Annual
award granted by the
New York-based
Appeal of Conscience Foundation, to statesmen and women considered to have made a positive and significant impact on promoting
peace,
tolerance and ethnic conflict resolution. The Foundation was formed in
1965 by
Rabbi Arthur Schneier to promote
freedom,
democracy and
human rights, cornerstones it sees for peace and
prosperity. In addition, people influential in business, non-government organisations and other fields may be awarded the Appeal of Conscience Award or the Appeal of Conscience Public Service Award.
Laurates of these awards include:
Potentates
José María Aznar López (Prime Minister of Spain)
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (President of Brazil)
King Juan Carlos I (King of Spain)
Jean Chrétien (Prime Minister of Canada)
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (Foreign Minister of Germany)
Mikhail Gorbachev (Premier of the Soviet Union)
Vaclav Havel (President of the Czech Republic)
John Howard (Prime Minister of Australia)
Kim Dae-jung (President of the Republic of Korea)
Carlos Saúl Menem (President of Argentina)
K. R. Narayanan (President of India)
Farah Pahlavi (Empress of Iran)
Göran Persson (Prime Minister of Sweden)
Romano Prodi (Prime Minister of Italy)
Nelson A. Rockefeller (Governor of New York, US Vice-President)
Carlos Salinas de Gortari (President of Mexico)
Gerhard Schröder (Chancellor of Germany)
Baroness Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister of Great Britain)
Richard von Weizsäcker (President of Germany)
Captains of Industry
Dr. Josef Ackermann (Chairman of the Group Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank)
Giovanni Agnelli (President of Fiat and Italian senator)
Edwin L. Artzt (Vice Chairman of the Board of Procter and Gamble)
Percy Barnevik (Swedish businessman)
J. P. Bolduc (Director, Unisys)
Sir John Bond (Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation Group Chairman)
Dick Cheney (CEO, Halliburton)
Nicholas T. Camicia (CEO, The Pittston Company)
Carleton S. Fiorina (CEO, Hewlett-Packard)
Malcolm Forbes (the magazine guy)
Michel Fribourg (CEO, ContiGroup)
Tatsuro Goto (President, Hotel Okura)
Armand Hammer (CEO of Occidental Petroleum Company, possible Soviet agent of influence, egomaniac)
Harry B. Helmsley (New York real estate tzar)
William J. Levitt (property developer, of Levittown fame)
Gustav L. Levy
J. W. Marriott (hotel magnate)
Helmut O. Maucher (CEO, Nestle)
John Mosler (CEO of Mosler Safe Company)
Jorma Ollila (CEO, Nokia)
Heinrich v. Pierer (CEO, Siemens)
Jay A. Pritzker (founder of the Hyatt hotel chain)
Baron Guy de Rothschild (partner, Rothschild Investment Bank)
William A. Schreyer (Chairman Emeritus, Merrill Lynch)
Roger Smith (CEO, General Motors)
John F. Smith Jr. (Chairman, General Motors)
Axel Springer (German publisher)
Daniel L. Vasella (CEO, Novartis)
Kay R. Whitmore (CEO, Kodak)
Dr. Rong Yiren (Founder, China International Trust and
Investment Corporation (CITIC))
Senior Religious Figures
Patriarch Aleksy II (head of the Russian Orthodox Church)
Edgar M. Bronfman (President of the World Jewish Congress )
Cardinal Agostino Casaroli (Secretary of State of the Holy See)
Archbishop Iakovos (Archbishop of the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in North and South America)
Laszlo Cardinal Lekai (Cardinal Primate of Hungary)
Vasken I (Supreme Catholicos-Patriarch of all Armenians)
J. Irwin Miller (president of the National Council of Churches, CEO of Cummins Engine Company)
Public Service Mandarins
Herbert Brownwell (US Attorney General)
Angier Biddle Duke (American diplomat)
J. Peter Grace (Chairman of the Advisory Committee of AmeriCares)
Alan Greenspan (Governor of the US Reserve Bank)
W. Averell Harriman (US diplomat)
Henry Kissinger (US Secretary of State)
Robert S. Strauss (US diplomat)
Paul A. Volcker (US Federal Reserve chairman)
Vernon A. Walters (Deputy Director of the CIA)
John C. Whitehead (chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, US deputy Secretary of State)
Misc.
Chingiz Aitmatov (Kirghiz writer)
Robert O. Anderson (Aspen Institute Chairman)
Brooke Astor (Heiress, philanthropist)
Barbara Bush (George W. Bush's mum)
Betty Ford (First Lady, benefactor)
Gilbert Grosvenor (President of the National Geographic Society)
Coretta Scott King (Human Rights Activist)
Mary Lasker (chairman of the board of the American Cancer Society and other medical boards)
Peter G. Peterson (senior chairman, the Blackstone Group)
Carroll and Milton Petrie (philanthropists)
Arthur Ross (philanthropist)
Some cynical souls might call it a right wing version of the Nobel Peace Prize. Barbara Bush, Baron Guy de Rothschild, Henry Kissinger and Roger Smith (of Michael Moore's Roger and Me fame) have received gongs, while others like Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi are notably absent. Even Bill Gates largesse spent on various charities seems to have been ignored.