The CIA Puppetmaster Part 1

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime, History

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In Part One of this two-part series, the CIA Director and political chessmaster, Allen Dulles, has his eyes set on overthrowing the Cuban Dictator, Fidel Castro. But though Dulles thinks he has every move figured out, he unwittingly puts the pieces in motion for one of the greatest embarrassments in American history.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love unsettling stories.
0:02.4	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to redacted, declassified mysteries,
0:06.4	early and ad-free, as well as another twisted tale from Bollin Studios and Wondry called
0:11.3	Wartime Stories, also hosted by me, early and ad-free on Wondry Plus.
0:16.7	Start your free trial today.
0:35.0	On November 8, 1960, CIA director Alan Dulles settled into an armchair and turned on the news.
0:38.3	The results of the presidential election would be coming soon.
0:42.7	He sipped a scotch on the rocks as he calmly watched the anchor on screen.
0:48.9	NBC declared that the race between Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy and Republican nominee Richard Nixon was still too close to call.
0:51.5	Our tote board now shows Kennedy ahead still, as he has been, but by one million out of 51 million
0:58.9	votes cast.
0:59.8	We've heard a great deal.
1:00.9	We've heard many forecasts of close elections.
1:04.7	And this was turning out to be one of the closest in history.
1:08.1	Even though he was a staunch Republican, Dulles wasn't the least bit concerned
1:12.0	about a Democrat potentially winning. He knew that no matter what, his power as head of the CIA
1:17.6	was completely secure. The battle between Kennedy and Nixon had been hard-fought and ugly,
1:24.1	with each candidate determined to gain the upper hand. For that, they both went to Dulles himself.
1:30.3	Dulles had a long-standing relationship with Nixon.
1:33.3	As the Vice President Dwight Eisenhower, Nixon worked closely with the CIA director.
1:38.3	Dulles had decades of experience navigating Washington politics
1:42.3	and took the power-hungry Nixon under his wing.
	...

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