Dulles, John Foster

Dulles, John Foster (b. 25 Feb. 1888, d. 24 May 1959). US Secretary of State 1953–9 Born in Washington, DC, he was educated at Princeton and the Sorbonne, Paris, before obtaining an LLB degree at George Washington University. He became a successful New York lawyer and was invited to attend the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He returned to private practice between the wars. Through his association with the unsuccessful republican candidate for the presidency, Thomas Dewey, he had become a leading Republican spokesperson on foreign affairs by 1944. By and large, he supported President Truman's bi-partisan approach to foreign policy after World War II. Thus he was called on to draft the Peace Treaty of San Francisco with Japan in 1951. As Secretary of State under Eisenhower he became a keen protagonist of the Cold War. He built up NATO and was largely responsible for SEATO. He advanced beyond the Truman Doctrine of containment by urging that the USA prepare a massive nuclear arms buildup as a deterrent to Soviet aggression, which could be used to support the policy of brinkmanship. He helped formulate the Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957, but his more aggressive anti-Soviet impulses were checked by President Eisenhower. Complementing his anti-Communism was a deep commitment to European integration, a conviction bolstered by his friendship with Jean Monnet.