VIGNETTE OF JOHN FOSTER DULLES

John Foster Dulles, perhaps remembered chiefly in his role as secretary of state under President Eisenhower, although he had had a distinguished legal and diplomatic career before that, was a descendant of a native Hoosier, John W. Foster. Born in Pike County and educated in Evansville schools, young Foster traveled by horse and buggy to enter Indiana University. He graduated in 1855 and married a Bloomington fair lady, daughter of Mrs. E.J. McFerson who conducted a female seminary here, one of the first in the state. He was successively a Harvard law student, colonel of the 136th Indiana Volunteers in the Civil War, editor of the Evansville Journal, postmaster, and chairman of the Republican State Central Committee before President Grant appointed him minister to Mexico. That began his diplomatic career, which reached a high point when he became secretary of state in the cabinet of President Harrison. It is rather remarkable that John Foster’s son-in-law, Robert Lansing, and his grandson, John Foster Dulles, also attained that cabinet post. During periods between diplomatic assignments, John Foster practiced law in Washington, devoting himself to international cases, and served on various treaty commissions. His young grandson, Foster Dulles, when growing up, visited his grandfather frequently and came to admire him with boyish fervor. It was from his grandfather that he received the ambition to train himself in international law and to become secretary of state. In this position Foster Dulles served with vigor and self-assurance, at times viewed as a controversial figure because of his unyielding opposition to the Russians and his policy of containment—but that’s a matter beyond the modest intent of this sketch.

In 1905, on the 50th anniversary of John Foster’s graduation, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at IU’s June Commencement and delivered the Commencement Address. All through the years, he had been an active IU alumnus and supporter, maintaining his friendships with Hoosier classmates. He was said to have been the moving spirit of the Washington alumni group and had served as president of the Alumni Association in 1883. On this 50th anniversary visit, he donated $500, augmented by a like gift from Foster Dulles on his visit in 1955, to create the Foster Prize for the best undergraduate essay each year on American diplomatic history.

When John Foster came to the Commencement in 1905, he was accompanied by his young grandson, Foster Dulles, who was then a sophomore at Princeton. As a consequence of this bit of history and the distinguished record of Foster Dulles and his family, we decided in 1955—the hundredth anniversary of John Foster’s baccalaureate—to give an honorary degree to Foster Dulles. Although busy with his duties as secretary of state and usually reluctant to accept such engagements, he readily agreed to come to Bloomington and give the Baccalaureate Address. It was warmly received by a very large and enthusiastic audience, the ceremony having been moved from the Auditorium to the Fieldhouse to accommodate the crowd. At the ceremony we presented to him a handsomely bound book containing facsimiles of letters his grandfather had written to a friend while Foster was a student at IU. The friend was the grandfather of Helen Elliott and Ruth Hickam, and Helen Elliott had found the letters in the attic of their New Harmony home. He was greatly pleased with it and greatly moved by it. It gave him and members of the Dulles family insights into the early life of their grandfather that they could not have had in any other way.

Foster Dulles was frequently depicted by the press as an arrogant, irascible, and difficult man, but such a description belied the man who came to lunch at Woodburn House following Commencement that day. The setting was rather informal. We had as many guests as we could accommodate seated at small tables throughout the downstairs. Lunch had barely started when Dulles was up, moving from table to table, meeting people in a very warm and informal manner. He was gracious, sensitive, and charming.

I remember another occasion when he received me in the study of his elegant townhouse in New York and asked me to be a delegate to the United Nations. The study in this beautiful home was filled with interesting mementos of his own and his grandfather’s careers. No one could have been more hospitable or more solicitous toward me than Foster Dulles was.

I recall still another occasion, in 1955, when he asked me to go to Beirut to study the American University of Beirut and determine what endowment that institution would need in order to survive its then considerable financial difficulties. A great believer in education, he thought that the American University of Beirut was one of the most important influences for American foreign policy in the Middle East. He thought he could persuade Congress to make an appropriation for an endowment which would free the American University of Beirut from any charge by the Arabs of being under the direct political influence of the American government. Incidentally, the American University was founded in part by reason of the Presbyterian missionary impulse, and Foster Dulles was a good Presbyterian. I made my report in due course, but Dulles was unable to persuade the Congress to make the appropriation.

Much criticized as he was in public life, I found him highly intelligent and well-informed.