Home > John Foster Dulles

He was also the older brother of Allen Welsh DullesAlan Welsh Dulles ( April 23, 1893 January 29, 1969) was an influential director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1953 to 1961 and a member of the Warren Commission. Dulles was also the younger brother of John Dulles, the contemporary Secretary of, head of the CIA under Eisenhower.

John Foster Dulles, the son of a Presbyterian ministerIn most Protestant churches, a minister is a member of the ordained clergy who leads a congregation; such a person may also be called a Pastor, Preacher, or Elder. In many churches, ministers are required to be seminary-trained although some churches allo, was born in Washington D.C.Washington, DC officially the District of Columbia (also known as DC Washington and, historically, the Federal City is the capital city and administrative district of the United States of America. Residents of the city and its surrounding suburbs refer to, and attended public schoolThe term public school has two contrary meanings: In common British usage, a prestigious historic school open to the public that charges fees and is financed by bodies other than the state, commonly as a private charitable trust; here the word "public" iss in New YorkNew York is a state in the northeastern United States whose U. postal abbreviation is NY . It is sometimes called New York State when there is need to distinguish it from New York City. History See: History of New York New York was one of the thirteen col. After attending Princeton UniversityPrinceton University located in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the eight Ivy League universities. Widely considered one of the world's most prestigious universities, it was founded as the "College of New Jersey" in 1746, and was originally located in El and George Washington University he joined the New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell , where he specialized in international law. He tried to join the United States Army during the First World War but was rejected because of poor eyesight.

In 1918 Woodrow Wilson appointed Dulles as legal counsel to the United States delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference. Afterwards he served as a member of the War Reparations Committee . Dulles, a deeply religious man, attended numerous international conferences of churchmen during the 1920s and 1930s. He also became a partner in the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm.

Dulles was a close associate of Thomas E. Dewey who became the presidential candidate of the Republican Party in 1944. During the election Dulles served as Dewey's foreign policy adviser.

In 1945 Dulles participated in the San Francisco Conference and worked as adviser to Arthur H. Vandenberg and helped draft the preamble to the United Nations Charter. He subsequently attended the United Nations General Assembly as a United States delegate in 1946, 1947 and 1950. He also published War or Peace (1950).

Dulles criticized the foreign policy of Harry S. Truman. He argued that the policy of "containment" should be replaced by a policy of "liberation". When Dwight Eisenhower became President in January, 1953, he appointed Dulles as his Secretary of State.

As Secretary of State Dulles spent considerable time building up NATO as part of his strategy of controlling Soviet expansion by threatening massive retaliation in event of a war. Dulles was also the architect of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) that was created in 1954. The treaty, signed by representatives of the United States, Australia, Britain, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand, provided for collective action against aggression.

Dulles was one of the pioneers of Mutually Assured Destruction and brinkmanship. In an article written for Life Magazine Dulles defined his policy of brinkmanship: "The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art." His critics blamed him for damaging relations with communist states and contributing to the Cold War.

Dulles upset the leaders of several non-aligned countries when on 9 June, 1955, he argued in one speech that "neutrality has increasingly become an obsolete and except under very exceptional circumstances, it is an immoral and shortsighted conception."

In 1956 Dulles strongly opposed the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt (October-November). However, by 1958 he was an outspoken opponent of President Gamal Abdel Nasser and stopped him from receiving weapons from the United States. This policy seemingly backfired, enabling the Soviet Union to gain influence in the Middle East.

Dulles, suffering from cancer, was forced by his declining health to resign from office in April, 1959 and died in Washington on 24 May, 1959.