Interview · moment 8 of 20
Cold War Ideology, Operation Paperclip, and the Permanent War Economy
from Slumbering Herds of Cattle · #12
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
3 minGuest
Discussion of whether Dulles's Nazi collaboration was ideological anti-communism or financial opportunism, covering Operation Paperclip, Wernher von Braun, and Eisenhower's warning about the military industrial complex becoming the entire US economy.
- 20:19A wartime OSS operative who became Supreme Court Justice felt the Dulles brothers should have been tried for treason, but FDR died before it could happen.
- 20:33The Dulles brothers collaborated with Nazi interests because their real enemy was the Soviet Union, not Hitler — they wanted to rebuild Nazi Germany as a bulwark against communism.
- 21:11Tim explains Operation Paperclip brought Nazi scientists to America for the missile program, but the intelligence officers like Reinhard Gehlen were even more disturbing.
- 22:19Gehlen, Hitler's eastern front intelligence chief, should have been tried and hanged at Nuremberg but instead Dulles protected him and he became West Germany's top spymaster.
- 22:41Dulles brought Gehlen to America and took him to a famous World Series game between the Yankees and Giants as a honored guest of the U.S. alliance.
- 23:09British allies were appalled by the people the U.S. was working with during the Cold War, but Dulles had no problem with any of it.
- 23:27Dulles and the people he aided in Cold War operations made substantial money, raising the question of whether it was purely ideological or just keeping the military-industrial money flowing.
Allen DullesOperation PaperclipReinhard Gehlenmilitary-industrial complexWernher von BraunJoe DiMaggioWillie Mays