New Book on the Dulles Brothers by Stephen Kinzer

"Just a few weeks ago, in a New York Times op-ed on President Obama’s Mideast plans, Russian President Vladimir Putin took exception to the notion of American exceptionalism. He might as well have taken aim at two brothers who were its modern founding fathers, both remembered dimly if at all today but were, if the phrase be permitted, present at the creation of our contemporary political world.

They were John Foster Dulles, secretary of state for most of the Eisenhower years (“prissy, forbidding, and fun-hating,’’ in the words of Stephen Kinzer), and Allen Dulles, director of Central Intelligence in the same period, a swashbuckler and serial adulterer (maybe even with the queen of Greece). Together they grafted an ethos onto the American political character."


http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2013/09/28/book-review-the-brothers-john-foster-dulles-allen-dulles-and-their-secret-world-war/kvM3wNl92V9MpKpQp7AEGP/story.html

Heard Kinzer discussing his book on a recent radio interview. Kinzer wishes this mural would hang in Dulles airport -



... depicting the overthrow and subjugation of Guatalamela.
He is unflinching in his criticism, but if one wants to understand the history of America post WW2, this is required reading.
Dulles was the master spy, with sparkling charm and had scores of affairs, one possibly with the Queen of Greece. Compare this to David Petraeus, who was forced to resign because of one affair. In comparison, Petraeus was an amateur. (in my humble opinion, if you can't keep an affair hidden, what are you doing running the C.I.A.? )

Right or wrong, Dulles was a master of the spy game. You can see an example of his expertise here...

http://www.oss.net/dynamaster/file_archive/100102/0a947a77d762061cc87ec541c2d2dcc7/2010-01-02%20Dulles%20on%20Tradecraft%20via%20Srodes.pdf