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Elihu Root (1845–1937) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the Secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt and as Secretary of War under Roosevelt and President William McKinley. He moved frequently between high-level appointed government positions in Washington and private-sector legal practice in New York City. He was elected by the state legislature as a U.S. Senator from New York and served one term. For his work in international arbitration, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912.

Root served as president or chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He was the leading modernizer in the history of the War Department, transforming the Army into a military machine comparable to the best in Europe. He also restructured the National Guard into an effective reserve, creating the Army War College. He negotiated 24 bilateral treaties that committed the United States and other signatories to use arbitration to resolve disputes, which led to the creation of the Permanent Court of International Justice. He also helped create The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands and served as vice president of the American Peace Society, which publishes World Affairs, the oldest U.S. journal on international relations.