Dorothy Fosdick was a prominent American foreign policy expert and writer, recognized as a strategist in foreign policy circles. She held a bachelor's degree from Smith College (graduated 1934) and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. In the 1940s, she contributed significantly to major post-World War II initiatives, including the formation of the United Nations, the Marshall Plan, and NATO. She advised Adlai E. Stevenson during his 1952 presidential campaign and published 'Common Sense and World Affairs' in 1955, promoting a realist approach to international relations inspired by Reinhold Niebuhr, which diverged from her father, theologian Harry Emerson Fosdick's pacifist views. Later, she served as a senior foreign policy advisor to Senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson, running his foreign policy staff for decades.