John Watson Foster

American lawyer, politician and diplomat (1836-1917)

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Born: March 2, 1836
Died: November 15, 1917
Zodiac sign: Pisces
Birth year: 1836

About John Watson Foster

John Watson Foster was an American diplomat, military officer, lawyer and journalist who was U.S. Secretary of State from 1892 to 1893, under President Benjamin Harrison. He was influential as a lawyer in technically private practice in the international relations sphere. Foster's troops became the first to enter Knoxville, Tennessee, after the successful campaign by General Ambrose Burnside. Shortly before the Treaty of Shimonoseki ended the First Sino-Japanese War, Foster tried to convince Yuan Shikai to launch a military coup against the Qing dynasty.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when John Watson Foster was born

John Watson Foster was born in 1836. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

Top headlineBattle of the Alamo — Texas declares independence
Technology milestoneMorse code developed
World population~1.16B

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderAndrew Jackson
U.S. population15.4M

1836 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in John Watson Foster's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1836	2026
Population	15.4M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.