John W. Foster

John Watson Foster
32nd United States Secretary of State
In office June 29, 1892 – February 23, 1893
Preceded by	James G. Blaine
Succeeded by	Walter Q. Gresham
Personal details
Born	(1836-03-02)March 2, 1836 Petersburg, Indiana, U.S.
Died	November 15, 1917(1917-11-15) (aged 81) U.S.
Political party	Republican
Profession	Lawyer, General, Politician
Military service
Branch/service	Union Army
Battles/wars	American Civil War

John Watson Foster (March 2, 1836 – November 15, 1917) was an American general, journalist and diplomat.

Born in Pike County, Indiana, and raised in Evansville, he was a lawyer. During the American Civil War, he was a general officer for the Union.^[1] The Civil war ended in 1865. Between 1865 and 1869, Foster worked as a journalist for the Evansville Daily Journal.^[2] After that, he was the U.S. Minister to Mexico (1873-1880), Russia (1880-1881) and Spain (1883-1885).^[2] He was U.S. Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison from 1892-1893.^[2] In 1895, he helped the Qing Dynasty in drafting the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895. He worked for the Chinese as a legal consultant and commissioner.^[2]

His grandchildren included John Foster Dulles, who also became a U.S. Secretary of State,^[2] Allen Welsh Dulles, a Director of Central Intelligence,^[3] and Eleanor Lansing Dulles, economist and diplomat.^[4] He is also the great-grandfather of the Catholic theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles.^[3]

1. ↑ "The Political Graveyard". Retrieved 2010-01-08.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} "John W. Foster". Archived from the original on 2010-04-07. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Cardinal Avery Dulles dies". Retrieved 2010-01-08.
4. ↑ "Selected Papers of John W. Foster". Archived from the original on 2010-07-15. Retrieved 2010-01-08.