John Foster Dulles

Dulles, John Foster 

Born Feb. 25, 1888, in Washington, died there May 24, 1959. US government figure and diplomat; a lawyer by profession.

Dulles was closely linked with influential monopolistic circles and for a number of years (beginning in 1927) headed the large law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, which arranged deals, in particular, between American and German monopolies in the 1920’s and 1930’s. He was director of the international monopoly International Nickel Company, a member of the board of directors of the New York City Bank, and chairman of the board of trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation. Dulles began his diplomatic activity in 1907 as secretary to the US delegation at the Second Hague Conference. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919–20, Dulles was an adviser to the American delegation. In 1924 he participated in drawing up the Dawes plan. After World War II (1939–45) he played a very active role in the preparation of the so-called Marshall Plan and in the organization of the North Atlantic Pact (1949). Between 1953 and 1959 he was US secretary of state. All Dulles’ foreign policy activity was directed against the USSR and the other socialist countries. He initiated and carried out such policies as “[acting] from a position of strength” and “balancing on the brink of war.”

D. S. ASANOV