Allen Dulles led a remarkable life as an active member of both the foreign policy establishment and the US intelligence community. He was deeply involved in US covert action as early as World War II, but most prominently in the US-backed coups that overthrew democratic governments in Iran and Guatemala. To what extent was Dulles responsible for these actions, and how did Dulles interact with the rest of the Eisenhower administration, particularly with his brother, the Secretary of State? How do historians deal with these complicated questions, and with a lack of complete sources?
This website explores the career of Allen Dulles, his relationship with his brother, John Foster Dulles, and his relationship with strategic intelligence, which he used as a tool to influence policy, to answer these questions.
This website explores the career of Allen Dulles, his relationship with his brother, John Foster Dulles, and his relationship with strategic intelligence, which he used as a tool to influence policy, to answer these questions.
RESOURCES ON ALLEN W. DULLES
Book: Gentleman SpyPeter Grose's lengthy biography of Dulles presents a comprehensive and relatively recent look into his life. While lengthy, it is well-organized into relevant sections and extremely detailed.
Full citation: Grose, Peter. Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Cover page downloaded from HathiTrust. Image links to original source. |
CIA Internal History of Allen DullesThis report by the CIA was produced in 1973 by the CIA and covers Dulles's leadership of the agency. Volume I focuses on Dulles himself, but the entire collection is useful. The report was declassified in 1994.
Link to the National Archives collection page. Cover page downloaded from the National Archives. Image links to original source. |
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF ALLEN DULLES
Allen Dulles was born in 1893, five years after his brother John Foster Dulles, to a family with an existing diplomatic legacy. His maternal grandfather was John W. Foster, namesake of Allen’s brother and US Secretary of State;[1] like his grandchildren, John W. Foster was also involved in pushing US interests in Latin America, albeit in the 1880s.[2] The brothers were also nephews of Robert Lansing,[3] another Secretary of State who served under Woodrow Wilson. Allen and his brother quickly integrated themselves into the foreign policy establishment. After leaving Princeton, which both brothers attended, and travelling, Allen “joined the Foreign Service” and was stationed in Switzerland during the First World War, [4] a country to which he would return several times throughout his long career. Early on, Allen analyzed and commented on US grand strategy, envisioning an American “obligation and opportunity… to put the world in order again” in the aftermath of World War I,[5] and, following in his uncle’s footsteps, displaying disdain of “devious” European foreign policy.[6]
During the interwar years Allen Dulles remained part of the foreign policy establishment, though not always in the public sector. He worked for the State Department from 1922 to 1926 while working on a law degree, then left the government for private practice alongside his elder brother.[7] In 1927, he became a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, of which he had already been a member.[8] In the 1930s, he “coauthored two books… critical of American reluctance to become involved in European affairs,”[9] further solidifying his outward view of American international responsibility. From early on, he was clearly thinking long and hard about US foreign policy and remained active in those circles throughout his career.
Dulles made a personal commitment to his idea of US responsibility and returned to intelligence work after the United States entered World War II.[10] Once again operating out of Switzerland, his unit “established contact with opponents of Hitler and gathered information about the Nazi regime,”[11] work that he would repeat many times elsewhere. Allen was critical to the success of Operation Sunrise, an OSS project that ultimately “[brought] about the surrender of German forces in Italy,” and which had substantial foreign policy implications.[12] This is perhaps the first example of Allen Dulles directly being seen as an instrument of foreign policy, as “Stalin complained bitterly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the United States, through Dulles [emphasis added], had excluded the Soviets” from the surrender.[13] Whether or not this was intentional on Dulles’s part, or that of his superiors, is unclear, but during his time in the OSS, “Dulles became increasingly concerned about the global expansion of communism.”[14]This belief would only be reaffirmed during his subsequent years as CIA director, and would serve as a powerful motivator for his belief in a US foreign policy duty.
In 1951, Dulles joined the CIA, and in 1953 “was appointed [Director of Central Intelligence].”[15] It was from this position, alongside his brother, then Secretary of State, that Allen would make his largest impact on US foreign policy. With a strong belief in the utility of clandestine operations, which would be reinforced by lucky successes in Iran and Guatemala that he personally oversaw, Allen oversaw the development and consolidation of the Central Intelligence Agency as a powerful and active arm of American foreign policy. Likewise, his belief in the importance of providing accurate intelligence led him to decisions that had their own foreign policy ramifications. These two issues would come to a head in Cuba, where the great failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion resulted in his resignation as DCI, and where the crash of a U2 spy plane would strain the already boiling tensions of the Cuban missile crisis. After the bungled invasion Attempt and his departure from the CIA, Dulles went into retirement and wrote a book on intelligence gathering.[16]
[1] David P. Hadley, The Rising Clamor: The American Press, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Cold War(Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2019), 44. Ebook. Accessed via ProQuest Ebook Central.
[2] Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 288.
[3] Ibid., 416.
[4] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 44.
[5] Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 416.
[6] Ibid., 440.
[7] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh,” published online February 2000. https://www-anb-org.envoy.dickinson.edu/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0700084?rskey=r5vgAn&result=2.
[8] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 44.
[9] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh.”
[10] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 45.
[11] Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 543.
[12] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 20-21.
[13] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh.” Also mentioned in Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 586.
[14] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh.”
[15] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 45.
[16] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh.”
During the interwar years Allen Dulles remained part of the foreign policy establishment, though not always in the public sector. He worked for the State Department from 1922 to 1926 while working on a law degree, then left the government for private practice alongside his elder brother.[7] In 1927, he became a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, of which he had already been a member.[8] In the 1930s, he “coauthored two books… critical of American reluctance to become involved in European affairs,”[9] further solidifying his outward view of American international responsibility. From early on, he was clearly thinking long and hard about US foreign policy and remained active in those circles throughout his career.
Dulles made a personal commitment to his idea of US responsibility and returned to intelligence work after the United States entered World War II.[10] Once again operating out of Switzerland, his unit “established contact with opponents of Hitler and gathered information about the Nazi regime,”[11] work that he would repeat many times elsewhere. Allen was critical to the success of Operation Sunrise, an OSS project that ultimately “[brought] about the surrender of German forces in Italy,” and which had substantial foreign policy implications.[12] This is perhaps the first example of Allen Dulles directly being seen as an instrument of foreign policy, as “Stalin complained bitterly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the United States, through Dulles [emphasis added], had excluded the Soviets” from the surrender.[13] Whether or not this was intentional on Dulles’s part, or that of his superiors, is unclear, but during his time in the OSS, “Dulles became increasingly concerned about the global expansion of communism.”[14]This belief would only be reaffirmed during his subsequent years as CIA director, and would serve as a powerful motivator for his belief in a US foreign policy duty.
In 1951, Dulles joined the CIA, and in 1953 “was appointed [Director of Central Intelligence].”[15] It was from this position, alongside his brother, then Secretary of State, that Allen would make his largest impact on US foreign policy. With a strong belief in the utility of clandestine operations, which would be reinforced by lucky successes in Iran and Guatemala that he personally oversaw, Allen oversaw the development and consolidation of the Central Intelligence Agency as a powerful and active arm of American foreign policy. Likewise, his belief in the importance of providing accurate intelligence led him to decisions that had their own foreign policy ramifications. These two issues would come to a head in Cuba, where the great failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion resulted in his resignation as DCI, and where the crash of a U2 spy plane would strain the already boiling tensions of the Cuban missile crisis. After the bungled invasion Attempt and his departure from the CIA, Dulles went into retirement and wrote a book on intelligence gathering.[16]
[1] David P. Hadley, The Rising Clamor: The American Press, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Cold War(Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2019), 44. Ebook. Accessed via ProQuest Ebook Central.
[2] Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 288.
[3] Ibid., 416.
[4] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 44.
[5] Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 416.
[6] Ibid., 440.
[7] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh,” published online February 2000. https://www-anb-org.envoy.dickinson.edu/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0700084?rskey=r5vgAn&result=2.
[8] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 44.
[9] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh.”
[10] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 45.
[11] Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 543.
[12] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 20-21.
[13] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh.” Also mentioned in Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 586.
[14] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh.”
[15] Hadley, The Rising Clamor, 45.
[16] American National Biography Online, s.v. “Dulles, Allen Walsh.”