Nobel Prize Snubs: Which Great People Never Won?

The announcement that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize has inspired a new wave of history-seekers to look into the prize. Who's won and who hasn't? Conservatives have long criticized the award for not recognizing Ronald Reagan, seen by some as instrumental in bringing down communism in Russia.

In this slideshow, we're looking at those who made a great impact on the world, but were never honored with a Nobel Peace Prize. Which of these inspirational leaders should have won? (Special thanks to Foreign Policy magazine for some on this list.)

Mahatma Gandhi

Despite several nominations and one of the strongest resumes in any peace movement, Gandhi failed to win the peace prize.

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Comments

[sherifffruitfly]

Good call on Lennon.

Do we do this every NPP that gets awarded? Or is this just more anti-Obama whining?

[Shake-A-Spear]

The Literature Prize is given to writers nobody has ever heard of.. The Peace Prize is given to public figures everybody has heard of. The Lit Prizewinners are hardly read; the Peace Winners hardly ever bring peace. So if you're looking for consistence in the Nobel Committee's selections, there it is!

[Principaldad]

Very few people in history have ever truly brought peace, and great writers are rarely widely read. So it goes with the awards designed for these pursuits. There are also notable persons who stand out in each category through the years, be it MLK or Mother Teresa or John Steinbeck or Sinclair Lewis.

[Shake-A-Spear]

You're too literal minded for me. Come to think of it, why give a peace prize altogether? And that Economics prize? It's done as much for economics as the Peace prize has done for peace.

[Sudhakar Krishnamurti]

Does Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi need a Nobel Peace Prize to increase his stature ? It is, in fact, quite the other way around. Awarding it to Gandhi would've given the Nobel awards some credibility. Right now, they don't have too much of it. School kids say, `It's all rigged.' - Sudhakar Krishnamurti.

[CounterSicilian]

Well said!

[BADRALDUJA]

i agree with u aswell

[NCAV2]

Ghandi was racist, I don't mind that he never won.

[spoonerrothbard]

just about to post the same thing.

[spoonerrothbard]

oh, and he was a pedophile too.

[cpun]

are you serious? The man played the largest role amongst anyone for driving the brits out of India, improving the condition of the ill-treated lower castes in India(dalits), asking for violence against muslims to stop during the riots of 1947, leading a salt march (and getting beaten up) and on and on and on. Everyone from mandela to MLK were inspired the guy. He is practically the einstein of the peaceful resistance school of thought.
Know your history and fact before you go spewing BS and showing your ignorance here.

[spoonerrothbard]

http://www.zimbio.com/Ghandi+quotes/articles/20/Gandhi+racism+truth+behind+mask+Behold+Sergeant

[lazercat2008]

Hey it was WWII and the Germans were in Norway. Then some Republican killed Gahndi before he could get the award.

[Niasia]

I can't believe Ghandi never won.

[Michael Johns]

That's actually wrong. Gandhi was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize and won the prize in 1948, but his assassination prevented him from receiving the award.

[takeyourballandgohome]

Which great people did not run as #2 on the GOP ticket for VP? Umhhh, wonder. Then there's Sarah....n­ow there's a calamity.

[CounterSicilian]

The Nobel peace prize was also given to Henry Kissinger and W. Wilson. That's not something to brag about, is it?

[Principaldad]

Wilson worked to establish the Leage of Nations, the precursor of the UN. If that doesn't qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize, I don't know what does.

[CounterSicilian]

Wilson openly supported white supremacy and the KKK. He must be turning in his grave that now an African American is the president and a Nobel prize winner.

As for the league of nations, the United States never even joined it.

[ccmd]

We are proud of the President and America. MLK won the Nobel Prize for his civil rights works. As clearly evident in today's society he did not cure racism. He too only had a dream. Congratulations to the Honorable Laureate President Barack Hussein Obama. I still believe you can do it. We will get there. Although there are entities created to maintain special interests, President Obama is and will continue to fight for Us. Everything is not meant to be seen and heard. This too shall go down in history, and it will be on the side of good not evil. America should rejoice.

[thos]

Do you think William Jefferson Blythe Clinton is a bit chafed? First Carter, then Gore and now Obama?

[PepeLepew]

There's still time...

[Angeltour]

Bill Clinton is way over due to be awared the Nobel Peace Prize...pe­ople take all the great work this man has done and does for granted...­Bosnia, Ireland, and now for the last five years he has devoted his time to helping people all over the world...

Bill Clinton deserves the Nobel Peace Prize...bu­t now that the prize has been diminished and is becoming a global joke...who needs it...even the Nobel Peace Prize is about politics now...path­etic

[Eagleman]

As an American I am proud that my president received the Nobel prize.

While I may not agree with his socialistic policy he should be applauded for his intent towards peace and his effort on reaching out to the world after the mess left behind by Bush.

I wish they waited for two more years and that would be more fitting and deserving.

No matter when the give the prize - the right wingers are going whine anyway.

[jnatch]

wow Gandhi never won this??!! Thats like Kubrick never winning an Oscar for best director (or Welles or Hitchock)

[listentome]

Exactly. In all areas of life there are many instances of folks who deserved to win an award, but didn't. And that should not distract from the folks who did win.

[Michael Johns]

He actually did win the award, but never received it. Gandhi was nominated 5 times for the Nobel Peace Prize and won the prize in 1948, but his assassination prevented him from receiving the award.

[newyorkjoe]

Great article, huffpost editor! Nice to see that you have joined all the other msm pimps in fanning the Anti-O Peace Prize Story. It should have legs for a few more days, don'tchya think? Maybe you can post a photo-list of every other "unworthy" recipient of the PP.

[Cinnamonape]

HuffPost's Pick

We now know from the opened archives that Mahatma Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times between 1937 and 1948. No awards were given between 1939-43. That means he was nominated every year but one before his assassination on 30 January 1948 two days before the closing date for the 1948 Peace Prize nominations. The Nobel Committee chose not to award the prize that year, an unusual act in the period of reconstruction and Herculean peace-time efforts after WW2. It thus seems that the Norwegian Nobel Committee had very likely planned to give him the Peace Prize in 1948 as they considered a posthumous award, but ultimately decided against it.

[myjs]

Nobel prizes are not given posthumously.

[Principaldad]

HuffPost's Pick

It seems that people are basing an opinion of whether Obama deserves the prize on what they think he should be doing, and many come up with the answer "premature". These people are not looking at the actual statements from the Nobel Committee. If they would do so, they would realize the reasoning.

The Nobel Committee is not concerned with efforts to give American's health care or what the US budget looks like. They did not award Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize for his desire to end the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan or the plan to close GTMO. The Nobel Peace Prize is also not a lifetime achievement award or an award for the world leader who can get the most bills passed in the US Congress.

As stated by the committee, Barack Obama won because he has reached out to other countries in ways that no US president has done in many decades. Words are the most powerful force the world has ever known and Barack Obama has used them to build bridges between cultures countries, and races. Barack Obama has changed the way the world looks at the US and he has also the world a sense that peace may be acheived. That is why Barack Obama won (and deserved to win) the Nobel Peace Prize.

[Marcospinelli]

The decision to award the Nobel peace prize was made on the 12th day of Obama's presidency.

The head of the Nobel committee insisted that the decision was based solely on "achievement".

This may be the first time in the Nobel committee's history where they've given the honor based on HOPE for change, and not any tangible act. Obama is doing nothing differently than the US had done in the years before Bush ('carrot and stick'); Bush just stopped (or ate) 'the carrot'. Obama is continuing Bush's wars and the Establishment Elites' policies (Manifest Destiny, White Man's Burden), with the Establishment Elites of the world nodding their approval for reintroducing the veil of diplomacy - "At least we talk to them as we're launching predator drones to destroy whole innocent families and villages".

I can't tell you how dispiriting it is finding out how quickly people forget and what little they settle for.

[ObamAtomic]

Yeah? And?SO!

[listentome]

At least do your research. The nominations deadline was February 1. Nominations is the operative word. The committee had 9 months to determine if they thought he was worthy. They did! The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Barack Obama on Oct. 9, 2009. If the award was based solely on seeking world wide peace that would be enough for me. President Obama epitomizes the dream of most children from kindergarten to high school who dreams of becoming the President of the U.S. and changing the world and attempting to bring about peace.

[Principaldad]

Your first sentence is incorrect. The decision was made only recently. What you are referring to was the deadline for nominations. Perhaps you are having trouble realizing that the committee actually takes time to research the nominations and come to a decision.

Also, the Nobel Committee did not award the prize for simple "achievement" or for the "hope for change". Perhaps you should actually read the words of the Nobel Committee before incorrectly claiming that they are basing their decisions on the future.

You are welcome to your opinions of Obama's policies, but remember they are your own opinions.

[myjs]

http://nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/process.html

February – Deadline for submission. The Committee bases its assessment on nominations that must be postmarked no later than 1 February each year. Nominations postmarked and received after this date are included in the following year's discussions. In recent years, the Committee has received close to 200 different nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. The number of nominating letters is much higher, as many are for the same candidates.

February-March – Short list. The Committee assesses the candidates' work and prepares a short list.

March-August – Adviser review. The short list is reviewed by permanent advisers and advisers specially recruited for their knowledge of specific candidates. The advisers do not directly evaluate nominations nor give explicit recommendations.

October – Nobel Laureates are chosen. At the beginning of October, the Nobel Committee chooses the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates through a majority vote. The decision is final and without appeal. The names of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are then announced.