John Foster Dulles: Address on U.S. Policy toward Communist China

About the Author

Born in Washington, D.C., on February 25, 1888, John Foster Dulles came from a family of clerics and politicians. His father was a Presbyterian minister, and his maternal grandfather served as secretary of state under Benjamin Harrison. Dulles went to Princeton University, followed by George Washington University Law School. With the help of his grandfather, he gained employment at the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm, where he quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming sole managing partner of the firm. Dulles always had political aims, however, and gained experience dealing with politicians under his grandfather's tutelage. He advised Thomas Dewey throughout his election campaign in 1948 and was active in drafting the Charter of the United Nations. He also served as U.S. delegate to the United Nations for three years. He thought his chance to become a major political player had arrived in 1949 when Governor Dewey appointed him as a New York senator after a resignation left the position vacant, but he lost the seat in the following election. He then decided to confine his political activity to appointed positions. When Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1953, he appointed Dulles secretary of state. During his time in that position, Dulles revolutionized American foreign policy and set in motion policy trends that continue to this day. He died shortly after retiring from office, on May 24, 1959.

Dulles was born into privilege, and his ideas, speeches, and writings demonstrate as much. In his youth he attended parties with his grandfather and became acquainted with some of the most powerful men in Washington, including William Howard Taft, Grover Cleveland, and Woodrow Wilson. He did not actually graduate from George Washington Law School, instead opting to take the bar without a degree. When New York law firms did not take him seriously, he turned to his grandfather to secure a position. Despite the low pay he received as a clerk at Sullivan & Cromwell, he lived very well, since his grandfather allowed him access to his inheritance. At the firm he dealt with the international business elite and adopted the belief that American business interests were one and the same with its policy interests. His experience with the moneyed elite influenced his decisions throughout his life as well as his view of world affairs.

Religion also played a major role in shaping Dulles's consciousness. Multiple generations of his family had been clergymen, and he had also planned to enter the clergy until he attended university. Although he dedicated himself to the study of law rather than religion, his commitment to the teachings of the church did not waver. As an adult, he was an elder of the Presbyterian Church and on the board of directors of Union Theological Seminary. Dulles did not see his position as a civil servant as divorced from his religious devotion; on the contrary, he relied upon his religious beliefs to guide his policy decisions.

Dulles formatively altered American foreign policy. While two of the major ideas governing American foreign policy during the cold war, “containment” and “the domino theory,” had already been established when he came into office, Dulles changed the way that these ideas were used in practice. He also introduced new concepts to America's cold war policy. He had a strong conviction that Communism was the greatest danger to the free world, both strategically and morally. He advocated “liberation” in place of containment, for example. The concept most associated with Dulles, however, is “brinkmanship.” With brinkmanship, Dulles advocated bringing the country to the brink of war without ultimately engaging in armed conflict. During his tenure in office, however, Dulles rarely used brinkmanship, instead employing covert action or establishing treaties with other countries.