John Watson Foster (March 2, 1836–November 15, 1917) was an American military man, journalist and diplomat.
Born in Evansville, Indiana he was first a lawyer and then served as general for the Union in the American Civil War. Following the war he worked as a journalist, editing the Evansville Daily Journal from 1865 to 1869 Thereafter he was the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (1873-1880), the U.S. Ambassador to Russia (1880-1881) and the U.S. Ambassador to Spain (1883-1885). In 1892 and 1893 he served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison. He also helped the Qing in drafting the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 as a legal consultant and commissioner.
One of his grandsons was John Foster Dulles, another U.S. Secretary of State.
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