President Calvin Coolidge was generally inclined to let the country run by itself, and his secretary of state, Frank B. Kellogg, pursued a similar course in international affairs. Yet Kellogg was instrumental in negotiating the Kellogg-Briand Pact, a stunning agreement intended to achieve international peace. The pact was eventually compromised, but it was a major achievement for an administration often accused of doing nothing to lead the country and of being disinterested in foreign affairs.

Frank Billings Kellogg was born in Potsdam, New York, on December 22, 1856. In 1867, the family joined many other Americans moving westward following the Civil War (1861-65). The Kelloggs settled in Minnesota. Frank Kellogg worked on the family farm and had a very general education before moving to Rochester, Minnesota, to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1877. Over the next ten years, he established a modest practice, and...