Allen Dulles

Allen Dulles
5th Director of Central Intelligence
In office
February 26, 1953 – November 29, 1961
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
DeputyCharles P. Cabell
Preceded byWalter Bedell Smith
Succeeded byJohn A. McCone
4th Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
In office
August 23, 1951 – February 26, 1953
PresidentHarry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byWilliam H. Jackson
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for Plans
In office
January 4, 1951 – August 23, 1951
PresidentHarry S. Truman
Preceded byPosition established
Director of Office of Strategic Services
In office
June 13, 1942 – September 20, 1945
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
Preceded byWilliam J. Donovan
Succeeded byJohn A. McCone
Personal details
Born
Allen Welsh Dulles

(1893-04-07)April 7, 1893
Watertown, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 29, 1969(1969-01-29) (aged 75)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeGreen Mount Cemetery
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Martha "Clover" Todd
(m. 1920)
Children3
RelativesJohn Foster Dulles (brother)
John Watson Foster (uncle)
John Welsh Dulles (grandfather)
Miron Winslow
(great-grandfather)
Harriet Winslow
(great-grandmother)
Avery Cardinal Dulles (nephew)
Dulles family
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
George Washington University (LLB)

Allen Welsh Dulles (/ˈdʌlɪs/ DUL-iss; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was an American lawyer who was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest serving director. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he oversaw the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, the Lockheed U-2 aircraft program, the Project MKUltra mind control program, and the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. As a result of the failed invasion of Cuba, Dulles was fired by President John F. Kennedy.

Dulles was a member of the Warren Commission that investigated Kennedy's assassination. A conspiracy theory suggesting that Dulles and the CIA were somehow involved in Kennedy's assassination and its potential cover up in the Warren Commission have been subject to popular debate among historians, political commentators and conspiracy theorists. In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that the CIA was not involved in the assassination of Kennedy.[1]

Between his stints of government service, Dulles was a corporate lawyer and partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. His older brother, John Foster Dulles, was the Secretary of State during the Eisenhower administration and is the namesake of Dulles International Airport.[2]

  1. ^ "Table of Contents". National Archives. August 15, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference obit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).