ALLEN WELSH DULLES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100170002-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: BIO

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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100170002-2
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Allen Welsh Dulles
Allen Welsh Dulles became Director of Central Intelligence on
February 26, 1953. Among the principal reasons for his appointment
were his extensive knowledge, both theoretical and practical., of
world affairs and diplomacy; his knowledge of law, particularly inter-
national law; and his unusual breadth of experience in the field of
intelligence.
After receiving the degree of A.B. from Princeton University in
1914, Mr. Dulles travelled in the Far East. He taught English in
Allahabad, India, before returning to study at Princeton for his M.A.,
which he received in 1916. From that year until 1926, Dulles was a
member of the United States Diplomatic Corps, stationed in Vienna,
Bern, Berlin, Constantinople, and Washington.
In 1926 Mr. Dulles resigned from the diplomatic corps, received
the degree of LL. B. from George Washington University, Washington,
D.C., and joined the law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell in New York,
of which his brother, John Poster Dulles, was a member.
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In 1942, General William J. Donovan selected Allen W. Dulles
for a key position in the Office of Strategic Services. From
October 1942 until VE Day, Mr. Dulles was chief of OSS in Switzerland,
and in this capacity was given much of the credit for the surrender
of German troops in northern Italy in 1945. He remained with OSS
until November 1945 as head of its German mission.
For his wartime service, Mr. Dulles received from the U.S.
Government the Medal for Merit and Presidential Citation, and the
Medal of Freedom. The Order of Maurizio e Lazzaro was awarded by
Italy; the Legion of Honor, rank of off'i.cer, by the French govern-
ment; and the Belgian Cross of Officer of the Order of Leopold by
the Belgian government.
After the war, in addition to carrying on his law practice,
Mr. Dulles served as a government adviser, particularly in matters
having to do with foreign aid and German policy. He was also
active (as he had been since the late 1920's) with the Council on
Foreign Relations of which he became president in 1946. In 1948
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he was appointed Chairman of a three-man committee to survey the
United States intelligence system. In this capacity he gained a
thorough understanding of the Central Intelligence Agency as it had
developed to that time. Mr. Dulles joined the staff of CIA Director
Walter Bedell Smith in the fall of 1950.
Mr. Dulles was born in Watertown, Nev York, April 7, 1893.
His father was Allen Macy Dulles, a Presbyterian clergyman; his
mother was With Foster Dulles.
On October 16, 1920, Mr. Dulles and Miss Clover Todd, daughter
of Professor and Mrs. Henry A. Todd of Columbia University, were
married. They have a son, Allen Macy, and two daughters, Clover
Todd and Joan.
Mr. Dulles' first book, The Boer War: a History, was written
when he was only eight years old. Beginning in 1927, he has fur-
nished articles for FOREIGN AFFAIRS. In 191+7 he wrote Germany's
Underground.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100170002-2
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ALLEN WELSH DULLES
(DCI - 26 February 1953 - 29 November 1961)
Died: 29 January 1969
Retired from Government in Washington; called out of retirement
to serve on the President's Commission on the Assassination of
President Kennedy (Warren Commission)
1964 - President Johnson sent him to Mississippi to read the
racial climate after the murder of 3 civil rights workers
Author:
Editor:
Craft of Intelligence,
Secret Surrender, 1966
Great True Spy Stories
1963
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100170002-2