Allen Dulles
Director of Central Intelligence, 1953–1961
- Born
- April 7, 1893, Watertown, New York
- Died
- January 29, 1969, Washington, D.C.
- Office
- Director of Central Intelligence, 1953–1961
- WWII
- OSS station chief in Bern, Switzerland
- Known for
- Approving MKUltra (1953); Bay of Pigs
Longest-serving early CIA director, who approved the MKUltra behavior-modification program in 1953 and left after the Bay of Pigs.
What is Allen Dulles known for?
Allen Welsh Dulles was a lawyer and intelligence officer, the younger brother of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. During World War II he ran the Office of Strategic Services station in Bern, Switzerland, and helped arrange the surrender of German forces in northern Italy.
Appointed Director of Central Intelligence by Eisenhower, he led the CIA from 1953 to 1961. His tenure included the 1953 coup in Iran, the 1954 coup in Guatemala and the U-2 program. He resigned in late 1961 after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.
In 1953 Dulles approved MKUltra, the CIA's program of research into drugs and behavior modification, run by chemist Sidney Gottlieb. The program tested LSD and other drugs, sometimes on people who did not know it. Its existence became public in 1975, and a 1977 Senate hearing examined surviving records.
As CIA Director he approved the MKUltra program in 1953.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeMKUltra: The 1977 Senate Hearing
- PersonSidney Gottlieb
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Allen W. Dulles'Reference
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 'Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification' (joint hearing, August 3, 1977)Primary text
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