Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Acton Line podcast: The man vs. the myth: Who was John Foster Dulles?
Acton Line podcast: The man vs. the myth: Who was John Foster Dulles?
Jan 10, 2026 11:24 AM

If you’ve traveled to Washington, D.C., before, it’s likely that you’ve flown through Washington Dulles International Airport, named after President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. In fact, more than 60,000 people travel through Dulles airport every day, but not many people know much about its namesake. John Foster Dulles served in the early years of the Cold War and pursued a vigorous foreign policy meant to isolate and undermine international, expansionist Communism. Undergirding his foreign policy was mitment to natural law, a realistic understanding of human nature, and a clear vision of freedom. Since his death in 1959, Dulles has been characterized only as a dour, puritanical, and simple man. Joining the podcast today to shed more light on the life of Dulles is John D. Wilsey, associate professor of church history at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In this conversation, John brings perspective to Dulles’ legacy, uncovering both his public and private life, and showing how simple explanations of Dulles don’t help us accurately understand the man or his times.

Avery Cardinal Dulles (1918-2008)

The text of the Auburn Affirmation

“Shall the Fundamentalists Win?”: Defending Liberal Protestantism in the 1920s

Podcast: John Foster Dulles and America’s Great Commission – A Historical Case Study in the Contact Between American Civil Religion and Protestant Theology

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen

Podcast: John Wilsey on American Exceptionalism & Civil Religion

New to the Acton Line podcast? Subscribe here! We also mend starting with these episodes:

Do you have feedback for the Acton Line podcast team? We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]. If you like Acton Line, don’t forget to leave a rating and review on the Apple podcast app!

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Black Marriage Matters
Brittney C. Cooper, Assistant professor of Women’s and Gender studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University, writes at Ebony that President Obama is being unfair to the munity by pointing out that many of the violence-related pathologies in inner cities are a result of fatherlessness. Cooper objects saying, Instead when the president began by suggesting that we need to “do more to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood,” I started shaking my head. Rather than empathizing with those Black families that...
Calvin Coolidge: A Rare Kind of Hero
Calvin Coolidge is ripe for national recognition and his wisdom is being sought out perhaps now more than ever. If you’re a voracious reader mentary and columns you’ve noticed mon sense adages are being unearthed at a rapid pace. Most of the credit and recognition for the Coolidge revival goes to Amity Shlaes. Her newly released and splendid biography Coolidge can’t be mended enough. (Full review on the PowerBlog ing) Coolidge was the last president to oversee federal budget surpluses...
Commentary: Is America the Federal Government?
“While president, Calvin Coolidge warned Americans that if it was thefederalgovernment that came to their mind when they thought of ‘the government,’ it would prove costly,” writes Ray Nothstine in this week’s Acton Commentary. But as Nothstine points out,everywhere we turn the federal government is increasingly visible and intrusive.The full text of his essay follows. Subscribe to the free, weekly Acton News & Commentary and other publicationshere. Is America the Federal Government? byRay Nothstine Writing about his observations of America...
From the Roots of Society to the Fruits of Discipleship
I recently wrote about the need to reach beyond an earthbound economics, re-orienting our thinking around a more transcendent framework that requires active spiritual engagement and discernment. Even as Christians, far too often we set our focus too strongly on temporal features like material needs, happiness, and quality of life—all of e into play accordingly—without first concerning ourselves with what God is actually calling us to do as individuals. Transcendent ends will e from transcendent beginnings, and those beginnings will...
Check Your Rhetoric: What Common Good?
According to Daly, Soviet government sought to dictate every aspect of life in the name of mon good, including the indexing of Soviet publications by libraries. He writes, “[I]f Soviet publications failed to end up in libraries, then, as Lenin railed, ‘we have to know precisely whom to imprison.'”In the Winter-Fall 2012 issue of Modern Age (54, nos. 1-4), Jonathan Daly contributes a helpful exploration of what happens when desire for mon good goes bad. His article, “Bolshevik Power and...
Radio Free Acton Podcast: Reflecting on the Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI Part 2
The latest Radio Free Acton Podcast is part 2 of “Reflecting on the Legacy of Pope Benedict.” Director of Research Samuel Gregg and Research Fellow Michael Matheson Miller discuss the ing papal conclave. They explain the process that will be used to choose Benedict XVI’s successor and what should be on the cardinals minds as they go about this process. Click the play button below to enjoy the podcast: ...
Toiling for Pharaoh
My friend John Teevan of Grace College sends out a monthly newsletter, “Economic Prospect.” He passes along this in the current edition: I found this note from a newly retired accountant (age 66) who has not gone on social security yet. His e as a part-time accountant in his town was $60,000. “My e is $60,000 and my IRS taxes are 10,000, my FICA deduction is $8,000, my state e tax is $2500, and my property tax is $6000. So...
How to Become Pope
While most Catholics are likely to already be familiar with the process, my fellow Protestants will likely find this video on how the pope is selected to be helpful and informative. ...
The Image of God and the Dignity of Work
Being made in the image of God, says Art Lindsley, is a powerful concept for finding our vocations and living a purposeful life. While the image of God remains after the Fall, it is certainly marred and defaced. As we are redeemed, what will we look like when the process pleted? As God restores us, our unique design in the image of God will shine even more brightly, and our gifts will reach their full potential. We will also look...
Vice, Virtue, and Shareholder Activism
King Louis XIV censored Moliere’s 1664 play Tartuffe after determining audience members might too easily confuse the titular priest’s hypocritical nature with every priest in real life. According to the king, some priests’ “true devotion leads on the path to heaven,” while others’ “vain ostentation of some good works does not prevent mitting some bad ones.” The king’s judgment in many ways also describes individuals who pursue their religious vocations while simultaneously championing secular causes such as proxy shareholder resolutions....
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved