The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War

The Brothers, by Stephen Kinzer Five Stars. Great book. Readable. Well researched, Informative. Highly recommended for someone interested in mid 20th century history or understanding the root cause of the anti-american animosity in certain parts of the world. The Dulles brothers played pivotal roles in an incredible number of historic events that shaped the 20th century. They exemplified american attitudes and beliefs of their day and were placed in positions to act on these beliefs. The book not only presents their part in history, but also helps us understand the reasoning behind their actions. I should leave the book review end with the above paragraphs, but I was originally unaware of how many key historical events of the 20th century the brothers participated in and influenced. I find it impossible not to casually speculate on their effect on history. John Foster helped write the Reparation portion of the WWI Treaty of Versailles. Some historians believe German anger over the unfairness of the reparations to be one element causing WWII. John Foster helped write the 1924 Dawes Plan that opened the door to American investment in Germany. Even in 1924 John Foster was obsessed with fighting communism. He saw a strong Germany as an effective stop gap against communistic expansion. Foster used his affiliation with Sullivan & Cromwell and his friendship with Hjalmar Schacht, Hitlers Minister of Economics, to increase American investment in Germany and its industry. Without international investment, Germany probably could not have supported it's military aspirations. Allen and the CIA was instrumental in the 1953 Iranian Coup that overthrew the democratically elected Iranian Government to install the Shaw of Iran. This action and the heavy handed governing style of the Shaw certainly led to some of the anti American resentment in the middle east today and the Iranian (Islamic) Rebellion in 1979. The Iranian Rebellion probably helped elect Ronald Reagan in 1980. In regard to Vietnam. Foster, acting as Eisenhower's Secretary of State, refused to sign the 1954 Geneva Accord. Over considerable objections, John Foster and Allen chose and installed Ngo Dinh Diem as the 1st president of the newly created Republic of South Vietnam. Diem had been a minor official in Vietnam and was Interior Minister for three months in 1933. He had not held a job since. Once in power, Allen's CIA helped keep him there. John Foster continued to support the escalation of our involvement in Vietnam until his death in 1959. Allen took a hands off approach to the Bay of Pigs operation (17 April 1961), but as the Director of the CIA, it was his responsibility. JFK fired him in November 1961. There are JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theory's that include CIA involvement. It is interesting that Lyndon Johnson personally chose Allen to be a member of the Warren Commission. Add U2 Spy Planes, Congo revolts, overthrow of South American leaders, Cuba and a host more. The policies and action of these two men changed global history and probably still effect the beliefs of many today.

This book is a rollercoaster ride; it has its ups and its downs. Structured as a short (328 pages of text) joint biography, it focuses on the covert activities that were guided by the Dulles brothers in their roles as Secretary of State and as director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1950s. The author brings to this task the writing skills of an experienced journalist. The book is well written and highly readable. John Foster and Allen Dulles were both intelligent, but differed in personality. John Foster was hard working and serious. Allen was more sociable and somewhat unscrupulous. Both brothers became lawyers, and both joined Sullivan & Cromwell, a prominent New York law firm. With the advent of the Second World War, Allen joined the Office of Strategic Services, and Foster became a political leader in the Republican Party. When North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, Allen went to work as the deputy director of operations in the Central Intelligence Agency. Foster was appointed adviser to the Secretary of State. At about this point, I began to experience substantial doubt about the validity of many of the opinions asserted by the author. Sullivan & Cromwell is repeatedly presented as a sinister entity, at odds with the best interests of the United States. I know Sullivan & Cromwell. It is a law firm – a good one. It is comprised of exceptionally talented lawyers who work hard. It is not the sinister entity pictured in this book. The international threat of communist Russia is labeled “illusory.” There was nothing illusory about the trumped up trial of Cardinal Josef Mindszenty in Hungary in the late 1940s. His face stared out at you from every newspaper and every newsreel for several years. It was our first brush with the techniques of brainwashing. But Mindszenty is not even mentioned. The movies “Shane” and “High Noon” are presented as reinforcing a cultural consensus that America was doing the right thing in its international efforts to ensure the triumph of justice. There is no mention of Solzhenitsyn or the Gulag, or any other example of Soviet communist brutality. The dust jacket states that the book asks why the United States behaves as it does in the world. The book presents an interesting analysis of the way that the Dulles brothers responded to the efforts of third-world nations that were seeking independence from established colonial powers. In particular, the author focuses on six third-world leaders that the Dulles brothers thought were “monsters:” Mossadegh, Arbenz, Ho Chi Minh, Sukarno, Lumumba, and Castro. The covert activities of the CIA against each of these monsters are described in summary fashion. The reasoning is subject to dispute, but the importance of the subject matter is obvious. This book is a good start for a review of the covert activities conducted by the CIA under the colors of the United States.

This is an earth shattering well-written, compelling book. What I learned and which has filled in so many missing pieces is how we became rabid anti-communists not to mention rabid anti-socialists along with our misadventures in foreign lands, our ever deepening mistrust of government, our love of making war and sticking our fingers in everyone else's pie.... So much of the grief, despair, anguish and unfortunate trajectory of the United States both domestically and abroad is due to these men making dangerous murderous mischief and was sanctioned by Eisenhower with impunity, that has altered the world in terrible ways (what was good about what they did? I cannot find anything).for for whom they mistakenly have an airport named and for which they have never had to account. I never heard of Allen Dulles until I recently watched Oliver Stone's 2021 documentary, "JFK: Through the Looking Glass" which begins to untangle the paltry amount of documents released so far (and based on what I learned, this may be all they ever release, it's too damming of the government) from the assissination and guess what? Allen Dulles seems to pop up in the most unexpected places in the film. His "interview" and his arrogant non-answers about JFK spelled worlds to me. I now believe it was not the Mafia directly who killed JFK, it was the CIA and State that had "plans" in Vietnam and elsewhere that JFK was interfering with so heck, why not wipe him out just like they did all the other leaders? After Dulles lied repeatedly to JFK among them about Cuba, JFK actually wemt to Charles DeGaulle and said THAT HE WAS NOT IN CONTROL OF HIS OWN GOVERNMENT! JFK's killing set us on a path from which we have not yet (or maybe ever will) recover. The film is almost too detailed about the forensics but it's an eye opener, as is this amazing book, but I believe is a must watch for every American.

The book is fascinating and gripping. I couldn't put it down. It goes a long way in explaining the plight in which the United States finds itself today. The book's general focus is on the actions of the CIA and the State Department during the early period of the Cold War, specifically 1947 through the late 1960s and the role that the Dulles brothers played during that period of time. John Foster Dulles was serving as Secretary of State and Allen Dulles was serving as director of the CIA. The book specifically focuses on six regime-change operations during the Dulles brothers' tenure: Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cuba, and the Congo, including the first presidentially authorized assassinations of foreign leaders in American history. We live in a time today when many Americans exalt the national-security state. They honestly believe that if it weren't for the big standing army, the overseas military empire, the CIA, and the NSA, the United States wouldn't exist for very long. Without the national-security state, these Americans honestly believe, America would quickly fall to the communists, the terrorists, the illegal aliens, the drug dealers, or some combination thereof. They sing the praises of the troops and automatically assume that the more people they kill over there, they safer we are here at home. They glorify the CIA, even while not knowing exactly what it's doing--and, more important, not wanting to know. They like the fact that the NSA is spying on them but would prefer not knowing that it's spying on them. They simply cannot imagine living the life that our American ancestors lived for more than a century and a half before World War II --a life without a national security state. Such Americans block out of their minds the fact that a free society and a national-security state are irreconcilable. In fact, they've convinced themselves that they're free because of the national security state. Books like Kinzer's help to pierce through the falsehoods and misconceptions about the military and the CIA that grip the minds of so many Americans. The book shows how the United States veered off into a different direction after World War II, a direction involving much dark-side activity that the national-security state kept secret from the American people and which the American people, for their part, simply didn't want to know about. It was all justified under fighting the communists or, more specifically, keeping America safe and secure from America's World War II partner and ally, the Soviet Union, which supposedly was orchestrating a worldwide communist movement designed to conquer and control the entire world. There was the CIA's coup in Iran, which ousted the popular Mohammad Mossadegh from power and reinstalled the brutal dictatorial regime of the Shah. There was the CIA's ouster of the democratically elected president of Guatemala and his replacement by a brutal military dictatorship. There was the CIA's instigation of a horrific civil war in Indonesia. There was the CIA's plan to assassinate the leader of the Congo. There was the CIA's coup and the assassination of the U.S.-appointed leader of South Vietnam. There was the CIA's invasion of Cuba and repeated assassination attempts on the life of Fidel Castro. Never mind that there were other factors involved, such as the nationalization of British oil interests in Iran or the nationalization of land in Guatemala belonging to a U.S. corporation with which the Dulles brothers had close ties. And never mind that Third World rulers simply wanted to stay out of Cold War politics. What mattered was that whenever any foreign ruler didn't do what U.S. officials wanted him to do, that made his regime a Cold War enemy and, therefore, subject to regime-change, including through assassination. The mindset was "If you're not with us, then you're against us." Neutrality was out of the question. And never mind that Americans and others around the world are still suffering the horrific results of these regime-change operations. Just look at the state of U.S.-Iran relations. Or the hundreds of thousands of graves in Guatemala as a result of the civil war that the CIA's coup brought about. Or the continuous brutal U.S. embargo against Cuba. Or the families who still grieve the loss of loved ones in Vietnam and here in the United States. It was all a new direction for America, a dark direction, one that the American people had never before engaged in. And it was all justified under the rubric of "the communist threat," specifically the supposed danger that the communists were everywhere and were coming to get us and take over our country, much like we hear about the terrorists today. Why is this early period of the Cold War so relevant to today? Because the foreign policy-civil liberties woes that America faces today are rooted in that period. That's why that an understanding of that period is so critically important to understanding what we need to do to extricate ourselves from the morass in which we find ourselves. Restoring the right direction for our nation, a direction based on sound moral, economic, and legal principles, necessarily entails an examination of where American went wrong after World War II. Another great book about this period is The War State: The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson. That book provides the best summary of the military component of the national-security state during the Cold War. If you read both books--The War State and The Brothers -- you will have an almost perfect understanding of how we got into this mess, what the mess has done to our nation, and what we need to do to get out.--Jacob Hornberger, president, The Future of Freedom Foundation

This is the sort of book that should be required reading for every American. Don’t ask “Why is there widespread world enmity toward America?” Read this book and it’ll become clear. In some sense, WWII didn’t end with the surrender of the Axis powers: The U.S. emerged from the war as the world’s dominant power, but challenged by the Soviet Union—a competition that quickly gave way to the so-called “Cold War.” The world had changed: colonialism was near its end, giving birth to new nations with sometimes questionable leadership; and Eastern Europe was dominated by the Soviet Union and closed to the world community by an “Iron Curtain.” Then the shock of Mao Zedong victory: China would be an ally of the Soviet Union. Or so we thought. The Eisenhower administration established an unusual and disastrous alliance between the State Department and the CIA: never before, and thankfully not since, have these two agencies been so intimately aligned, overseen by siblings with a similar worldview. A world view based on clichés: If it’s good for business it’s, good for everyone; as a God-fearing Christian nation, America can do no wrong; and godless Communism is the world’s greatest evil ever. The brothers took aggressive action to stem the spread of Communism, sometimes as a cover for protecting American business interests. Lacking adequate analysis based on fact, and acting according to personal prejudice, and misguided religious belief, the brothers engineered some of our nation’s biggest mistakes: Viet Nam, the Bay of Pigs, the overthrow of elected governments in Iran, Guatemala, and the Congo. These actions set a precedent for American interference in global affairs that continued throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Arguably, the world views America as a bumbling giant, trudging its way through other people’s backyards leaving behind death and devastation. And it all began with the brothers Dulles in the 1950’s. As Americans we are responsible for our government—we elect the people that represent us in Washington. In a democracy, an ill-informed populace can be the seed of disaster, as it has been in much of American foreign policy: can we truly justify our actions in Iraq, or was that aggression motivated by preconceived bias, and a desire to acquire rights to a rich oil resource? This is what our country does and has been doing since 1953. This book by Stephen Kinzer should enlighten many, perhaps enough that change might ultimately be possible. But for now, read it and weep.

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.

Stephen Kinzer's new book offers a very focused and surgical condemnation of the Dulles brothers foreign policy collaboration in the 1950's that has resulted in a horrid and nightmarish chain of events ever since. Allen Dulles at CIA, first as a lead operative for covert missions and then as it's second Director and John Foster Dulles as Secretary of State lead foreign policy during the Eisenhower Presidency. The book goes through six operations to overthrow or destabilize governments through that time; Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, Vietnam and the formerly Belgian Congo. In each case Kinzer shows the limited lens of cold war anti communism that resulted in the Dulles' tunnel vision where grouping all non-Pro American groups as enemies and communists. He equally addresses their lack of personal curiosity and intellect and preference for slogans and absolutism over analysis or objective debate. All State employees that don't hew the line are regularly fired or transferred to obscure jobs or roles and in place are pro-CIA hardliners. It is painful reading. The objective was to both create the world they wanted while limiting the use of US military personnel to achieve those ends. The short cuts and limited world vision have exacted a terrible price. Sadly there is not a place in the world where their activities resulted in any sustainable success and in fact have lead to perhaps millions of deaths and suspicions and misunderstandings for the next 50 to 60 years. There is much here that further condemns Eisenhower. In many cases he fully supported and endorsed their plans while pretending not to, fully employing the most cynical of strategies; "plausible deniability". Having read the 2012 Eisenhower biography by Jean Edward Smith I was surprised here by the wealth of information that ties Eisenhower more directly to clandestine activities and their purposes. Particularly disappointing is his continues build up for the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba after Kennedy's election but before he took office and will little effort to brief the incoming president. Similarly our Vietnam involvement in the 1950's was so deep already as to make a Kennedy pullout far more difficult. There is much here about these issues and the corrupt relationships between the Dulles's prior careers at Sullivan and Cromwell and their support of private interests while working at State and the CIA. It's grim but the writing is good and the story is well worth knowing.

I am very familiar with the archival material related to the Dulles brothers -- both US and foreign. I found the narrative on their early lives interesting and accurate. The author failed to portray the Dulles with sufficient nuance. For example, if one reads all of the notes in the Eisenhower library on the NSC meetings, one cannot help but conclude that Eisenhower himself not Dulles was driving foreign policy. Also if you look at Allen Dulles and his meetings with Kermit Roosevelt you find an interesting reaction to Roosevelt's reluctance to become involved in Guatemala and Nasser. Also one of the big reasons that the British hated JFD was because he had helped to engineer the defensive pact between Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. after the war excluding the British. The latter part of the book took an almost cliche-ish, doctinaire view of policy and Dulles during the Eisenhower period. For example, it fails to point that in the conduct of foreign policy it was Eisenhower that instituted the "country team" concept headed by the ambassador in an attempt to State, CIA, USAID, USIS, and the military working on the same page.

Deep and clear, brings the roots of our today world! Can change the way to see the past and look to the future.

Kinzer has not just done an immense research to write it but also narrated it in a fashion which one can relate immediately. A book worthy of teaching in geopolitical classes in universities. Rarely one findes an account which starts with a strong eye opening revelations and by the end it takes you to a place where it seems simple and obvious. Almost a feeling of 'how could we as a society miss that' But that is the beauty of the author. Superb !

Erg goed geschreven boek, echte page turner. Als je leest wat de VS als sinds WW2 voor misdaden heeft begaan over de gehele wereld in landen die niet meteen in de pas wilden lopen met de VS, en dit alles op voordracht van deze 2 broers, dan waan je jezelf meteen in de wereld van 2026. Alleen is het nu Trump en zijn de leugens op basis waarvan men regeringen omverwerpt en mensen vermoord niet meer verdekt en twijfelachtig maar overduidelijk en open. Alle landen die onder het juk van kolonialisme vandaan wilden komen, zoals bijvoorbeeld Indonesië, waren meteen verdacht en werden direct bestempeld als communistisch.

Loved this book. Provided such insight into the behind the scenes actions of the CIA revealed the dark past of some sacred cows. I grew up in Europe and had never heard anything other than praise for the Dulles duo. The disgraceful actions against the so called "monsters" left me deflated , sad and angry at the same time. I look at the world of politics and high finance in a different way after readings this. It has been a mind bender and I can see clearly now that I realized the we are manipulated and indoctrinated and I will try and find ways to gather information about current issues in the hope...vain? ... That I learn about the truth. No more mainstream media for me. I will avoid those publications who push ideology rather than report.

Ce livre retrace la vie et le parcours politique des frères Dulles, John Foster le secrétaire d'état et Allen le directeur de la CIA. Des moments importants de l'histoire du 20ème siècle. Je recommande