View source for John Mott

{{short description|American ecumenical Christian awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1865–1955)}}
{{About|the leader of the YMCA|the Revolutionary War soldier|John Mott (captain)|the U.S. Representative from New York|John De Mott|the mid-20th Century New Jersey Quaker leader|Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors}}

{{Infobox person
 | name             = John Raleigh Mott
 | birth_name       = 
 | birth_date       = {{birth date|1865|5|25}}
 | birth_place      = {{nowrap|[[Livingston Manor, New York|Livingston Manor]],  [[Sullivan County, New York|Sullivan County]],<br/> [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.}}
 | death_date       = {{death date and age|1955|1|31|1865|5|25}}
 | death_place      = {{nowrap|[[Orlando, Florida]], U.S.}}
 | image            = File:John Raleigh Mott.jpg
 | caption          = Mott circa 1946
 | signature        = 
 | parents          = John Mott Sr.<br />Elmira (Dodge) Mott
 | spouse           = Leila Ada White (m. 1891)
 | children         = 
 | occupation       =  Activist
 | movement         = 
 | organization     = [[YMCA]], [[World Student Christian Federation]]
 | monuments        = 
 | alma_mater       =  [[Upper Iowa University]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jain |first1=Chelsi |title=Upper Iowa University |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1946/mott/biographical/ |website=John R. Mott Biographical}}</ref><br>[[Cornell University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]])
 | awards           = [[Nobel Peace Prize]] (1946)
}}
[[File:U.S. Mexico Commission in 1916.jpg|thumb|The United States - Mexico Commission. Standing from left to right are: [[Stephen Bonsal]], Attache of the State Department and Advisor to the American Commission; American Secretary of State [[Robert Lansing]]; [[Eliseo Arredondo]], the Mexican ambassador designate, and [[Leo Stanton Rowe]], the Secretary to the American Commission. Sitting from left to right are John Mott of [[New York City]]; Judge [[George Gray (Delaware politician)|George Gray]] of [[Wilmington, Delaware]]; Secretary of the Interior [[Franklin Knight Lane]]; [[Luis Cabrera Lobato]], chairman of the Mexican delegation and Secretary of the Treasury of Mexico, [[Alberto J. Pani]], President of the National Railways of Mexico; and [[Ignacio Bonillas]], Minister of Communications and Public Works... The image was taken at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City on September 9, 1916. ]]
'''John Raleigh Mott''' (May 25, 1865 – January 31, 1955) was an American evangelist and long-serving leader of the Young Men's Christian Association ([[YMCA]]) and the [[World Student Christian Federation]] (WSCF).  He received the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1946 for his work in establishing and strengthening international Protestant [[Christianity|Christian]] student organizations that worked to [[peace movement|promote peace]]. He shared the prize with [[Emily Greene Balch]]. From 1895 until 1920 Mott was the General Secretary of the WSCF. Intimately involved in the formation of the [[World Council of Churches]] in 1948, that body elected him as a lifelong honorary President. He helped found the [[World Student Christian Federation]] in 1895, the [[1910 World Missionary Conference]] and the [[World Council of Churches]] in 1948. His best-known book, ''The Evangelization of the World in this Generation'', became a missionary slogan in the early 20th century.<ref>Cracknell & White, 233.</ref>

==Biography==
Mott was born in [[Livingston Manor, New York|Livingston Manor]], [[Sullivan County, New York]], on May 25, 1865, and his family moved to [[Postville, Iowa]], in September of the same year. He attended [[Upper Iowa University]], where he studied history and was an award-winning student debater. He transferred to [[Cornell University]], where he received his [[bachelor's degree]] in 1888. He was influenced by [[Arthur Tappan Pierson]] one of the forces behind the [[Student Volunteer Movement|Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions]], which was founded in 1886.

In 1910, Mott, an [[United Methodist Church|American Methodist]] layperson, presided at the [[1910 World Missionary Conference]], which was an important milestone in the modern [[Protestant]] [[Mission (Christian)|missions movement]] and some say the modern [[Christian ecumenism|ecumenical movement]].

Mott and a colleague were offered free passage on the ''[[Titanic]]'' in 1912 by a [[White Star Line]] official who was interested in their work, but they declined and took the more humble liner the {{SS|Lapland}}. According to a biography by C. Howard Hopkins, in [[New York City]] the two men heard what happened to the ''Titanic'', looked at each other and remarked that, "The Good Lord must have more work for us to do."<ref>{{cite web| title= Seven Famous People Who Missed the Titanic | author=Greg Daugherty| publisher=Smithsonian Magazine| url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/seven-famous-people-who-missed-the-titanic-101902418/| date=March 2012}}</ref>

After touring Europe and promoting ecumenism, Mott traveled to Asia where, from October 1912 to May 1913, he held a series of 18 regional and national conferences, including in Ceylon, India, Burma, Malaya, China, Korea and Japan.<ref>A History of the Ecumenical Movement 1517-1848, 2d edition, p. 364.</ref>

He also worked with [[Robert Hallowell Gardiner III]] to maintain relations with the Russian Orthodox Church and Archbishop Tikhon after the Russian Revolution.

From 1920 until 1928, Mott served as the WSCF Chairperson. For his labors in both missions and ecumenism, as well as for peace, some historians consider him to be "the most widely traveled and universally trusted Christian leader of his time".<ref>Cracknell & White, 243.</ref>

== Personal life and legacy ==
Mott married twice. His first wife was a teacher, Leila Ada White. They married in 1891 and had two sons and two daughters, including [[Irene Mott Bose]], a social worker in India, and wife of Indian Supreme Court justice [[Vivian Bose]]; [[John Livingstone Mott]], who received the [[Kaisar-i-Hind Medal|Kaisar-i‐Hind]] silver medal in 1931, for his work with the [[YMCA]] in India;<ref>{{Cite news|date=1973-07-21|title=John Mott, Headed International Unit|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/21/archives/john-mott-headed-international-unit.html|access-date=2021-11-26|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and [[Frederick Dodge Mott]], who worked in healthcare planning in Canada, and was Canada's representative to the [[World Health Organization]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Houston|first=C. Stuart|title=Frederick Dodge Mott|url=https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/mott_frederick_dodge_1904-81.jsp|access-date=2021-11-26|website=The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan|archive-date=2021-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126040032/https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/mott_frederick_dodge_1904-81.jsp|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After Leila Mott died in 1952, Mott remarried in 1953, to Agnes Peter (1880-1957), a descendant of [[Martha Washington|Martha Custis Washington]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=1953-07-29|title=Miss Agnes Peter, 73, marries Dr. John R Mott, 88.|pages=4|work=The Ithaca Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22069110/miss-agnes-peter-73-marries-dr-john/|access-date=2021-11-26|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He died in 1955, in [[Orlando, Florida]], aged 89 years. His papers are held at the Yale Divinity School Library.<ref>[http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/divinity.045 Yale University Divinity School Library]. hdl.handle.net</ref><!--He retired to [[Orlando, Florida]], and lived at 528 E. Washington Street. It was there he learned he had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
-->

==Veneration==
In 2022, John Raleigh Mott was officially added to the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|Episcopal Church liturgical calendar]] with a feast day on October 3.<ref>{{Cite web |title=General Convention Virtual Binder |url=https://www.vbinder.net/resolutions/24?house=HD&lang=en |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=www.vbinder.net |archive-date=2022-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913143652/https://www.vbinder.net/resolutions/24?house=HD&lang=en |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The high school of the [[Postville Community School District]] in [[Postville, Iowa]], is named after him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.postville.k12.ia.us/high/|title=High School|publisher=[[Postville Community School District]]|date=2001-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010303075142/http://www.postville.k12.ia.us/high/|access-date=2020-04-07|archive-date=2001-03-03}} - The link for Mott [https://web.archive.org/web/20000620121115/http://www.nobel.se/laureates/peace-1946-2-bio.html goes to this page]</ref>

==Writings==
*[[The Evangelization of the World in This Generation]] (1900)
*[[The Decisive Hour of Christian Missions]] (1910)
*[[World Student Christian Federation]]  (1920)
*[[Cooperation and the World Mission]] (1935)
*[[Methodists United for Action]] (1939)
*[[The Larger Evangelism]] (1945)

==See also==
* [[1910 World Missionary Conference]]
* [[Christian ecumenism]]
* [[History of religion in the United States]]
* [[International student ministry]]
*[[List of peace activists]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Cracknell, Kenneth and Susan J. White. ''An Introduction to World Methodism''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0-521-81849-4}}.
* Fisher, Galen Merriam. ''John R. Mott: Architect of Cooperation and Unity''.  New York: Association Press, 1953.
* Hopkins, Charles Howard. ''John R. Mott, 1865–1955''. Eerdmans, 1979. {{ISBN|0-8028-3525-2}}.
* Hopkins, C. Howard. ''History of the Y.M.C.A. in North America'' (1951)
* Mackie, Robert C. ''Layman Extraordinary: John R. Mott, 1865–1955''. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1965.
* [[Basil Joseph Mathews|Mathews, Basil Joseph]]. ''John R. Mott: World Citizen''. New York, Harper, 1934.

===Primary sources===
* Mott, John Raleigh. ''The Future Leadership of the Church'' (1909) [https://books.google.com/books?id=T10wAQAAMAAJ&dq=Mott,+John+R&pg=PA3 online].
* Mott, John Raleigh. ''The Evangelization of the World in This Generation''.  Arno, 1972. {{ISBN|0-405-04078-4}}.
* Mott, John R. ''Five decades and a forward view'' (1939), autobiography.

==External links==
{{Commons category|John Raleigh Mott}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{Nobelprize}}
* [https://www.wscf.ch/ World Student Christian Federation]
{{Nobel Peace Prize laureates}}
{{1946 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Portal bar|Christianity|Biography|United States}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mott, John}}
[[Category:YMCA leaders]]
[[Category:1865 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:Methodists from Iowa]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:Nobel Peace Prize laureates]]
[[Category:People from Livingston Manor, New York]]
[[Category:People from Rockland, New York]]
[[Category:People of the World Council of Churches]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]
[[Category:Upper Iowa University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Postville, Iowa]]
[[Category:American Methodist missionaries]]
[[Category:World Christianity scholars]]
[[Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Burials at Washington National Cathedral]]