In November 1952, General Dwight David Eisenhower, distinguished soldier and war hero, was elected President of the US. He was the first Republican candidate in twenty years to be elected to the highest office of the country. For the first time in American history, broad responsibility for the conduct and oversight of the country’s foreign policy-overt and covert-would be entrusted to two siblings, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Director of CIA Allen Welsh Dulles.
To the British government, the change in Washington was a boon. Even before the new Administration had assumed office, MI6 agent Christopher Montague Woodhouse-who had headed the intelligence section of the British Embassy in Tehran earlier-was sent to Washington for discreet talks on the situation in Iran with officials of the State Department, the CIA, and also people who were expected to be appointed to important positions in the new administration.
