Date Thesis Awarded
4-2009
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
History
Advisor
Hiroshi Kitamura
Committee Members
David McCarthy
William Rennagel
Abstract
Allen Dulles is most famously known for his controversial operations during the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This story of Dulles as CIA director is already well told and analyzed by historians. Less known is his central role in the Office of Strategic Service's (OSS) operation in Bern, Switzerland during the Second World War. Founded on June 13, 1942, the OSS was a key intelligence arm that assisted the United States' military and diplomatic mission following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Dulles became the leading spymaster for the OSS and one of the most, if not the most, influential intelligence officers of World War II. By studying Dulles' intelligence activities during the Second World War, we can learn a great deal about the foundations of the American intelligence community, various methods of intelligence collection, and how intelligence can be used as a tool to promote and/or achieve specific agendas. Historians have not adequately examined Dulles' World War II years and the impact his role as Station Chief in Bern had on developments in the war and in the postwar period.
Recommended Citation
Hoover, Jennifer A., "Secrets in Switzerland : Allen W. Dulles' impact as OSS station chief in Bern on developments of World War II & U.S. dominance in post-war Europe" (2009). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 240.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/240
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.