John Watson Foster

John Watson Foster (March 2 1836 – November 15 1917) was an American diplomat, lawyer, journalist, and military officer who served as the United States Secretary of State from 1892 to 1893 under President Benjamin Harrison. Prior to his brief tenure in Washington’s highest foreign‑policy office, Foster held several ambassadorial appointments, including posts in Mexico, Russia, and Spain. After leaving public service he continued to practice law in Washington, D.C., authored a number of works on diplomacy, and maintained close ties with prominent diplomatic families.

Early life and career

Foster was born on March 2 1836 in the small town of Petersburg, Indiana, and grew up in nearby Evansville. His father, Matthew Watson Foster, worked as a farmer, merchant, and judge, while his mother was Eleanor Johnson. The family’s modest background did not deter Foster from pursuing higher education; he enrolled at the fledgling Indiana University Bloomington, where he graduated in 1855. After completing his undergraduate studies, he attended Harvard Law School, an institution that had only recently begun to attract students from the Midwest.

Following his legal training, Foster moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he established a private law practice. In 1861, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, he volunteered for the Union Army. Initially commissioned as a major, he advanced through the ranks to become a colonel. He served with several Indiana volunteer units: the 25th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, the 65th Indiana Volunteer Mounted Infantry, and the 136th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His troops were among the first Union forces to enter Knoxville, Tennessee, after General Ambrose Burnside’s successful campaign in East Tennessee.

After the war, Foster returned to his home state of Indiana. He resumed his legal practice while also taking on editorial responsibilities for the Evansville Daily Journal from 1865 to 1869. Through the newspaper he promoted Republican Party ideals and supported political causes aligned with the party’s platform during the Reconstruction era. His wartime service earned him membership in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, a society composed of officers who had served in the Union armed forces.

In 1859 Foster married Mary Parke McFerson; together they had several children, though three did not survive to adulthood. He sent one son to Princeton University and remained close to his daughters’ grandchildren, sharing stories of frontier life and foreign affairs that would later influence their own careers in public service.

Cabinet tenure

Foster’s diplomatic career began under President Ulysses S. Grant. In 1873 he was appointed United States Ambassador to Mexico, a position he held until 1880. The following year he served briefly as ambassador to Russia (1880–1881). After President Chester A. Arthur took office, Foster was named Ambassador to Spain, serving from 1883 to 1885.

During the administration of President Benjamin Harrison, Foster worked within the State Department in a capacity described as “trouble‑shooter.” On June 29 1892 he succeeded James Gillespie Blaine—who had died of Bright’s disease—as Secretary of State. His appointment was confirmed by the Senate and his term lasted until February 23 1893, when Harrison’s presidency ended. While in office Foster was involved in diplomatic actions that led to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.

Following his departure from public office, Foster remained active in Washington’s legal and diplomatic circles. He developed a new form of legal practice focused on lobbying for large corporations seeking governmental favors and opportunities abroad. Leveraging his extensive contacts, he secured legal fees as counsel to several foreign legations and continued to serve presidents part‑time on diplomatic missions. In this capacity he negotiated trade agreements with eight countries, brokered a treaty concerning seal hunting in the Bering Sea between Britain and Russia, and participated in negotiations of unequal treaties involving China, acting as a legal consultant and commissioner for the Qing Dynasty. He also attempted to persuade Yuan Shikai to launch a military coup against the Qing dynasty shortly before the Treaty of Shimonoseki concluded the First Sino‑Japanese War.

Foster was an active writer on diplomatic subjects. His publications include *American Diplomacy in the Orient* (1903), *Arbitration and the Hague Court* (1904), and *The Practice of Diplomacy as Illustrated in the Foreign Relations of the United States* (1906). He also contributed the introduction to the first edition of *The Memoirs of Li Hung Chang*, a work later revealed to contain forged material.

Legacy

Foster’s family connections extended into subsequent generations of American diplomacy and intelligence. His daughter Edith married Presbyterian minister Allen Macy Dulles; their children included John Foster Dulles, who would become U.S. Secretary of State, and Allen Welsh Dulles, later Director of Central Intelligence. Another daughter, Eleanor, married State Department legal advisor Robert Lansing, who also served as Secretary of State; their niece, Eleanor Lansing Dulles, became an economist and diplomat. Foster was the great‑grandfather of Cardinal Avery Dulles, a noted Catholic theologian.

He died in Washington, D.C., on November 15 1917. His body was returned to Evansville, Indiana, where he is interred at Oak Hill Cemetery—a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places for Vanderburgh County. Foster’s career spanned military service, legal practice, journalism, and high‑level diplomacy, reflecting a broad engagement with American public life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.