John Watson Foster Dulles (May 20, 1913 – June 23, 2008) was an American scholar of Brazilian history.

Biography

Born in

Auburn, New York Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...

, on May 20, 1913, John W.F. Dulles was the son of the former Secretary of State of the United States of America,

John Foster Dulles John Foster Dulles (February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat who served as United States secretary of state under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 until his resignation in 1959. A member of the ...

. In 1935 he graduated in philosophy from Princeton University. He received a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University in 1937 and then joined the

Bank of New York The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY, is an American international financial services company headquartered in New York City. It was established in its current form in July 2007 by the merger of the Bank of New York an ...

, where his father was a director. He worked in a New York mining company where he was sent to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

where he received a bachelor's degree in

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

's School of Mines and Metallurgy in 1943. In 1959 he moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, to fix an unprofitable Hanna Mining Co. gold mine in the country. The task proved too difficult due to the political turbulence in Brazil at the time, so in 1962 he moved to

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

to become a professor of

Latin American studies Latin American studies (LAS) is an academic and research field associated with the study of Latin America. The interdisciplinary study is a subfield of area studies, and can be composed of numerous disciplines such as economics, sociology, histor ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

. His first book, published in 1962, ''Yesterday in Mexico: A Chronicle of the Revolution, 1919–1936'', was the result of conversations with the Mexican president

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Adolfo Tomás Ruiz Cortines ( 30 December 1889 – 3 December 1973) was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1952 to 1958. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he previously served as Governor of Vera ...

. Later on he dedicated himself to the study of Brazilian history, starting with the study about former president

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; ; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Due to his long and contr ...

, entitled ''Vargas of Brazil: a political biography'' in 1967. His works were criticized for having too much description and too little analysis, as well as for not mentioning his and his company's part in the political articulations during the

João Goulart João Belchior Marques Goulart (; 1 March 1919 – 6 December 1976), commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the president of Brazil from 1961 until a military coup d'état deposed him in 1964. He was considered the ...

government.CARRIJO, Maicon Vinícius da Silva. John Watson Foster Dulles (1913–2008): a vocational historian. Estud. hist. (Rio J.) vol.21 no.42 Rio de Janeiro July/Dec. 2008 He died on June 23, 2008, at North Central Baptist Hospital in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

. His cause of death was

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

Works

* ''Yesterday in Mexico: A Chronicle of the Revolution, 1919–1936'' – 1962 * ''Vargas of Brazil: a political biography'' – 1967 * ''Anarchists and communists in Brazil, 1900–1935'' – 1973 * ''Unrest in Brazil: political military crisis, 1955–1964'' – 1980 * ''President Castello Branco: the making of a Brazilian president'' – 1978 * ''President Castello Branco: a Brazilian reformer'' – 1980 * ''Brazilian communism: repression during world upheaval, 1935–1945'' – 1983 * ''A Faculdade de Direito e a resistência anti-Vargas, 1938–1945'' – 1984 * ''Carlos Lacerda, Brazilian cruzader'' – 1991 * ''Castello Branco: o caminho para a presidência'' – 1979 * ''Carlos Lacerda, Brazilian cruzader: the years 1960–1977'' – 1996 * ''Sobral Pinto, a consciência do Brasil: a cruzada contra o regime Vargas (1930–1945)'' – 2001 * ''Resisting Brazil's military regime: an account of the battles of Sobral Pinto'' – 2007

References

External links

John W. F. Dulles Interview
''Pursue The Passion'', 8 October 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dulles, John WF 1913 births 2008 deaths People from Auburn, New York Princeton University alumni 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers University of Texas at Austin faculty Harvard Business School alumni Historians from New York (state) Brazilianists 20th-century American male writers