
would be made public until both nations had signified their
willingness to treat. Neither nation was to know anything of the
other's readiness until both had committed themselves. These