The Gilded Age: Allen W. Dulles and the CIA

Abstract

Allen W. Dulles spent his tenure as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) entrenched in secret power struggles that would ensure his ultimate power over the foreign and domestic affairs for the United States. Throughout his childhood, Dulles learned to use political power in order to get ahead, and to use secrecy to make unilateral decisions. After analyzing examples of his treatment of various foreign affairs disasters, as well as his manipulation of American media and politicians, Dulles is exposed as a man whose legacy lives in the CIA, as a legendary figure who is in fact much more of a crafted legend than a man of truth.