Universities (at least in the US) tend to give those out to famous people as favors for lecturing there. (As such, having an "honorary" degree doesn't really mean a whole lot).

It appears he did a speaking tour of the US in 1911, and did speak at several universities, so that would be a good place to start looking. I found a dissertation someone did on his speeches from that tour specifically, but it doesn't appear to be available online. My google-fu was only strong enough to ascertain that he did at least talk about California some in the talks.

The only reference I could find to Geneva was that he was there in 1920 when the League of Nations was inaugurated, and became an Undersecretary General for 6 years. It wouldn't be at all surprising if he found some time in the intervening 6 years to speak at the University, nor would it be at all odd for them to give him an honorary degree as part of the deal.

Universities (at least in the US) tend to give those out to famous people as favors for lecturing there. As such, having an "honorary" degree doesn't really mean a whole lot. There wouldn't be much incentive for making up a false story about somebody receiving one.

It appears he did a speaking tour of the US in 1911, and did speak at several universities, so that would be a good place to start looking. I found a dissertation someone did on his speeches from that tour specifically, but it doesn't appear to be available online. My google-fu was only strong enough to ascertain that he did at least talk about California some in the talks.

The only reference I could find to Geneva was that he was there in 1920 when the League of Nations was inaugurated, and became an Undersecretary General for 6 years. It wouldn't be at all surprising if he found some time in the intervening 6 years to speak at the University, nor would it be at all odd for them to give him an honorary degree as part of the deal.