John Foster Dulles

John Foster Dulles (1888-1959), American secretary of state (1953-1959), remembered as an uncompromising foe of communism.

Born February 25, 1888, in Washington, D.C., Dulles was a grandson of John Watson Foster, secretary of state under President Benjamin Harrison, and a nephew of Robert Lansing, secretary of state under President Woodrow Wilson. Educated at Princeton and George Washington universities and at the University of Paris, he began to practice law in New York City in 1911 and subsequently became known as an authority on international law. After serving as an adviser at several post-World War II international conferences, Dulles was appointed to negotiate the U.S. peace treaty with Japan in 1951; two years later he became secretary of state in the cabinet of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

A staunch anti-Communist, Dulles was active in promoting the establishment of the European Defense Community as a barrier to possible Soviet aggression in the West and initiated the formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, or SEATO (1954), and the Baghdād Pact, or Central Treaty Organization (1955), which were designed to contain Soviet and Chinese power in Asia. Although a bitter opponent of the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, he moved quickly to stop the Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt in 1956. Unpopular with U.S. liberals, Dulles caused controversy by his threats of “massive nuclear retaliation” against Communist aggression and by declaring that the U.S. must be prepared to “go to the brink” of war in order to attain its objectives. The latter stance was labeled “brinksmanship.” Dulles resigned from office a few weeks before his death, on May 24, 1959.