On June 27, 1954, democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz resigned under pressure from a CIA-orchestrated coup known as Operation PBSUCCESS. The intervention, designed primarily to protect United Fruit Company’s vast landholdings, inaugurated decades of military dictatorship, …
Central Intelligence AgencyAllen DullesJohn Foster DullesUnited Fruit CompanyJacobo Arbenz+3 moreintelligence-overreachforeign-interventioncorporate-interestsbanana-republiccold-war+1 more
President Eisenhower approved National Security Council directive NSC 162/2, establishing the “New Look” defense policy that would reduce real defense spending by nearly one-third over his presidency despite intense Pentagon resistance. The policy reflected Eisenhower’s conviction …
Dwight D. EisenhowerJohn Foster DullesRobert B. CarneyMatthew B. RidgwayStrategic Air Commanddefense-budgetmilitary-spendingpentagonnuclear-weaponsfiscal-policy
On August 19, 1953, the CIA executed Operation Ajax (known to the British as Operation Boot), a covert action that overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and restored authoritarian power to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The coup marked the first time the CIA …
Central Intelligence AgencyKermit Roosevelt Jr.Allen DullesJohn Foster DullesMohammad Mosaddegh+4 moreintelligence-overreachforeign-interventionoil-industrycorporate-interestsauthoritarian-support+1 more