Bred to Power: The Dulles Brothers (July/August 2020 | Volume: 65, Issue: 4)

Bred to Power: The Dulles Brothers

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Authors: David O. Stewart

Historic Era: Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

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July/August 2020 | Volume 65, Issue 4

John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Eisenhower, advocated an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world.
John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Eisenhower, advocated an aggressive stance against communism.

David O. Stewart is the author of several histories and historical mysteries, including The Paris Deception, a novel set at the Paris Peace Conference that features both Dulles brothers as central characters. Previously, he previous wrote an essay for American Heritage on the 1807 trial of Aaron Burr.

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles embraced a fervent anti-communism, pledging “massive retaliation” against communist aggression and “brinkmanship” in international confrontations.  Often ponderous, the self-righteous diplomat was sometimes called the most boring man in America, spawning the inevitable gibe, “dull, duller, Dulles.”  After a meeting with Dulles, a British prime minister observed, “His speech was slow, but it easily kept pace with his thoughts.”  Comedienne Carol Burnett burst into prominence with the spoof tune, “I Made a Fool of Myself over John Foster Dulles.” Despite the mockery, Dulles’ deep convictions and mastery of diplomatic issues made him an unusually powerful Cabinet officer.

CIA Director Allen Welsh Dulles, four years younger and also a Princeton grad, delivered the family’s anti-communism in a very different package.  He combined years of experience as a secret agent with a convivial manner and a restless eye for bed-partners. One Dulles sister numbered the ex-spy’s lovers in the triple digits. While Foster (as the elder brother was called in the family) cast rhetorical thunderbolts from rostrums in international conferences, Allen cheerily fancied himself a James Bond figure while plotting the overthrow of governments in Guatemala, Iran, and Cuba.

The brothers also had shared traits.  Both logged prosperous years with New York’s premier corporate law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, and each came to grief in electoral politics.  In 1938, Allen ran for Congress in Manhattan’s Upper East Side but lost the Republican primary to an apostate Democrat.  A 1949 appointment to a vacant Senate seat from New York gave Foster a running start on elective office, but four months later he lost a special election.

Brothers Allen Welsh Dulles (left) and John Foster Dulles were director of the CIA and Secretary of State.
Brothers Allen Welsh Dulles (center) and John Foster Dulles (right) were CIA director and Secretary of State respectively.

Yet their greatest shared quality, and greatest strength, was their family connection to international corridors of power.  Their grandfather and their uncle each was secretary of state.  Both men gave the brothers powerful shoves up the ladder of success, paving the way for the four of them to achieve a diplomatic prominence unmatched by any family in American history other than the Adamses of Massachusetts.

The brothers' grandfather, John W. Foster, was a former Secretary of State who regaled the boys with stories of foreign adventures.
The brothers' grandfather, John