John W. Foster

Portrait of U.S. Secretary of State John W. Foster

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

Born in Evansville, Indiana he was first a lawyer and then served as general for the Union in the American Civil War. Following the war he worked as a journalist, editing the Evansville Daily Journal from 1865 to 1869 Thereafter he was the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (1873-1880), the U.S. Ambassador to Russia (1880-1881) and the U.S. Ambassador to Spain (1883-1885). In 1892 and 1893 he served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison. He also helped the Qing in drafting the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 as a legal consultant and commissioner.

His grandsons include John Foster Dulles, who also became a U.S. Secretary of State, and Allen Welsh Dulles, a Director of Central Intelligence.

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