"There is only one defense - a defense compounded of eternal vigilance, sound policies, and high courage,"

stated Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to the Overseas Press Club in New York, March 30, 1954.



John Foster Dulles was born FEBRUARY 25, 1888, in the home of his Civil War general grandfather. His father was a Presbyterian pastor.

John Foster Dulles graduated from Princeton, studied law at George Washington University, and was an Army Major in WWI.

He was elected a U.S. Senator and was appointed by President Wilson as legal counsel to the U.S. delegation at the 1918 Versailles Peace Conference.



John Foster Dulles was foreign policy adviser to New York Governor Thomas Dewey in his campaigns for President in 1944 and 1948.

He took an active role in establishing the Republican plank calling for the establishment of a Jewish commonwealth in Palestine.

He stated at Indiana University, June 13, 1955:

"Our people have always been endowed with a sense of mission in the
world. They have believed that it was their duty to help men everywhere to get the opportunity to be and do what God designed."



Dulles was an adviser to President Truman, voicing his opposition to the U.S. dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, stating:

"If we, as a professedly Christian nation, feel morally free to use atomic energy in that way, men elsewhere will accept that verdict.

Atomic weapons will be looked upon as a normal part of the arsenal of war and the stage will be set for the sudden and final destruction of mankind."

Prayers and Presidents-Inspiring Faith from Leaders of the Past

When the Soviets detonated an atomic bomb in 1949, Dulles became convinced that the U.S. needed a nuclear arsenal to deter Communist expansion, stating April 11, 1955:

"Men face the great dilemma of whether to use force to resist aggression which imposes conditions which violate the moral law and the concept that man has his origins and his destiny in God."

Dulles negotiated the Peace Treaty with Japan.

In a toast to Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stated September 3, 1955:

"War is an awful thing. God grant that we have seen the last of it. But war in this case made the people of our two countries know each other as never before."



He was instrumental in the creation of the United Nations, to which he was the U.S. Ambassador, 1945-49, and served under President Eisenhower as U.S. Secretary of State.

On April 11, 1955, John Foster Dulles addressed the Fifth Annual All-Jesuit Alumni Dinner:

"Peace is a goal which men above always sought. It is a goal which we
particularly think of at this Easter Season when we commemorate the
resurrection of the Prince of Peace."



At the 1954 Geneva Conference, Dulles reportedly refused to shake hands with the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai, as he had been instrumental in consolidating control under Mao Zedong's Communist Party, whose policies resulted in an estimated 80 million deaths.

John Foster Dulles called Communism as "Godless terrorism," stating at the Jesuit Alumni Dinner, April 11, 1955:

"Man, we read in the Holy Scriptures, was made a little lower than the angels. Should man now be made little higher than domesticated animals which serve the purpose of their human masters?"



In 1955, Dulles was named Man of the Year in Time Magazine and in 1959, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom.

Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., is named for him.



"The government of the United States...was founded as an experiment in human liberty," he explained April 11, 1955., continuing:

"Our institutions reflect the belief of our founders that all men were endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights and had duties prescribed by moral law.

They believed that human institutions ought primarily to help men develop their God-given possibilities and that our nation, by its conduct and example, could help men everywhere to find the way to a better and more abundant life.

Our nation...developed...spiritual and economic vigor the like of which the world had never seen."



His son, John W.F. Dulles was a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin; his daughter, Lillias Hinshaw, was a Presbyterian minister; and another son, Avery Dulles, became the first American priest to be directly appointed a Cardinal.



On May 7, 1954, in reply to a question from a Danish student, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stated:

"Neighborly love, in political actions, means loving others, based on
the brotherhood that was created with God as the Father of all.

It means that the political power of any government must be considered an opportunity, not to favor individuals but to do well for all."



Secretary of State John Foster Dulles warned:

"Our institutions of freedom will not survive unless they are constantly replenished by the faith that gave them birth.

Our greatest need is to regain confidence in our spiritual heritage."