The Dulles Brothers
The Dulles brothers' background combined with their history with Mossadeq made them biased against the Prime Minister and gave them increased impetus to initiate the coup.
"One of our greatest assets is that all men aspire to be equal and free.... It is up to us, not only by example but by positive acts, to make the most of this driving force within mankind."
- Allen Welsh Dulles
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"Once - many, many years ago - I thought I made a wrong decision. Of course, it turned out that I had been right all along. But I was wrong to have thought that I was wrong."
- John Foster Dulles
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Scroll over each portrait for a quote
Early Years and Mentality
"[Our upbringing left us] not only a deep faith in central religious truths, but also a sense of the obligation of such faith toward each other and toward those distant people who were striving to gain new light."
- Eleanor Dulles, sister of John and Allen
- Eleanor Dulles, sister of John and Allen
"[We had] discussions on the great world issues which our country was then growing up to face... We children were at first the listeners and the learners, but as we grew up we became vigorous participants in international debates." |
"I saw John Foster Dulles and decided against him because he was so pontifical. He seemed to me like a churchman out to exploit someone."
-William O. Douglas, Supreme Court Justice
-William O. Douglas, Supreme Court Justice
Sullivan & Cromwell
The Dulles brothers were partners at Sullivan & Cromwell, a law firm that specialized in creating giant corporations. They suffered their first losses at the hands of Mossadeq for the AIOC.
Merging American business interests with their view of common good, the Dulles brothers came into power with a personal grudge against Mossadeq.
Inflexible Beliefs
The Dulles brothers were overly attached to an aggressive anti-communist approach to foreign policy, and were unwilling to compromise their beliefs.
John Foster Dulles Interview, 1952 [Youtube]
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"[John Foster Dulles's] categorical commitment to anti-Communism... seemed to fuse with his thin but firm religious tenets in an awesome self-righteousness"
- Townsend Hoopes, Undersecretary of the Air Force
- Townsend Hoopes, Undersecretary of the Air Force