Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam

by Fredrik Logevall

In conversation, the president tended to be plainspoken, while Dulles sought refuge in intellectual abstractions. Both men had been raised in deeply religious homes, but whereas Eisenhower wore his faith lightly, the secretary of state came across as inflexibly pious. Still, they developed a close working relationship, based on mutual respect if not perhaps deep affection. Behind closed doors, Dulles sometimes revealed a capacity for flexible and pragmatic thought that would have amazed outsiders, and—even more shocking—a sense of humor. He also showed he knew who was boss. Despite the claims of later detractors, he had no inclination to get ahead of the president on foreign policy, for he understood that his power derived from Eisenhower’s confidence in him. He vowed not to repeat the error of his uncle Robert Lansing, who had been dismissed for crossing Wilson.