John Watson Foster (March 2, 1836 – November 15, 1917) was an American diplomat, military officer, lawyer and journalist who wasU.S. secretary of state from 1892 to 1893, under PresidentBenjamin Harrison. He was influential as a lawyer in technically private practice in the international relations sphere.

John Foster
32ndUnited States Secretary of State
In office June 29, 1892 – February 23, 1893
President	Benjamin Harrison
Preceded by	James G. Blaine
Succeeded by	Walter Q. Gresham
24thUnited States Minister to Spain
In office June 16, 1883 – August 28, 1885
President	Chester A. Arthur Grover Cleveland
Preceded by	Hannibal Hamlin
Succeeded by	Jabez Curry
United States Minister to Russia
In office June 11, 1880 – August 1, 1881
President	Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield
Preceded by	Edwin W. Stoughton
Succeeded by	William H. Hunt
United States Minister to Mexico
In office June 16, 1873 – March 2, 1880
President	Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded by	Thomas H. Nelson
Succeeded by	Philip H. Morgan
Personal details
Born	John Watson Foster (1836-03-02)March 2, 1836 Petersburg, Indiana, U.S.
Died	November 15, 1917(1917-11-15) (aged 81) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mary Parke McFerson ​ (m. 1859)​
Children	2
Education	Indiana University Bloomington (BA) Harvard University (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States  •Union
Branch/service	United States Army  •Union Army
Years of service	1861–1865
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Foster was born on March 2, 1836, inPetersburg, Indiana, and raised inEvansville, Indiana.^[1] He was the son of Matthew Watson Foster, an Indiana farmer, merchant, and judge, and the former Eleanor Johnson. He graduated from the fledglingIndiana University Bloomington in 1855, but decided not to become a preacher as his parents hoped. Instead, Foster attendedHarvard Law School, then moved toCincinnati, Ohio, to begin his legal career.

In 1861, Foster volunteered in theUnion Army in theAmerican Civil War.^[2] Initially commissioned as a major, he rose to the rank of colonel, serving with the25th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, the65th Indiana Volunteer Mounted Infantry and the136th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Foster's troops became the first to enterKnoxville, Tennessee, after the successful campaign by GeneralAmbrose Burnside.

Foster was a member of theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States - a military society of officers who had served in the Union armed forces during the Civil War.

After the war, Foster returned to Indiana and (in addition to his legal practice) edited theEvansville Daily Journal. He used the paper to promote theRepublican Party from 1865 to 1869.

Foster moved to Washington, D.C., under PresidentUlysses S. Grant, and had a summer home inHenderson Harbor, New York.^[3] As a reward for his political service after the Republican Party split in 1872 as a result of scandals and rampant corruption in Grant's first administration, which even reached Vice PresidentSchuyler Colfax and had caused reformers to nominateHorace Greeley in futile opposition to Grant's second term, successive Republican Presidents Grant,Rutherford B. Hayes andJames A. Garfield appointed Foster theU.S. Ambassador to Mexico (1873–1880), thento Russia (1880–1881). PresidentChester A. Arthur made Foster theUnited States Ambassador to Spain (1883–1885).

InBenjamin Harrison's administration, Foster served as a State Department "trouble shooter" before becomingSecretary of State for the final six months of Harrison's term (from June 29, 1892, to February 23, 1893). As such, Foster replacedJames Gillespie Blaine, who had succumbed toBright's disease, of which he later died. As Secretary of State, Foster "helped direct the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy."^[4]: 11

After leaving public office, Foster remained in Washington and invented a new type of legal practice, lobbying for large "corporations seeking favors in Washington and chances to expand abroad."^[4]: 12 Foster also used his government and political contacts to secure legal fees as counsel to several foreign legations. He also continued to serve presidents part-time on diplomatic missions. As such, Foster negotiated trade agreements with eight countries, brokered a treaty with Britain and Russia concerning seal hunting in theBering Sea, and negotiated one of the manyunequal treaties between imperial powers and China, technically as legal consultant and commissioner for theQing Dynasty, requiring China to cede land, pay reparations, open treaty ports, or grant extraterritorial privileges to foreign citizens.^[5]

Shortly before theTreaty of Shimonoseki ended theFirst Sino-Japanese War, Foster tried to convinceYuan Shikai to launch a military coup against the Qing dynasty.^[6]: 44

In 1903, Foster publishedAmerican diplomacy in the Orient, followed in 1904 byArbitration and the Hague Court. In 1906, he wroteThe practice of diplomacy as illustrated in the foreign relations of the United States.^[7] Foster wrote many other books.

He wrote the introduction of the first version ofThe Memoirs of Li Hung Chang, which was later revealed to be a forgery.^[8]

Foster marriedMary Parke McFerson in 1859.^[9] Three of Foster's children never reached adulthood. Foster sent his son toPrinceton. Foster doted on his daughters' grandchildren, regaling them with tales of life on the frontier as well as in foreign lands (of which he retained many curios). His daughter Edith Foster marriedPresbyterian minister Allen Macy Dulles, and their children includedJohn Foster Dulles (who also became a U.S. Secretary of State) andAllen Welsh Dulles, (Director of Central Intelligence). Foster's daughter Eleanor married State Department legal advisorRobert Lansing (who later also served as U.S. Secretary of State); their nieceEleanor Lansing Dulles became an economist and diplomat.^[2] Foster was also the great-grandfather of the noted Catholic convert and theologianCardinalAvery Dulles.

Foster died in Washington, D.C., on November 15, 1917. His body was returned to Evansville, Indiana, where it remains inOak Hill Cemetery, which is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places for Vanderburgh County.^[10]

• Devine, Michael (1981).John W. Foster: Politics and Diplomacy in the Imperial Era, 1837–1917. London: The Ohio University Press.ISBN 0-8214-0437-7.

•   Media related toJohn W. Foster at Wikimedia Commons
•   Works by or aboutJohn Watson Foster atWikisource
• Works by John W. Foster atLibriVox (public domain audiobooks)