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Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles
Peter Grose's book is an authoritative account of one of the most intriguing figures in recent American history, Allen Dulles. Head of the CIA under Eisenhower and Kennedy, Dulles devoted his life to what he called "the craft of intelligence", changing the history of espionage. Peter Grose describes the man who was guided by his unwavering principles about the United States and its role in the world.
672 pages, Paperback
First published November 29, 1994
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October 27, 2014
Complete biography of long-time CIA Director Allen Dulles. There were some interesting passages throughout the book as Dulles led a very full life professionally: he started out in diplomatic service in WWI, then became involved in espionage, then he became a lawyer with his brother, John Foster Dulles, before going back into espionage and eventually becoming CIA Director under Eisenhower and, for a year, Kennedy.
Grose does a good job of describing what type of person Dulles really was: someone who could be disarming with his Santa Clause-type laugh, but was fuzzy around the edges - never really letting anyone fully into his life in all aspects. He was a mild philanderer and it didn't seem to bother him too much. He was not particularly interested in his children, his wife, his parents, or his sister.
I found this book to be way too long: it takes over 330 pages before Dulles becomes CIA Director. There is just too much detail about his early life - detail that doesn't really add a great deal to the overall picture. Like vacations that he took - not all of them really needed to be mentioned. At times, the narrative really seemed to lose steam, especially when Dulles was out of government for a few periods in his life. It does pick up once he becomes CIA Director.
One thing that I found appalling was the secret substance testing that the CIA performed on some of its own unwitting employees - even leading to a death of one of the scientists. Yet Dulles covered it up and strove above all to protect the CIA's image. He did the same thing when he was appointed to the Warren Commission. By the of the book, I did not find a whole lot about Dulles that there was really to like.
Grose does a good job of describing what type of person Dulles really was: someone who could be disarming with his Santa Clause-type laugh, but was fuzzy around the edges - never really letting anyone fully into his life in all aspects. He was a mild philanderer and it didn't seem to bother him too much. He was not particularly interested in his children, his wife, his parents, or his sister.
I found this book to be way too long: it takes over 330 pages before Dulles becomes CIA Director. There is just too much detail about his early life - detail that doesn't really add a great deal to the overall picture. Like vacations that he took - not all of them really needed to be mentioned. At times, the narrative really seemed to lose steam, especially when Dulles was out of government for a few periods in his life. It does pick up once he becomes CIA Director.
One thing that I found appalling was the secret substance testing that the CIA performed on some of its own unwitting employees - even leading to a death of one of the scientists. Yet Dulles covered it up and strove above all to protect the CIA's image. He did the same thing when he was appointed to the Warren Commission. By the of the book, I did not find a whole lot about Dulles that there was really to like.
October 24, 2025
A well-written and well-researched biography of Dulles.
Grose does a good job portraying Dulles as a real human being, covering his successful public career and his complicated personal life. Grose describes Dulles’ unhappy but affectionate marriage, as well as his zealous focus on what he perceived to be the national interest. The coverage of his OSS career in World War II is pretty good; it was here, where Dulles became, Grose writes, “a man capable of amiable encounter with the enemy and the devil; he learned to deal comfortably in perfectly bad faith, without ever violating a personal sense of moral rectitude and decency.” The coverage of his leadership at CIA is also pretty strong. Grose notes that, as CIA director, “the caution that had marked the judgements of a young diplomat, his capacity for nuance on complex political matters, paled before the devices of covert action that were now his to deploy.” Grose notes how ill-suited Dulles was for the role of the normal bureaucrat, complaining to aides as DCI that “You’re taking the fun out of intelligence!”
Along with the life of Dulles, Grose looks at how the US evolved into a superpower and how the intelligence community evolved with it; the narrative itself seems to deal more with the latter, actually. Grose looks at Dulles’ time at Sullivan and Cromwell, although he doesn’t cover the investigations of the firm. If you’ve read up on CIA history, you probably won’t find anything new here. Also, the book never really covers how Dulles dealt with the moral quandaries of his work. The narrative may feel overly long or tedious at times.
There’s only a few minor quibbles. Grose writes that Bill Donovan “eagerly grasped at rumors that Eisenhower might name him chief justice” of the Supreme Court. Actually, Republican friends of Donovan offered to float his name with Eisenhower, but Donovan thought himself unsuited and advised against it. At one point Project Haik is called “Hike.” Grose also writes that Harry Hecksher proposed arming the insurgents in East Berlin during the 1953 East Berlin uprising, even though Hecksher had left the CIA's Berlin base in 1953; Bill Harvey was in charge at the time, and made this proposal.
Some of Grose’s points could have been expanded on. Grose finds it “startling” that the Eisenhower administration never saw the death of Stalin as a moment for “fundamental rethinking” about the Soviet system or US policies. He does not, however, examine exactly what sort of things the US should have done. He then seems to contradict this with his coverage of Eisenhower’s “Chance for Peace” speech. He also refers to the U-2 incident as “the worst political disaster of Cold War intelligence,” but doesn’t elaborate.
A compelling, insightful biography.
Grose does a good job portraying Dulles as a real human being, covering his successful public career and his complicated personal life. Grose describes Dulles’ unhappy but affectionate marriage, as well as his zealous focus on what he perceived to be the national interest. The coverage of his OSS career in World War II is pretty good; it was here, where Dulles became, Grose writes, “a man capable of amiable encounter with the enemy and the devil; he learned to deal comfortably in perfectly bad faith, without ever violating a personal sense of moral rectitude and decency.” The coverage of his leadership at CIA is also pretty strong. Grose notes that, as CIA director, “the caution that had marked the judgements of a young diplomat, his capacity for nuance on complex political matters, paled before the devices of covert action that were now his to deploy.” Grose notes how ill-suited Dulles was for the role of the normal bureaucrat, complaining to aides as DCI that “You’re taking the fun out of intelligence!”
Along with the life of Dulles, Grose looks at how the US evolved into a superpower and how the intelligence community evolved with it; the narrative itself seems to deal more with the latter, actually. Grose looks at Dulles’ time at Sullivan and Cromwell, although he doesn’t cover the investigations of the firm. If you’ve read up on CIA history, you probably won’t find anything new here. Also, the book never really covers how Dulles dealt with the moral quandaries of his work. The narrative may feel overly long or tedious at times.
There’s only a few minor quibbles. Grose writes that Bill Donovan “eagerly grasped at rumors that Eisenhower might name him chief justice” of the Supreme Court. Actually, Republican friends of Donovan offered to float his name with Eisenhower, but Donovan thought himself unsuited and advised against it. At one point Project Haik is called “Hike.” Grose also writes that Harry Hecksher proposed arming the insurgents in East Berlin during the 1953 East Berlin uprising, even though Hecksher had left the CIA's Berlin base in 1953; Bill Harvey was in charge at the time, and made this proposal.
Some of Grose’s points could have been expanded on. Grose finds it “startling” that the Eisenhower administration never saw the death of Stalin as a moment for “fundamental rethinking” about the Soviet system or US policies. He does not, however, examine exactly what sort of things the US should have done. He then seems to contradict this with his coverage of Eisenhower’s “Chance for Peace” speech. He also refers to the U-2 incident as “the worst political disaster of Cold War intelligence,” but doesn’t elaborate.
A compelling, insightful biography.
December 18, 2019
Lots of questionable American politician history.
July 8, 2024
Intriguing book on a person I knew little about other than one of the DC airports is named after him. Grose shares his well-researched, complex book in an understandable manner that presents this complex man in a fair way, perhaps even kind for his personality. The book expands from an interesting and well-connected family through his work in WWI, Dulles’ revolving door from government to private sector and back, to WWII, to the formation of America’s spy operation, the CIA. The book reasonably presents his selfish and indiscrete pursuit of women while maintaining a long-term marriage where the two shared little other than children and a life journey through his career.
A graduate of Princeton, he was not sure what he wanted to do with his life. He signed up for the National Guard to fight in the Mexican War and to work in Diplomatic services, taking the latter to start his diplomatic career in Vienna in 1916. His first assignment was minor with the most excitement after the war was finished and he and his friends celebrated in Paris. His other excitement was when he returned home, having been homesick, and he proposed to this girlfriend after knowing her for only a week. Since she was also Presbyterian. Their union continued for nearly 50 years, not happy and often on the verse of divorce where her competition was not just other women throughout the first portion of their marriage but his job and his ego. His wife even became a long-time friend of one of Allen’s mistresses, Mary Bancroft.
Allen’s one-time entry into direct politics ended poorly. His candidacy for a House seat in the 16th Congressional District in New York brought together his family but showed him that he wasn’t a politician. While he narrowly won the Republican nod against a conservative, even though Allen didn’t vilify FDR, he loss in the general election – 2,495 to 1,701. He vowed to never run for elected office again – and honored that vow.
Allen spent WWII with the OSS, a spy network that turned out to have limited success. He was stationed in neutral Switzerland. It was interesting how he had to travel through neutral countries to arrive at his headquarters in Switzerland. With his Wall Street background, the Nazi’s miscast his mission, thinking he was fighting economic espionage against the Nazi industrial war efforts. Instead, his operation in Berne was the central point for resistance in Europe, not just Germany but Austrians, Hungarians, Italians, Rumanians, and Finns. He realized many things, including learning in March 1943 that “the new Nazi policy is to kill Jews on the spot rather than to depart them to Poland for extermination there.” He spoke about resistance her learned behind enemy lines in Berlin, public signs like, “Down With Hitler.”
Throughout the book, Allen’s relationship with his brother, Foster, intersected in unusual ways. Foster’s drive for money was greater – and so was his wealth. He pulled his brother out of public service repeatedly. They served together in private practice and in government service, including when Foster was Secretary of State and Allen was head of the new CIA. Their families enjoyed summer vacations and the two of them appreciated the well healed men on Wall Street. Their bond was strong even when they didn’t agree with the approach the country should take.
The book covered decades, the most interesting story addressing Operation Sunrise, known as the secret negotiations of the United States and Nazi Germany to arrange a local surrender of German forces in Northern Italy in February 1945. While these negotiations were occurring, the two sides were fighting and killing one another. The discussions in Switzerland made it tougher for the Soviet Union since there were no diplomatic relations between the two countries. The offer for them to participate was pulled back. Hitler refused to surrender, ending his own life to get out of ending the war. It took five weeks of tough negotiations to come to a conclusion. Before the conclusion of the war, Roosevelt died. It was May 11 before all firing on one another ended.
It was also fascinating speaking about the Iron Curtain, with the two sides not knowing how it would be raw. Collecting information was tough but Allen had sources ranging from the various underground movements, pro-Allied and double agents, former politicians who were in the Eastern European nations, labor organizations, faith-based groups, scientists and academia, and diplomats. These years also allowed Allen to highlight his role, even meeting with Churchill, although the incoming President Harry Truman was not willing to go with a partisan Republican whose family included a major Republican operative.
Allen went back to law with the elevation of Truman but was called back to do an assessment of American’s intelligence right before the next election. Despite assuming that Dewey would win in 1948, the election was complicated for Allen. With the return of gout causing constant discomfort throughout the year, Allen joined Dewey on his 8,000-mile campaign train swing across the Midwest but didn’t make relations with Moscow an issue. Like others, Allen was shocked his candidate didn’t win. The spy operation he created was under the president he didn’t support. Instead, Allen engaged in a for-profit firm engaged in engineering a more Western favorable financing with their oil interests.
The next election cycle became even more complicated for Allen. Eisenhower, a man he knew from some past work, was the front runner and would merit his support. But as the Republican National Convention drew close, right-wing Senator Robert Taft called up on Allen because his son was getting married and Allen was close to his bride since Allen had an affair with his deceased mother. The optics seem strange to most but in an election year, it showed a closeness that politically wasn’t beneficial to Allen. Still, Allen’s brother Foster was tapped to be Secretary of State, like their grandfather and uncle served in the past, and Allen was selected to be the CIA head. Shortly after taking control, Stalin died of a heart attack; Allen called together trusted Kremlinologists before telling the president in the morning to figure out next steps. Reading this part brought back memories of how our country would try to determine what the next steps were for the dark nation. The CIA men looked at who was going to take control, pleased that one potential, Bolshevik Vyacheslav Molotov, a man with a Jewish wife so knocking down his potential because of the level of antisemitic views in the governance of the large country. Eisenhower was irritated that our country didn’t even know what the death of the dictator meant for our adversary.
Six weeks later, Eisenhower tried to reset relations with Russia under new leadership by delivering a speech called, “The Chance for Peace.” It was interesting to read that Eisenhower was hit with ileitis as he stood to make the speech and rushed through the important speech just to be able to finish the speech before collapsing. The written speech sent the message instead of his presented remarks. While we waited for signals of change, the CIA was developing their networks of guerrillas from Poland, Ukraine, and Russia along with former prisoners of war, and Nazi’s who were fighting communists. Separately, Czechoslovakia went on strike in mid-1953, taking on economic conditions and communism at the same time. America stood back and watched.
Even when Khrushchev made his famous de-Stalinization speech three years after Stalin’s death, it took some time for the CIA to secure a copy of the speech despite efforts. When Israel’s Ben-Gurion saw the speech, he said, “Russia is on her way to democracy – only twenty or thirty years away,” a prediction that was nearly on the mark. When they secured a copy of the speech, they provided it to The New York Times, which published it on four pages of their paper. The paper received a copy of the speech just a day after the CIA provided it, indicating how weak our intelligence operation was on Russia.
It was fascinating to read about Allen – and the CIA’s – role in overturning the governments in Iran and Guatemala. Of course, our country has paid a price for these crimes ever since, especially with Iran. The CIA joined forces with the British oil interest who took on the democratically elected Mohammad Mossadegh. The pitch was made to Truman at the end of his term, but he let it go into a Republican administration since he knew they would be closer to the oil interests. The CIA and British government got behind a hesitant Fazlollah Zahedi, a Nazi collaborator in WWII (the Shah of Iran), under Operation Ajax. Shortly after our country and Britian put the Shah in power, the reformer turned dictator. Our country paid for that decision decades later – and until this day.
Allen also turned out the government in Guatemala in 1953 under the guise of taking on communist expansion although the party was independent – and weak. Allen and his wife knew the country from their repeated vacations to the poor country. Operations Success continued to make Allen’s record as a powerful spy master. Again, once in power, the new government turned on its own people and returned to their paternalistic methods. It had a huge cost – over one hundred thousand peasants were murdered by American-trained forces unleashed by a government set up by our CIA. Interesting, Watergate’s E. Howard Hunt, an Ivy Leaguer conservative, was part of this operation. And all of this was done in plane sight of the president since Allen enjoyed arrogantly reporting his actions, those supported by our country’s head diplomat, his brother and our nation’s Secretary of State. It all built Allen’s power.
The book went into sourced details on so many other atrocities of Allen’s CIA leadership, including on Operation MKULTRA where LSD was tested on thousands of people without their knowledge or consent. The secret operation continued for ten years. The horrific operation did not become public in Allen’s lifetime.
Allen did take over and successfully run the reconnaissance plane that allowed our nation to spy on the Soviet Union. The U-2 project had some hiccups but assured that we would have notice if atomic weapons were used and watched for troop movement. It was captivating that Eisenhower offered the Russians a shared surveillance system (known as Open Skies) and they turned it down, so the CIA just exercised their own U-2 operation. The planes were flown by civilians who were not identified as CIA, so it wasn’t seen as an aggressive act of war. This operation probably saved our country massive amounts of money since there was so much speculation of a “missile gap.” Grose took us step by step, as if we were reading intelligence reports of the 1950’s, when the one U-2 went down, and Khrushchev had the wreckage – and pilot.
Kennedy surprised Allen when he called him immediately after his election and asked him to stay on in the Democrats administration. Kennedy knew that Allen had made a name for himself and didn’t want to start his administration with a new name overseeing Russia when he was viewed as weak on communists. He wanted a safe transition. That was set back when the Bay of Pigs damaged the new president and the old spy master. Shortly after, Kennedy found a high-class way to name a new Republican to head the CIA and move Allen out.
In retirement, Allen kept himself busy, writing his books, giving speeches, joining boards, and accepting awards. He certainly didn’t stay home with his estranged wife, separated even when they were in the same house for the night – or week. Kennedy called him back to service to help be a strong voice of security during the fights for racial rights in the south and then Johnson called him into service to serve on the Warren Commission. It was interesting to read how that backfired when they learned that the president’s assassin had connections with the CIA.
Throughout the book, there are so many interesting nuggets on intelligence and American history, including:
o The United States used the WWI food relief program in Europe to help with America’s collection of intelligence, although Hoover’s own memoirs on those years stayed away from that topic totally.
o Fabian von Schlabrendorff, 36 years old, was a Wiesbaden layer in civilian life, Fabian von Schlabrendorff, A German Army lieutenant attempted to murder Hitler on March 13, 1943. It was one of a half dozen attempts to take out Hitler.
o In Spring, 1946, Churchill ventured to Fulton, Missouri and spoke with President Truman. The former Prime Minster spoke of an “Iron Curtain” being developed across Eastern Europe and asked how the United States might find an “accommodation” with Russia.
o Illegal mail intercepts started under President Truman under the newly organized CIA although it was a federal crime. The new chief, Bedell Smith spoke about his concerns with President Truman during one of his weekly meetings in the Oval Office. Truman pulled out a piece of stationary, wrote a few words and handed it to his new Spy Chief. It was a blanket presidential pardon for absolute immunity – and undated but signed by the president. The illegal operation continued until 1973 when it was discovered by the media.
Grose sprinkled the book with strong images of Allen’s strange personal life, especially his distant relationship with his long-term wife. He went months without seeing her or communicating with her, had repeated affairs that were obvious to his wife and their children, he was reckless having affairs with women who worked for him in selfish ways, and had a stronger relationship with his brother than his own children. He was clearly a selfish, arrogant man with little personal reflection. That character allowed him to have massive killings without ever taking account that it was his actions – in the name of our country – that caused so many people to lose their lives. His dedication for the CIA headquarters that would be his final monument to himself still exists as does that airport that I hate to fly into (since it is so far from DC).
This book was full of new information for me, presented in an interesting and fact-filled manner. It was worthwhile reading about many aspects of the CIA I read about when they were being disclosed when I was a kid reading about Watergate and the new questioning of our great country. Grose presents a better understanding of how these issues took place, the factors people were thinking about at the time and even the intentions of the various presidents. It was all presented in a well-researched, balanced manner. Well worth reading, even for those of us who know little about the CIA and are not inclined to read other books on our spy agency.
A graduate of Princeton, he was not sure what he wanted to do with his life. He signed up for the National Guard to fight in the Mexican War and to work in Diplomatic services, taking the latter to start his diplomatic career in Vienna in 1916. His first assignment was minor with the most excitement after the war was finished and he and his friends celebrated in Paris. His other excitement was when he returned home, having been homesick, and he proposed to this girlfriend after knowing her for only a week. Since she was also Presbyterian. Their union continued for nearly 50 years, not happy and often on the verse of divorce where her competition was not just other women throughout the first portion of their marriage but his job and his ego. His wife even became a long-time friend of one of Allen’s mistresses, Mary Bancroft.
Allen’s one-time entry into direct politics ended poorly. His candidacy for a House seat in the 16th Congressional District in New York brought together his family but showed him that he wasn’t a politician. While he narrowly won the Republican nod against a conservative, even though Allen didn’t vilify FDR, he loss in the general election – 2,495 to 1,701. He vowed to never run for elected office again – and honored that vow.
Allen spent WWII with the OSS, a spy network that turned out to have limited success. He was stationed in neutral Switzerland. It was interesting how he had to travel through neutral countries to arrive at his headquarters in Switzerland. With his Wall Street background, the Nazi’s miscast his mission, thinking he was fighting economic espionage against the Nazi industrial war efforts. Instead, his operation in Berne was the central point for resistance in Europe, not just Germany but Austrians, Hungarians, Italians, Rumanians, and Finns. He realized many things, including learning in March 1943 that “the new Nazi policy is to kill Jews on the spot rather than to depart them to Poland for extermination there.” He spoke about resistance her learned behind enemy lines in Berlin, public signs like, “Down With Hitler.”
Throughout the book, Allen’s relationship with his brother, Foster, intersected in unusual ways. Foster’s drive for money was greater – and so was his wealth. He pulled his brother out of public service repeatedly. They served together in private practice and in government service, including when Foster was Secretary of State and Allen was head of the new CIA. Their families enjoyed summer vacations and the two of them appreciated the well healed men on Wall Street. Their bond was strong even when they didn’t agree with the approach the country should take.
The book covered decades, the most interesting story addressing Operation Sunrise, known as the secret negotiations of the United States and Nazi Germany to arrange a local surrender of German forces in Northern Italy in February 1945. While these negotiations were occurring, the two sides were fighting and killing one another. The discussions in Switzerland made it tougher for the Soviet Union since there were no diplomatic relations between the two countries. The offer for them to participate was pulled back. Hitler refused to surrender, ending his own life to get out of ending the war. It took five weeks of tough negotiations to come to a conclusion. Before the conclusion of the war, Roosevelt died. It was May 11 before all firing on one another ended.
It was also fascinating speaking about the Iron Curtain, with the two sides not knowing how it would be raw. Collecting information was tough but Allen had sources ranging from the various underground movements, pro-Allied and double agents, former politicians who were in the Eastern European nations, labor organizations, faith-based groups, scientists and academia, and diplomats. These years also allowed Allen to highlight his role, even meeting with Churchill, although the incoming President Harry Truman was not willing to go with a partisan Republican whose family included a major Republican operative.
Allen went back to law with the elevation of Truman but was called back to do an assessment of American’s intelligence right before the next election. Despite assuming that Dewey would win in 1948, the election was complicated for Allen. With the return of gout causing constant discomfort throughout the year, Allen joined Dewey on his 8,000-mile campaign train swing across the Midwest but didn’t make relations with Moscow an issue. Like others, Allen was shocked his candidate didn’t win. The spy operation he created was under the president he didn’t support. Instead, Allen engaged in a for-profit firm engaged in engineering a more Western favorable financing with their oil interests.
The next election cycle became even more complicated for Allen. Eisenhower, a man he knew from some past work, was the front runner and would merit his support. But as the Republican National Convention drew close, right-wing Senator Robert Taft called up on Allen because his son was getting married and Allen was close to his bride since Allen had an affair with his deceased mother. The optics seem strange to most but in an election year, it showed a closeness that politically wasn’t beneficial to Allen. Still, Allen’s brother Foster was tapped to be Secretary of State, like their grandfather and uncle served in the past, and Allen was selected to be the CIA head. Shortly after taking control, Stalin died of a heart attack; Allen called together trusted Kremlinologists before telling the president in the morning to figure out next steps. Reading this part brought back memories of how our country would try to determine what the next steps were for the dark nation. The CIA men looked at who was going to take control, pleased that one potential, Bolshevik Vyacheslav Molotov, a man with a Jewish wife so knocking down his potential because of the level of antisemitic views in the governance of the large country. Eisenhower was irritated that our country didn’t even know what the death of the dictator meant for our adversary.
Six weeks later, Eisenhower tried to reset relations with Russia under new leadership by delivering a speech called, “The Chance for Peace.” It was interesting to read that Eisenhower was hit with ileitis as he stood to make the speech and rushed through the important speech just to be able to finish the speech before collapsing. The written speech sent the message instead of his presented remarks. While we waited for signals of change, the CIA was developing their networks of guerrillas from Poland, Ukraine, and Russia along with former prisoners of war, and Nazi’s who were fighting communists. Separately, Czechoslovakia went on strike in mid-1953, taking on economic conditions and communism at the same time. America stood back and watched.
Even when Khrushchev made his famous de-Stalinization speech three years after Stalin’s death, it took some time for the CIA to secure a copy of the speech despite efforts. When Israel’s Ben-Gurion saw the speech, he said, “Russia is on her way to democracy – only twenty or thirty years away,” a prediction that was nearly on the mark. When they secured a copy of the speech, they provided it to The New York Times, which published it on four pages of their paper. The paper received a copy of the speech just a day after the CIA provided it, indicating how weak our intelligence operation was on Russia.
It was fascinating to read about Allen – and the CIA’s – role in overturning the governments in Iran and Guatemala. Of course, our country has paid a price for these crimes ever since, especially with Iran. The CIA joined forces with the British oil interest who took on the democratically elected Mohammad Mossadegh. The pitch was made to Truman at the end of his term, but he let it go into a Republican administration since he knew they would be closer to the oil interests. The CIA and British government got behind a hesitant Fazlollah Zahedi, a Nazi collaborator in WWII (the Shah of Iran), under Operation Ajax. Shortly after our country and Britian put the Shah in power, the reformer turned dictator. Our country paid for that decision decades later – and until this day.
Allen also turned out the government in Guatemala in 1953 under the guise of taking on communist expansion although the party was independent – and weak. Allen and his wife knew the country from their repeated vacations to the poor country. Operations Success continued to make Allen’s record as a powerful spy master. Again, once in power, the new government turned on its own people and returned to their paternalistic methods. It had a huge cost – over one hundred thousand peasants were murdered by American-trained forces unleashed by a government set up by our CIA. Interesting, Watergate’s E. Howard Hunt, an Ivy Leaguer conservative, was part of this operation. And all of this was done in plane sight of the president since Allen enjoyed arrogantly reporting his actions, those supported by our country’s head diplomat, his brother and our nation’s Secretary of State. It all built Allen’s power.
The book went into sourced details on so many other atrocities of Allen’s CIA leadership, including on Operation MKULTRA where LSD was tested on thousands of people without their knowledge or consent. The secret operation continued for ten years. The horrific operation did not become public in Allen’s lifetime.
Allen did take over and successfully run the reconnaissance plane that allowed our nation to spy on the Soviet Union. The U-2 project had some hiccups but assured that we would have notice if atomic weapons were used and watched for troop movement. It was captivating that Eisenhower offered the Russians a shared surveillance system (known as Open Skies) and they turned it down, so the CIA just exercised their own U-2 operation. The planes were flown by civilians who were not identified as CIA, so it wasn’t seen as an aggressive act of war. This operation probably saved our country massive amounts of money since there was so much speculation of a “missile gap.” Grose took us step by step, as if we were reading intelligence reports of the 1950’s, when the one U-2 went down, and Khrushchev had the wreckage – and pilot.
Kennedy surprised Allen when he called him immediately after his election and asked him to stay on in the Democrats administration. Kennedy knew that Allen had made a name for himself and didn’t want to start his administration with a new name overseeing Russia when he was viewed as weak on communists. He wanted a safe transition. That was set back when the Bay of Pigs damaged the new president and the old spy master. Shortly after, Kennedy found a high-class way to name a new Republican to head the CIA and move Allen out.
In retirement, Allen kept himself busy, writing his books, giving speeches, joining boards, and accepting awards. He certainly didn’t stay home with his estranged wife, separated even when they were in the same house for the night – or week. Kennedy called him back to service to help be a strong voice of security during the fights for racial rights in the south and then Johnson called him into service to serve on the Warren Commission. It was interesting to read how that backfired when they learned that the president’s assassin had connections with the CIA.
Throughout the book, there are so many interesting nuggets on intelligence and American history, including:
o The United States used the WWI food relief program in Europe to help with America’s collection of intelligence, although Hoover’s own memoirs on those years stayed away from that topic totally.
o Fabian von Schlabrendorff, 36 years old, was a Wiesbaden layer in civilian life, Fabian von Schlabrendorff, A German Army lieutenant attempted to murder Hitler on March 13, 1943. It was one of a half dozen attempts to take out Hitler.
o In Spring, 1946, Churchill ventured to Fulton, Missouri and spoke with President Truman. The former Prime Minster spoke of an “Iron Curtain” being developed across Eastern Europe and asked how the United States might find an “accommodation” with Russia.
o Illegal mail intercepts started under President Truman under the newly organized CIA although it was a federal crime. The new chief, Bedell Smith spoke about his concerns with President Truman during one of his weekly meetings in the Oval Office. Truman pulled out a piece of stationary, wrote a few words and handed it to his new Spy Chief. It was a blanket presidential pardon for absolute immunity – and undated but signed by the president. The illegal operation continued until 1973 when it was discovered by the media.
Grose sprinkled the book with strong images of Allen’s strange personal life, especially his distant relationship with his long-term wife. He went months without seeing her or communicating with her, had repeated affairs that were obvious to his wife and their children, he was reckless having affairs with women who worked for him in selfish ways, and had a stronger relationship with his brother than his own children. He was clearly a selfish, arrogant man with little personal reflection. That character allowed him to have massive killings without ever taking account that it was his actions – in the name of our country – that caused so many people to lose their lives. His dedication for the CIA headquarters that would be his final monument to himself still exists as does that airport that I hate to fly into (since it is so far from DC).
This book was full of new information for me, presented in an interesting and fact-filled manner. It was worthwhile reading about many aspects of the CIA I read about when they were being disclosed when I was a kid reading about Watergate and the new questioning of our great country. Grose presents a better understanding of how these issues took place, the factors people were thinking about at the time and even the intentions of the various presidents. It was all presented in a well-researched, balanced manner. Well worth reading, even for those of us who know little about the CIA and are not inclined to read other books on our spy agency.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 27, 2024
A story beautifully told, Peter Grose's biography of Allen Dulles is one of the most accurate books ever written concerning the birth of modern espionage. Compelling, accurate, non-fiction books on intelligence are rare, and this particular piece of work is one of the few that pass historians' tests.
The book follows an urbane member of the American Establishment on his romantic quest to create the most sophisticated espionage organization the world has ever known. The grandson of a Secretary of State, and brother of a Secretary of Defense, he quite possibly made more of an impact on the current shape of our world than either, without a public profile. An incurable romantic, he brought Kipling's Kim with him on the night he went into the hospital to die.
Peter Grose was the ideal biographer for so elusive a subject.
The book follows an urbane member of the American Establishment on his romantic quest to create the most sophisticated espionage organization the world has ever known. The grandson of a Secretary of State, and brother of a Secretary of Defense, he quite possibly made more of an impact on the current shape of our world than either, without a public profile. An incurable romantic, he brought Kipling's Kim with him on the night he went into the hospital to die.
Peter Grose was the ideal biographer for so elusive a subject.
Want to read
March 7, 2016Happened to be living in the DC area when this came out, and went to a talk by the author where I bought a copy and had it signed by both Grose and former CIA director Richard Helms, who wrote the forward! Thought it would make a unique addition to my collection, but frankly haven't gotten around to reading it yet, (it's only been 17 years...).
November 1, 2020
In this monumental book, Peter Grose details the life of CIA spymaster Allen Dulles. The books traces all the phases of his life: youth, early legal and political career, OSS and World War II, a brief return to private life, career in the CIA, and post-CIA years. The amount of research, the number of archives consulted, and the level of detail of the analysis are exceptional. The author also had access to Allen Dulles' children and to several former policymakers and Agency officials. Based on this research, while written in the late 1990s, the book still provides interesting revelations for scholars interested in the CIA. The book, however, is not an easy read. It feels heavy and cumbersome. It would have probably benefited from some editing (maybe a good 1-200 pages shorter?) At times, the authors spends a lot of pages on the private life of Dulles, but this account rarely provides colour.
The most interesting part (for me) is definitely Dulles' relationship with the CIA. Here, Grose provide extensive details on Dulles' assessment of the Agency during his time as private citizen. He also discusses Dulles' management style and his tendency to become more aloof in later years. The discussion of some well-known cases (e.g. U-2 and the Bay of Pigs) will feel somewhat dated and, perhaps, better treatments can be found elsewhere. Throughout the analysis of Dulles's directorship, Grose makes reference to various assassination plots. While two of these are well-known (Castro and Lumumba) others are more obscure. In particular, the CIA's consideration of plots to assassinate Stalin in 1953 and Chou En-Lai in 1955 are briefly mentioned but not discussed in great detail. While this might be a niche interest, it is also one of the main reasons why I read the book. I was somewhat disappointed to only find dubious second-hand accounts to support these claims.
Overall, this is a must-read book for anyone interested in the CIA and in its 'greatest' spymaster. Perhaps, I would recommend a somewhat selective reading.
The most interesting part (for me) is definitely Dulles' relationship with the CIA. Here, Grose provide extensive details on Dulles' assessment of the Agency during his time as private citizen. He also discusses Dulles' management style and his tendency to become more aloof in later years. The discussion of some well-known cases (e.g. U-2 and the Bay of Pigs) will feel somewhat dated and, perhaps, better treatments can be found elsewhere. Throughout the analysis of Dulles's directorship, Grose makes reference to various assassination plots. While two of these are well-known (Castro and Lumumba) others are more obscure. In particular, the CIA's consideration of plots to assassinate Stalin in 1953 and Chou En-Lai in 1955 are briefly mentioned but not discussed in great detail. While this might be a niche interest, it is also one of the main reasons why I read the book. I was somewhat disappointed to only find dubious second-hand accounts to support these claims.
Overall, this is a must-read book for anyone interested in the CIA and in its 'greatest' spymaster. Perhaps, I would recommend a somewhat selective reading.
April 24, 2024
This is a long and comprehensive biography of Allen Dulles, former head of CIA, and I believe the author did a great job, for he not only included every aspect of AWD’s life but also displayed the changes in America, even the world, during these years.
The author cited a wide range of resources to capture the track of AWD’s life, including countless correspondence, others’ diaries, official records, and interviews. Based on the huge amount of references, the author could provide us with many interesting anecdotes. For example, he mentioned a letter written by an old college friend, who expressed his admiration to AWD. Although Allen obviously forgot this schoolboy crush, it was proof of his almost irresistible glamour even in the early years. The author also included other people’s impressions of AWD. Apart from his relatives and friends, he used the words of diplomats from other countries, which can also provide a more comprehensive portrait of him.
Another interesting aspect of this biography is that this book can at least partly display the transition from the early 20th century to the two world wars and to the Cold War. We can perceive the diplomatic life in the Old World, full of former dresses, fine wines, and good food intended to elicit useful conversations. It also reflected the tension of the underground espionage work during World War II to conspire to overthrow Hitler. We also witness that in Operation Sunrise, efforts from different countries struggled to find a path to end the cruel war. Finally the Cold War, we follow the track of ADW to see how the United States confronted the great power behind the Iron Curtain, and those covert actions and assassinations in the third world, which had brought countless tragedies.
The author cited a wide range of resources to capture the track of AWD’s life, including countless correspondence, others’ diaries, official records, and interviews. Based on the huge amount of references, the author could provide us with many interesting anecdotes. For example, he mentioned a letter written by an old college friend, who expressed his admiration to AWD. Although Allen obviously forgot this schoolboy crush, it was proof of his almost irresistible glamour even in the early years. The author also included other people’s impressions of AWD. Apart from his relatives and friends, he used the words of diplomats from other countries, which can also provide a more comprehensive portrait of him.
Another interesting aspect of this biography is that this book can at least partly display the transition from the early 20th century to the two world wars and to the Cold War. We can perceive the diplomatic life in the Old World, full of former dresses, fine wines, and good food intended to elicit useful conversations. It also reflected the tension of the underground espionage work during World War II to conspire to overthrow Hitler. We also witness that in Operation Sunrise, efforts from different countries struggled to find a path to end the cruel war. Finally the Cold War, we follow the track of ADW to see how the United States confronted the great power behind the Iron Curtain, and those covert actions and assassinations in the third world, which had brought countless tragedies.
May 5, 2018
This book had a reasonable share of insights. For example, it goes into great depth of how JFK and Dulles might have honestly miscommunicated prior to Bay of Pigs. Where inferences are made from the usual self-contradictory intelligence records, they seem well founded. I'm not clear how Dulles prepared for his first intelligence position in Berne, and it would have been interesting.
On the other hand, despite the author's efforts, the book's insight into Dulles's personal life seems sketchy. His wife stayed with him despite really shocking neglect, and whatever she saw in him that led her to stay (for she didn't have to), the book tries and fails to show.
Then entire Sullivan & Cromwell phase with his brother seems super sketchy and I can see how S&C is Goldman's lawyers.
On the other hand, despite the author's efforts, the book's insight into Dulles's personal life seems sketchy. His wife stayed with him despite really shocking neglect, and whatever she saw in him that led her to stay (for she didn't have to), the book tries and fails to show.
Then entire Sullivan & Cromwell phase with his brother seems super sketchy and I can see how S&C is Goldman's lawyers.
November 19, 2024
If it happened in the world between 1938 and the 60’s Alan Dulles was somehow involved. I found this book to be a treasure.
OSS to the CIA head, what an amazing life.
OSS to the CIA head, what an amazing life.
July 9, 2012
Great account of the life of a fascinating 20th character.
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