#024 - The Warren Commission Decided 6: Dulles

Happy New Year! We’re back with another installment of The Warren Commission Decided to round out our excavation into the backgrounds and baggage of the seven commissioners LBJ appointed to seal up the narrative of the JFK assassination in the wake of the murder of Lee Oswald. And we’ve saved the worst for last: God’s own monster, Allen Welsh Dulles.

Oceans of ink have been spilled, and miles of vocal cords chafed recounting the genocidal legacy of Allen Dulles. You know we’re averse to trodding familiar ground, so this episode delves into some areas we hope will be fresher. It wouldn’t be 4RA without a healthy dose of Oedipal psychology, so we dig into the Foster-Lansing-Dulles klan to consider what makes these freaks tick. Then, we touch on Allen’s career of evil from his jumpstart in espionage (and Aryo-philia) during WWI, to his participation in the Versailles conference, to his law practice at Sullivan & Cromwell, to his peak as longtime CIA director under presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy.

Again, we gloss over a lot of the greatest hits to give you the deeper cuts, all while focusing on Dulles’s deep-seated racism and how it informed his tolerance - or even admiration - for Nazism. We also highlight his absolute mastery of the art of deception. 

Finally, we end up where we always do: with his relationship with JFK, their breakup after the Bay of Pigs debacle, and his selection as commissioner. Perhaps when JFK fired the old silver fox, he should have been more “careful with that axe.” It’s another banger: dig in!