John W. Foster

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

John Foster
United States Minister to Mexico
In office
June 16, 1873 – March 2, 1880
PresidentUlysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded byThomas H. Nelson
Succeeded byPhilip H. Morgan
Personal details
Born
John Watson Foster

(1836-03-02)March 2, 1836
Petersburg, Indiana, U.S.
DiedNovember 15, 1917(1917-11-15) (aged 81)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Mary Parke McFerson
​
(m. 1859)​
Children2
EducationIndiana University, Bloomington (BA)
Harvard University (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance United States
 • Union
Branch/service United States Army
 • Union Army
Years of service1861–1865
Rank Colonel
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

John Watson Foster (March 2, 1836 – November 15, 1917) was an American diplomat and military officer, as well as a lawyer and journalist. His highest public office was

U.S. secretary of state under Benjamin Harrison
, although he also proved influential as a lawyer in technically private practice in the international relations sphere.

Early life

Major Foster during the Civil War

Foster was born on March 2, 1836, in

Cincinnati, Ohio
, to begin his legal career.

In 1861, Foster volunteered in the Union Army in the American Civil War.[2] Initially commissioned as a major, he rose to the rank of colonel, serving with the 25th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, the 65th Indiana Volunteer Mounted Infantry and the 136th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Foster's troops became the first to enter Knoxville, Tennessee, after the successful campaign by General Ambrose Burnside.

Foster was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States - a military society of officers who had served in the Union armed forces during the Civil War.

After the war, Foster returned to Indiana and (in addition to his legal practice) edited the Evansville Daily Journal. He used the paper to promote the Republican Party from 1865 to 1869.

Washington career

Foster moved to

United States Ambassador to Spain
(1883–1885).

In

James Gillespie Blaine, who had succumbed to Bright's disease, of which he later died. As Secretary of State, Foster "helped direct the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy."[4]
: 11 

After leaving public office, Foster remained in Washington and invented a new type of legal practice, lobbying for large "corporations seeking favors in Washington and chances to expand abroad."

Qing Dynasty, requiring China to cede land, pay reparations, open treaty ports, or grant extraterritorial privileges to foreign citizens.[5]

Shortly before the Treaty of Shimonoseki ended the First Sino-Japanese War, Foster tried to convince Yuan Shikai to launch a military coup against the Qing dynasty.[6]: 44 

In 1903, Foster published American diplomacy in the Orient, followed in 1904 by Arbitration and the Hague Court. In 1906, he wrote The practice of diplomacy as illustrated in the foreign relations of the United States.[7] Foster wrote many other books.

Family

Foster married

Cardinal Avery Dulles
.

Death and legacy

Foster died in Washington, D.C., on November 15, 1917. His body was returned to Evansville, Indiana, where it remains in Oak Hill Cemetery, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for Vanderburgh County.[9]

References

  1. ISSN 0002-9300
    .
  2. ^ a b "Biographies of the Secretaries of State: John Watson Foster". U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  3. ^ Haddock, John A. (1895). The Growth of a Century As Illustrated in the History of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793-1894, Weed-Parsons Printing Company, Albany, NY, p. 574
  4. ^ a b Kinzer, Steven (2013). The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War. Times Books l.
  5. ^ "John W. Foster". Internet Accuracy Project. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  6. ISBN 978-1-350-23394-2
    .
  7. ^ Foster, John Watson (1906). The practice of diplomacy as illustrated in the foreign relations of the United States. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
  8. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7
    .
  9. Evansville Press
    . November 15, 1917. p. 1. Retrieved March 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

External links
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
U.S. Minister to Mexico

1873–1880 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
U.S. Minister to Russia

1880–1881 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
U.S. Minister to Spain

1883–1885 		Succeeded by
Jabez L. M. Curry
Political offices
Preceded by U.S. Secretary of State
Served under: Benjamin Harrison
1892–1893 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_W._Foster&oldid=1212042894"