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(Allen, the shady Dulles brother)

Allen Dulles was head of the CIA from 1953-1961, putting him smack in the middle of the Cold War, the Middle East, Vietnam, the Red Scare, just about everything America found itself knee deep in during the Eisenhower years. It is also interesting to note that his brother, John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State during that time (until his death in 1959) - no doubt it was an interesting atmosphere around Washington then. But in 1968 we had the infamous Pueblo Incident, where an admitted spy ship was seized in North Korean waters and the resulting embarrassment lasted for years. Dulles comfortably assesses the damage from the comfort of his retirement. As always, the Cold War has really never ended, especially in 1968.

In this interview, conducted by Mitchell Krauss for the NET series "Newsfront" in February of 1968, Dulles busily promotes his new book "Great True Spy Stories" and skillfully evades some pertinent questions.

Allen Dulles: (with reference to the Pueblo incident) “It is very important to get the type of intelligence that a ship like the Pueblo can gather. And therefore it was reasonable that it should be in that general area in order to carry out its mission. Obviously, it’s important to know what the possible antagonist is planning and doing and so forth and so on. One of the ways is to pick up from the airwaves, you know, what he’s saying.”

All in all, a rather easy game of softball, but one of the rare interviews done by someone who certainly knew where all the mummies were buried.

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(An Eisenhower Press Conference - cheerfully referred to as Old Bubblehead)

I'm trying to do the math here. The tape says this is Press Conference Number 68. It's from May 11, 1955 - Eisenhower has been in office since January 1953. So as best as I can round it out, that's about one Press Conference every two weeks. I've spoken with several people who were with the White House Press Corps at the time and they honestly did refer to Eisenhower as "Old Bubblehead" - I'm not making it up.

I wonder if he was guilty of being overexposed?

At any rate - two subjects were covered:

First was The Big 4 Summit back when only four countries were considered worth getting together. Times have changed.

Pres. Eisenhower: “I would think the most important thing to possibly be done at such a meeting would be to define the lines or directions in which we commonly would want our Foreign Ministers to work to see if there’s any opportunity to relieve the tensions in the world. And beyond that, I don’t think you can possibly say what the subjects would be. Certainly there would be no agenda except in the most generalized form, to talk about a general group of subjects . No agenda in the sense that Foreign Ministers would normally meet.”

A sort of summit to sit around and talk about what they're going to sit around and talk about.

The other important topic in this press conference was the newly introduced Polio Vaccine which had been temporarily held up by reports of Polio outbreaks among people who got the vaccine.

1955 was the year the Salk Polio Vaccine was made public. People don't talk about Polio that much anymore, as it has been all but eradicated. But in the 1950s it was scary, especially if you were a kid.

The one thing that struck me was the civility of the press - not much in the way of screaming. Fancy that.

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(Periodically getting up close and personal, even in the 1950's)

Most people lately have assumed our involvement in the Middle East (other than Israel), has been a thing of recent vintage. It goes back a long, long ways, certainly our military involvement extends back at least to the Lebanon situation of July 31, 1958 where religious and political factions lead to an overthrow of the government in Lebanon. Similarly, a wave of assassinations and overthrows also took place between Jordan and Iraq (the assassination of King Faisal of Iraq, leading to a series of military regimes, ending with Saddam Hussein in the 1960's). Cold War tensions, brought on by military maneuvers on the USSR/Iranian border and the rise of Gamel Abdul Nasser of Egypt and just a general shift in the political landscape of the Middle East, brought about considerable nervousness in some quarters, particularly in Britain, France and the U.S.

UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge was quick to point out these tensions in a news conference during a quickly called UN Security Council session.

Henry Cabot Lodge: “What is really happening is plain for all to see if you but lift up our eyes. The overthrow of the lawful government of Iraq, beginning with the assassination of the Crown Prince, and which was followed by a wave of assassinations throughout that unhappy country, is one dreadful fact. Then the attempt to subvert and overthrow Jordan, of which we have just heard, is another. And of course the effort directed from without to subvert Lebanon is familiar to everyone. That there is in the Middle East a common purpose to take over, everywhere. All at once. Clearly, there is a purpose, masterminded from one source. You can read all about it in the Cairo newspapers, or listen to the incessant radio broadcasts from Cairo to other Arab countries.”

The culprit in this case appeared to be Egypt, as Nassar was emerging as a potent leader in the Arab world. Of course, underneath all of it was the question of oil. Wouldn't you know?

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(Coined the phrase "Massive Retaliation" - Ike ran with it)

Fifty years ago this week, former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles died after a two-year bout with cancer. Largely credited as the architect of America's Cold War Policy, Dulles wasn't a big believer in negotiation as a way to deal with the Soviet Union, but rather a staunch believer in nuclear options as a deterrent. His brother, Allen was one of the first directors of the Central Intelligence Agency and with tacit encouragement of John instituted many policies which are still in use today in the area of surveillance.

The clips I ran across are a series of tributes broadcast from May 26-28, 1959 by conservative far-right columnist and commentator Fulton Lewis Jr. Lewis made no apologies about his undying love for Dulles and these broadcasts take fawning and demigodery to new heights. Lewis was an ardent anti-communist and supporter of Joe McCarthy, once referring to Arthur Miller as "That pinko playwright" in one of his broadcasts. His popularity flourished in the 1950's as a result of his brand of "folksy wingnutery"over the Mutual Radio Network.

Lewis was not alone in his anti-liberal rants. A further indication the media was never the bastion of left-wing thought as many would have us believe.

In any event, after Dulles' passing, a general thaw was beginning in our East-West relationships, only to be re-frozen when the U-2 incident came to light - a policy instituted by Dulles and continued despite claims to the contrary.

Old habits are just hard to break I suppose.

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(Khrushchev: Exercising the Righteous Indignation Clause)

1960 started off rather hopeful. In 1959 a noticeable thaw was taking place in the Cold War. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev made a visit to the U.S., cultural exchange programs were going full force and all was looking optimistic that maybe we all could get along after all. May 17th was slated to be the day the first major summit conference between the NATO powers and The Soviet Union would begin.

And then came the U-2 spy plane incident. The U.S. had been sending regular reconnaissance missions over Soviet territory, taking pictures of military installations. On May 1st, the Russians shot down one of the planes, announcing to the world on May 5th they had captured the pilot Francis Gary Powers.

At first, the State Department denied the plane was on a spy mission, saying Powers was flying over Turkey and had become unconscious, sending the plane in auto-pilot over Soviet air space and all was an unfortunate accident. But later, the story was recanted and officials conceded Powers was really on a spy mission.

With last minute negotiations via British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan as go-between, Eisenhower agreed to suspend future flights, but refused to apologize for the incident.

Khrushchev promptly pulled the plug on the much hoped-for summit conference on May 17th and issued a stinging three-hour denunciation of the West at the Press Conference in Paris on May 18th.

Whether it was a calculated move on Khrushchev's part, knuckling to pressure from the hawkish elements of the Politburo (that would cost him his job in 1964) or it was a supreme blunder on the part of the Eisenhower administration has been a topic of dispute for years.

In any event - on this day in 1960, the Cold War got a whole lot colder.

The Recession of 1958. Okay, it was fifty years ago. Hardly anyone remembers it - I don't remember it all that well because I was only 7 at the time. But I do know it caused my family to pick up stakes in Detroit and move to the balmier climes of Southern California, where opportunity was rumored to be falling from trees like navel oranges.

A lot of parallels have been drawn between the 1958 economic downturn and the one we're sweating out now. It was sharp, fast and scary - much like the one now. It came at a time when all indicators pointed to the economy being sound. Well . . . .maybe not the same. The big difference between the Recession of 1958 and one now is the world in which it took place. In 1958 there was no such thing as corporate mergers, leveraged buyouts, predator lending - credit cards only existed in the realm of The Diners Club. Our entire financial system was different - there were also a lot less people on the planet.

I do remember that it was possible to reinvent yourself and start a new life, as my father and millions of other blue collar workers had done. Trading in the auto industry for the new frontiers of aerospace and 78 degree days in January was a no-brainer.

The interesting parallel is how, even in 1958 the Auto industry was blamed for a lot of our economic ills. How a group of high school kids could grill an economic pundit from the Eisenhower Administration, wondering why Detroit couldn't make something America wanted is interesting from todays perspective. Even kids knew there was something wrong at the time.

Here is an extended excerpt from a radio program called "Youth Wants To Know" - a sort of Meet The Press where High School kids were calling the shots. The kids ask tough questions and the guest, Gabriel Hauge dodges and skirts pretty well. Makes for a refreshing break from the softball games we get on Sundays these days.

"Doctor Hauge, do you think that President Eisenhower was referring to Detroit cars when he recently said the products which consumers don't want were being jammed down their throats?"

Ouch!