The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War Hardcover – October 1, 2013

Two of the most powerful men in America during the 1950s were brothers. John Foster Dulles served as Secretary of State under Dwight Eisenhower until Foster’s his death in 1959. His brother, Allen, was the CIA director through Eisenhower’s and the first half of Kennedy’s Presidency. The two had remarkably similar paths to power. Both were Princeton graduates. Both were Presbyterian. Both had spent their civilian careers working for Sullivan and Cromwell, a New York law firm that represented major American interest overseas. Together, seeing the world through a lens of good and evil (good being capitalism and evil communism), their influence was felt around the world and has effected world politics to the present. The two worked together to overthrow a democratically elected government in Guatemala and Iran. They forced out a popular African leader in the Congo, attempted to push out the elected president of Indonesia, and moved America into Vietnam as the French were withdrawing. After Foster’s death, Allen playing this role in foreign governments as the CIA attempted to overthrow Castro in Cuba, leading to the Bay of Pigs fiasco. In addition the brothers also had a talented sister, Eleanor, who played her own role in international affairs, especially in Europe.Kinzer does a commendable job as he draws sources from across the globe to create a portrait of the Brothers at work. The two brothers were raised within the Presbyterian manse. The father was a pastor, who would later become a professor at Auburn Theological Seminary. On their mother’s side of the family, they were descended from two former Secretaries of State. Ironically, their beloved “Grandfather Foster” had been the American Secretary of State who helped overthrow another government, the Hawaiian monarchy. This allowed the American annexation of the islands. Of the two brothers, Foster settled down quickly (marrying a woman his younger brother had rejected). He lived his life devoted to her. Allen, on the other hand, was always having affairs (his wife even became friends with two of his mistresses) and his many liaisons probably included the Queen of Greece.Both brothers began their international interest in the aftermath of the Great War (World War I). In the 1930s, Foster was supportive of Germany (Sullivan and Cromwell had many German clients as well as representing American business with German interests). This led to the one time the two brothers had an open disagreement with Allen asking Foster how he could consider himself a Christian and support what the Germans were doing to the Jews. But soon, this became a moot issue as America was drawn into the war. During the war, Allen, who was always interested in covert work, headed the American spy network in Switzerland. After the war, when the OSS was disbanded, Allen was without a job. In less than a year later, the CIA was organized and he was brought on as second in charge. In the early 50s, he became its director. At the same time, his brother served as the Secretary of State.The idea of two brothers in such key roles, not to mention their legal ties to many leading international businesses, is easily seen today as clearly a conflict of interest. However, such a breach of protocol wasn’t much of an issue in the 1950s when the country felt it was in a battle between good and evil. Whatever it took to win was seen as necessary. While the Soviet Union certainly presented challenges to the Western World, new research indicates the challenge wasn’t nearly as great as it was thought to have been. Kinzer points out the blunders of both sides in Africa, where neither side understood the continent. The Soviets even sent snowplows to a country that had never experienced snow and wheat to the Congo, a country without a flour mill. Kinzer’s view is that the Brothers (and in some way, all of America) were so colored by the Cold War that they were unable to see beyond their own assumptions and thereby missed opportunities to build a more peaceful world.As divided as the Brother’s saw the world, Kinzer points out how they clearly avoided direct conflict within the Soviet and Chinese spheres. When the Romanians revolted in 1956, they watched as Soviet tanks moved in to crush the rebellion. While there was espionage behind the “Iron Curtain,” such as U-2 flights over Russia, the real battle was waged in smaller counties, many of whom attempted to remain neutral during the Cold War. The Brothers didn’t believe neutrality was possible.The strength of Kinzer’s thesis is in his research and in his accessible writing style. However, there are weaknesses within his logic and the application of his research. Several times he refers to Foster and Allen’s “missionary Calvinistic background.” Granted, Kinzer isn’t a theologian (he even confuses Princeton Seminary with Princeton University). But a bigger problem is his use of “missionary Calvinism” in a negative (almost ad hominem) manner. First of all, I am not sure what he means by this description (nor am I sure what that he knows what he means). While many Calvinists have been missionaries, some would point out that Calvinism hasn’t displayed the missionary zeal of other theologies. But more importantly, Calvinism, with its view of human depravity, may be more applicable to the situation with the Dulles brothers. The emphasis on depravity is a belief there is a stain on the soul, in the heart of all people, that’s so deep that only God can remove. Such a doctrine stands in opposition to the dual world view of good and evil. Calvinists understand that we (the human race) have fallen. There are not those who are good and those who are bad. The only one good is Jesus, the rest of us are only righteous by his actions. Because of this strong view of how we, as people, seek out own on interest instead of what God desires, Calvinists encouraged from the beginning a system of checks and balances to keep individuals from claiming too much power. Certainly, the Dulles brothers lacked a desire to have such constraints of their power. If anything, it wasn’t Calvinism that cause their blinders that kept them from seeing a more nuanced world. It was either their ignorance of Calvinistic theology or their ignoring of the teachings of their church. The complexity of the human spirit and its complicity in sin can be seen clearly in Allen. He could be noble as in challenging his brother’s support of Germany in the late 1930s while practicing serial adultery and later, approving of covert campaigns in countries striving to be neutral during the Cold War.The author also places Reinhold Niebuhr, one of America’s leading theologian during the 50s, in conflict with the Brothers. In his concluding chapter, he quotes Reinhold Niebuhr’s critique of the Brothers’ “self-righteousness” and lack of nuance in understanding right and wrong. However, I am not sure the conflict was as divided as Kinzer makes it out to be. Niebuhr is a complex man who wrote prolifically. While Niebuhr understood sin and the dangers of pride, from my understanding, he also supported America in opposition to the Soviet Union throughout the 50s. So while Niebuhr critiqued their self-assured swagger and unchecked power, he may have been supportive of their long-term goals.Despite the author’s lack of understanding theological nuances, I still recommend this book. It shows the impact American business had on foreign policy. Was the overthrow of the Guatemalan government necessary in the fight of communism or was it convenient ploy that allowed the brothers to help a former client, United Fruit? The danger of ignoring such obvious conflicts of interest is revealed throughout this book. The book demonstrates just how powerful these two men, who are mostly forgotten today, were in the 1950s. They were even able to “force” Hollywood to change movies (George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Graham Greene’s The Quiet American). In both movies, the script departed from the book in a manner that made the story fit the Cold War mentality of the 1950s. Both authors were incensed at Hollywood’s interpretation of their books.This book provides a portrait of the man for whom Washington’s International Airport is named. Having read this, I would like to read more about Foster’s children. His son, Avery, converted to the Catholic Church and became a Jesuit priest. He would go on to become an American Cardinal. His sister, Lillias, attended seminary and was one of the first women to be ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1957. He had one other son who was a mining engineer. The family dynamics must have been fascinating. .This book speaks to our current age and our tendency to demonize our opponents. There are always dangers of seeing the world clearly divided into good and evil, especially when we see ourselves on the side of good and our enemies as always evil. While the Christian faith teaches of a cosmic battle between good and evil (God and Satan), that battle is also taking place within each of our souls, which blurs the battle lines. Furthermore, the victory within the cosmic struggle has already been won at the cross. We pervert Jesus’ teachings when we see ourselves as only good and others as only evil. The human race is much more complicated that this simplistic understanding that leads to a division between “us” and “them.” When we quickly demonize others, we risk denying the image of God instilled in us all.

A reporter asked John Dulles if he could imagine meeting the Chinese leader in Geneva. "Not unless our automobiles collide" he replied. - John Foster Dulles, Secretary of StateA reporter asked Allen Dulles what the CIA was. "A State Department for unfriendly countries" he replied. - Allen Welsh Dulles, Director of Central IntelligenceJohn Foster and Allen Welsh Dulles were brothers born in the gilded age to a rarified clan of politicians and businessmen. The grandfather had been Secretary of State under Harrison and a broker for international trade deals. He was the first secretary to overthrow a foreign government, in Hawaii. The father was a fervent Presbyterian reverend who believed it was America's duty to enlighten heathen masses. Together with 'American Exceptionalism' their creed was to spread trade, democracy and Christ. Their uncle would become Secretary of State under Wilson during WWI. Growing up in their grandfather's Washington DC home, they dined with Carnegie, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson.John graduated from Princeton and strings were pulled. He was hired by the law firm that created General Electric and US Steel, with robber barons JP Morgan and EH Harriman as clients. The firm backed a revolution that separated Panama from Columbia to build the canal. Passenger liner Lusitania was sunk by a German u-boat in 1915 and turned US opinion to enter the war. Their uncle was among few who knew it secretly carried ammunition to Britain; he had established a prototype intelligence agency. John rose quickly through the law firm, promoting business in Brazil, Peru and Cuba while exploiting his connections in politics and global business. When uprisings threatened clients the US Navy was sent in.Allen went to India after Princeton in 1914. En route he read Kipling's Kim, enthralled by the international spy. He joined the State Dept. for ten years until 1926. During WWI he was an intelligence agent in Switzerland and then a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, as was John. They were both enamoured with Wilson's ideals which included US business, liberty and democracy. Those principles weren't extended to colonies who promptly rose in revolt. Allen was director of the Near East Division for five years. Posted in Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean he met with Kings Abdullah and Faisal, Kemal Ataturk and TE Lawrence. He simultaneously represented both Rockefeller's Standard Oil and the US.John supported the Nazis rise to power in 1933, an outcome of work done by the brothers on boundaries and reparations in Paris. Allen was the first foreign emissary to meet Hitler. While Allen had an uneasy feeling John saw the Nazis as a bulwark against Bolshevism and his clients lent billions to Germany. The loans helped develop industries like Farben and Krupp, makers of arms and poison gas. As war spread in Europe John reluctantly conceded to his partners business was no longer feasible. It was a rare falling out with Allen. John argued for internationalism and against isolationism, guided by his religion. FDR wasn't interested in Christian imperatives, nor the British foreign office busy with war.Allen had earned a law degree in 1926 and joined the law firm where his brother was director, quickly rising to a partner. They became even more wealthy and well connected than before but Allen was less happy in the corporate world. As America entered WWII in 1941 he was asked to set up a new US intelligence agency which became the OSS. After recruiting hundreds of agents he left for Switzerland where he gathered information and aided resistance in Germany, Italy and France. The war over, Truman ended the OSS and entered the UN, sending John as the Republican delegate. With publisher Time-Life he promoted US business, world leadership, and cast the USSR as the world's greatest threat.John popularized the cold war theory that held nationalist movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America were directed from Moscow. He compared communism to the Islamic conquests, an existential threat to Christianity. Supported by the Truman Doctrine of 1947 the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency were created. Allen was passed over for director by a Democrat. Truman had little patience for covert action. When he was re-elected John's hopes to become Secretary were delayed. He was made US senator in 1949 when a NY Republican became ill, but his term lasted only four months. With Truman's term nearly over John bided his time until the tides of politics turned.Allen was appointed as CIA Director and John Secretary of State when Eisenhower came to power in 1953, and interest increased for covert operations. With the brothers in charge there was no need to consult anyone but Ike. Ike imagined waging war without loss of US lives. It would not be fought with the great communist powers but against third world anti-colonialists, presumed stooges of the Kremlin. When Iran nationalized British oil and blocked Allen's clients a communist plot was claimed and prime minister Mossadegh replaced by US flunky Shah Pahlavi. As Guatemala's Arbenz threatened John's client United Fruit Company the elected government was overthrown by a CIA sponsored dictator.John believed the front line against communism was now in east Asia. Ho Chi Minh had appealed to Wilson in Paris for Vietnamese independence. Denied, he joined the Comintern. The US funded most of France's colonial war which ended in defeat. John pushed for US troops but Ike demurred. Instead puppet PM Diem was installed in 1954, setting the stage for future war. Indonesia's President Sukarno was invited to the White House in 1956. He was neutral to the great powers and visited China and Russia, infuriating his former hosts. Afraid he leaned left the CIA armed and trained an insurgent army to overthrow him but failed. In 1965 a US backed purge of communists by military dictator Suharto left a million dead.Allen made plans to depose Egypt's Gamal Nasser in 1956 but was thwarted by the botched British invasion of Suez. Nasser had shaken off UK puppet King Farouk in 1952 and accepted Soviet aid. In turn the brothers backed Saudi Arabia and Israel, plotting against Nasser in Syria and Lebanon. In 1960 the CIA schemed to poison Congo PM Lumumba who had declared independence from Belgium and wasn't pro-western business. The plan failed, but he was executed by future dictator Mobutu and Belgians. From poisoned cigars to dipilatory boots wild ways to kill Castro were conceived. John died from cancer in 1959. After the Cuban invasion of 1961 JFK pinned a medal on Allen's chest and called it quits.This book explains how US foreign policy was shaped in the 20th century by two wealthy WASPs. Their legacy has lived on. After the Soviet Union fell a new enemy was needed and presented itself in Islamic extremism. Cold war veterans Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld disrupted the middle east and created more terrorism than Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein combined. The military industry marched on but as wars ended economies suffered recessions and financial crises. Stephen Kinzer gives an interesting account of how things got done in the highest government offices and agencies. The relationship between privilege and power is nothing new. It is in fact as familiar as politics itself.

I'd read Stephen Kinzer's 'All the Shah's men' and 'Overthrow' both of which I found excellent. I didn't know he'd written this book, until I stumbled on a youtube video of the author giving a talk.I'd long been fascinated by the Dulles brothers seeing them as vaguely sinister without knowing very much at all really about them. I knew for example that Allen Dulles was put on the Warren Commission into the Kennedy Assassination, even though he'd been fired by him a couple of years earlier.It would be very easy to go chapter and verse into the biography of the Dulles brothers and try to summarize the book, but I think you'd get much more from just reading the actual book.Suffice it to say that the Dulles brothers were a product of their time and their unique background (very well connected, deeply religious, unquestioningly committed to corporate free enterprise and deeply phobic of any form of communism or socialism). They rose to prominence in the light of the 1st and 2nd world wars, and they really put their stamp on history with their virulent hatred of anything that vaguely smacked of communism, concluding that even neutral countries were legitimate targets for overthrow, because by being neutral they were "not on our side, and worse an easy target for a communist takeover".The book really comes to life in the 2nd part (the first part explains their background in depth and how they got into the very high positions in government) , the 2nd part focuses on 6 'monsters' that the brothers tried (and in some cases succeeded) in taking down. These being, Mossadegh of Iran, Arbenz of Guatemala, Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, Sukarno of Indonesia, Lumumba of the Congo and Castro of Cuba.Each one of these chapters is a riveting tale of the sheer depth of the perfidy of the brothers and their willingness to go to any lengths to disrupt the internal politics of countries that they thought were acting against US interests.Kinzer writes really really well, I do feel though that he ultimately absolves the brothers of any bad faith by saying that they were America and America was them. He could be right, I could be wrong, but I see them as far more malevolent, and I see them as having duped the American people who would have ultimately been much happier with far wiser people at the helm during the Cold War.One particularly striking theme is just how deceptive and involved Eisenhower was. We always see that clip of him warning us about the 'military-industrial complex' as if he was one of the good guys. He was not, he backed every single one of these 6 take-downs. The Dulles brothers were not deceiving him, they were acting out his (and their) will.Still in all, a fantastic book, and a fantastically enjoyably written one.

This is a wonderful book, deeply engaging and hard to put down, and certainly one of the best and most readable dual biographies and review of American foreign policy in the 1950s and early 60s.The author, Stephen Kinzer, has brought together material from many different sources and sown it into a seamless, fast moving, narrative that reads better than most spy fiction and yet is ‘jaw-droppingly’ true. Kinzer traces the career of the Dulles siblings John Foster, Allen and to a lesser extent Eleanor from their strict Presbyterian and highly privileged childhood, onto Princeton. He traces Foster’s facilitated move into the premier law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell and Allen’s easy transition to the State Department and a career in diplomacy.The career of the two brothers through the 1930s and during the Second World War makes very interesting reading but the book certainly shifts into top gear following the election of Eisenhower in November 1952 and the appointment of Foster as Secretary of State and Allen as Director of the CIA.. At this point the brothers launch their extraordinary foreign policy, fully endorsed by Eisenhower, that became known at the time as ‘brinkmanship’ but was variously described as ‘containment’ or even ‘roll-back’ as they confronted the supposed demon of a global communist threat.The book then deals with the covert action taken by the State Department and the CIA against targets in Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam, Indonesia, Egypt, the Congo and finally Cuba. Kinzer reveals the various actions in a straight forward manner that belies the totally shocking and entirely ill-judged interference by the United States in the affairs of these countries and the total insouciance of the brothers to the loss of life and mayhem that resulted. In these activities were sown the seeds of disaster that has plagued American foreign policy ever since.Finally Kinzer draws some quite disturbing conclusions regarding the attitude of the American public towards the rest of the world. These views throw an interesting perspective on current American adventures around the world and do not make comforting reading.This book is highly recommended for the general reader and all those interested in foreign affairs and is as gripping and readable as any notable work of spy fiction. Finally this book should be made required reading, as a corrective, for our current crop Western foreign ministers.

This thought-provoking and timely history of two of the most evil men in recent history is one of those books you can't put down, in part because I was a child of the Cold War and used to wonder why we had to hate the Russians, the Chinese, the North Vietnamese, etc etc etc. Kinzer has unravelled the history of the Dulles brothers and revealed them warts and all. It's essential reading for any who want to understand the myth of American exceptionalism.The only criticism is that he starts with one episode, like the overthrow of the Iranian government, and then jumps across the other side of the world to another murky adventure. It does tend to jolt you a bit but he does return to the story and finish it, which tends to break up the flow but nonetheless, it's a riveting read if you want to understand the machinations and prejudices of American foreign policy, such as it is.

I found this book riveting. My view of Eisenhower has changed over the years. At the time he was portrayed as a part time president who spent most of his time playing golf and I thought him ineffectual. Then after reading a biography it was apparent that he was very hands on but kept a low profile on his activities, I changed my opinion to very good. Now I read what he was doing behind the scenes and once again I have to revise my opinion. Now I see him as very effective, cold, calculating but naive. He seems to have been putty in the hands of his advisers who were advising him to do what was best for their own business connections. Communism was bad for those connections but not necessarily for the rest of the world. I'm a sadder but wiser person.

Excellent account of an important, but deeply depressing chapter of US/World history.