The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer tells a biography of two powerful brothers, John Foster and Allen Dulles, who led the United States in a series of risky and unexpected undertaking during the first decade of the Cold War. John and Allen Dulles were both lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell which connected them to America’s business organizations. Both brothers had feared that communism would threaten the ability of America’s business organizations to operate freely, thus they felt that they should protect the world’s economy, national security, and the happiness of the Americans. The course of these circumstances involved launching anti-communism propaganda that were directed against …show more content…
Both were born into a family of religious and political lineage. Their father and his father before him was a Presbyterian minister and missionary. Their maternal grandfather, John Watson Foster, became the first American secretary of state to participate in the overthrow of a foreign government. “Grandfather Foster” was infatuated with the boys, and as small children, the brothers stayed with him at his Dupont Circle mansion. Both boys will eventually feel at ease in the most rarefied circle where they dined with ambassadors, senators, cabinet secretaries, and Supreme Court Justices. From this, they followed the ideas, styles, and attitudes that shaped the fashion of America’s power. From their religious point of view, they saw the world in two ways: there were good Christians and there was evil. The brothers had this view of the world ingrained in them since they were young, therefore they felt obligated to go out into the world to fight the evil and made sure that good was achieved. The Dulles brothers religious upbringing affected their politics, in which they applied their shared perception of religion to politics, and ultimately exercising that power whenever and wherever they saw appropriate …show more content…
During the domination of the Dulles brothers’, regime changes and assassinations were occurring in Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cuba, and the Congo. The CIA’s justification for the regime change and fighting the communists was the belief that communism was going to control the entire world, and of course, to keep the people of America safe. The brothers were able to overthrow regimes in Iran and Guatemala because they were a democratic societies making it simple for covert operations to taint their people, however they were unable to do so in Cuba and Vietnam due to its dictatorship society. Because they ruthlessly implemented their power against these countries, the direction of these countries may have been for the better if they did not interfere. It is necessary to understand what the Dulles brothers did and why they did it because it helps us to understand why the United States act the way it does, and to explore what brought about how America went wrong during the Cold War. The book illustrated the many casualties that resulted and destruction of democracies in these countries. The story also provides a better understanding of our current political dilemma and what goes into the minds of the U. S. government, how it is shaped and how it is shaping us. In spite of their cold blooded operation, their anti-communism, and the combination of religion