Allen Dulles

Allen Welsh Dulles (April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was a pivotal figure in American intelligence and diplomacy, best known as the longest-serving Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a role he held from 1953 to 1961. As the first civilian to lead the agency during its formative Cold War years, Dulles shaped the CIA into a powerful, secretive institution that influenced U.S. foreign policy through covert operations, espionage, and regime-change efforts.

World War II

In 1942, Dulles joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the CIA's wartime predecessor, as station chief in Bern, Switzerland There, he built a network of informants, including anti-Nazi Germans and Swiss contacts. His most notable achievement was Operation Sunrise in 1945, where he secretly negotiated the surrender of German forces in Italy and Austria with SS Reichfuhrer Heinrich Himmler's adjutant, General Karl Wolff. Otto Skorzeny and Major General Reinhard Gehlen were part of the surrender. Many of the surrendered Nazis became part of Operation Paperclip.