Sometimes I think Americans feel that our country is so unusual that's so truly
unique that we've actually transcended the cycles of history that there's no point in
looking back in history for warnings or examples of what might happen to us because we're so
different from any country or empire that's ever existed but this isn't true actually
h the history history shows that all great nations and empires have had ups and downs
countries that have survived over many many centuries like say Iran or China are used
to this they understand that when things aren't going well even if that goes on for a century
or two the cycles of history will bring them up again they can look back over twenty forty
centuries then you develop an understanding for this but Americans are not used to this
uh the arc of American history is quite misleading it tells us that we always get richer and
stronger and more powerful and more beloved but that's never happened with any country
in history and I think right now we're at the moment where we're starting to realize
that that won't be our fate forever I'm not sure we're psychologically prepared for this
for the fact that the US is not going to be able to dictate the way the world runs indefinitely
uh it's important for us to recognize that cycles of history also affect us and not to
be thrown into a panic when we realize that other forces in the world are emerging and
that at least our relative power is inevitably going to decline over time the beloved part
strikes me as oh boy we are not beloved at least not in many places we are not beloved
uh you add something else of enormous interest says uh the Dulles brothers added two other
convictions both bred into them over many years one was missionary Christianity which
tells believers that they understand eternal truth that they have an obligation to convert
the unenlightened along side it was the presumption that protecting the right of large American
corporations to operate freely in the world is good for everyone those are so contradictory
that you just have to laugh but anyhow why don't you elaborate them one of the reasons
I find the story of the Dulles brothers so fascinating is that they really reflect America
the forces that shaped John Foster Dulles and Allan Dulles are the forces that shaped
this country and when we understand them I think we understand our country better and
we understand better why we behave the way we do in the world so what were those forces
I think there were three important ones first of all they grew up in this very elite environment
their grandfather had been Secretary of State their uncle was Secretary of State before
they'd even reached their teens they were sitting around at dinner parties in Washington
with Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson and Bernard Baruch and William Howard Taft and
ambassadors and senators uh through these experiences they assimilated this idea of
American exceptionalism uh their grandfather had been a pioneer and risen through uh the
ranks of power he perceived of America's uniqueness as the explanation for why we deserved to
cover all of North America and they took that belief and extended it to the whole world
so this belief in the exceptional nature of the United States that we had a providential
mission on earth that allowed us to behave in ways we wouldn't want others to behave
was one important factor that shaped them and that also shapes our country second one
is as you mentioned uh missionary Calvinism Calvinism teaches you that there's one true
faith and all the other religions are wrong and if you believe that about religion it's
actually a short step to believing the same thing about politics that there's one political
system that's good and all the others are bad and then the missionary aspect teaches
you that you can't just sit home and hope that those bad countries become good you have
to go out there and and change them and the third factor that shaped them definitely was
their decades of work representing the largest American multi national corporations at this
law firm in New York Sullivan and Cromwell they came to view their job as protecting
the right of American corporations uh to invest and be active and extract resources in from
and have markets in foreign countries and they measured how free a country was by how
much freedom it gave to American countries to operate there so there's three factors
the belief in American exceptionalism the missionary Calvinist ideal and the service
of America of American corporations shaped them and I think shaped us and our foreign
policy religiosity was an every day matter in their homes these people came there and
ate dinner and so they they were exposed to this all the time time and Al I think it was
Ally once when he was a very little boy eight or nine he'd go upstairs and he he'd write
down what people had said which for a kid that age this is not normal it's a quite remarkable
story he'd beat these dinner parties given by his grandfather for all these eminent figures
and then the boys couldn't participate in the dinner 'cause they were just little kids
but they listened and then they would go up and go to bed except Allan future CIA Director
did not go to bed he'd write what were essentially intelligent reports to himself of who was
there what did they say and what did they really mean behind what they said here's a
id who's like nine years old writing this uh you begin to wonder what goes on inside
a mind like that This excerpt is brought to you by the Massachusetts School of Law