JOHN WATSON FOSTER DULLES
John W. F. Dulles died at North Central Baptist Hospital, San Antonio, Monday, June 23, 2008 at approximately 1:20 am CDT
Professor Dulles was the first born son of former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Janet Pomeroy Avery. He was born in 1913 in Auburn, New York.
He attended St. Bernard's School in New York City and the Gunnery School in Washington, Conn. before earning a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University in 1935. He received his MBA from Harvard University in 1937. After several years at the Bank of New York, and at Callahan Mining Co., Dulles attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering in 1943, followed by an advanced degree in Metallurgical Engineering in 1951.
His mining career began at The Duquesne mine of Patagonia, Ariz. near Nogales, where he mucked the roads to the mine, and then advanced to underground operations.
On June 15, 1940 he married Eleanor Foster Ritter of Philadelphia. The young couple returned to Arizona. Their first and second children, Edith and John, were born in Arizona. In 1943, Mr. Dulles took a position with Cia Minera de Peñoles, S.A. in Monterrey, Mexico where he became the assistant general manager from 1951 to 1959. Dulles’ two other children, Ellen and Avery, were born in Monterrey. His interest in Mexico grew, and he wrote his first book “Yesterday in Mexico: a Chronicle of the Revolution 1919 - 1936.” From 1959 to 1962 he was the executive vice president of Cia Mineracão Novalimense in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The family resided in Rio de Janeiro and once again the history of the country in which he lived opened up a new path for this historian and author.
Dulles became a full-time history professor when he returned to the United States as a professor of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas in 1962 and also the University of Arizona from 1966 to 1991. Mr. Dulles had just finished his forty-fifth year of teaching this past spring at University of Texas at Austin and was planning his fall course material. He published twelve books on the political history of Brazil in the Twentieth Century. “Anarchists and Communists in Brazil, 1900 – 1935” and “Yesterday in Mexico: a Chronicle of the Revolution 1919 – 1936” were seminal works setting the standard for scholarly research on these subjects. His most recent publication “Resisting Brazil's Military Regime: an account of the battles of Sobral Pinto” published in 2007 by the University of Texas Press was the second of a two-volume biography. The book includes much important information regarding Brazil’s struggle for a stable government and the road that has contributed to Brazil’s current success. It is widely understood that Professor Dulles’s research was impeccable.
Other activities, accomplishments and commendations include: Advisor to U.S. delegation to OAS Conference, Viña Del Mar, Chile, 1967; cons. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, 1968 – 1972. He earned the Achievement medal; University of Arizona, 1960, Partners of the Alliance Medal, Brazilian Govt., 1966. Additionally, one of his proudest nominations was that of The American Society of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (knight). Memberships include Fellow CA Institute International Studies; member; American History Association, Texas Institute of Letters, Phi Kappa Phi, Gamma Sigma Epsilon, Theta Tau.
One avocation was tennis, a game he played late into his eighties. Dulles was also an avid correspondent; his scholarly publications, as well as his letters to colleagues and friends, being legendary.
His wife of sixty-eight years, Eleanor Ritter Dulles, died on June 19, four days before his death. His younger sister, Lillias Pomeroy (Dulles) Hinshaw died in 1987.
His younger brother Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. of New York survives him. In addition, four children; Mrs. Edith Lawlis Dulles, Dallas; John F. Dulles II, Denver; Mrs. Ellen Dulles-Coelho, San Antonio; R. Avery Dulles, Austin; nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren survive Mr. Dulles.
A graveside service is planned for Thursday, June 26. Further information on services and wishes of the family may be obtained at www.porterloring.com
