challenging figure that almost nothing one could write about him
would be likely to meet with the agreement of even six people
chosen at random.

Although this book is based on a good deal of published mate-
rial, its character and many of its judgments have been determined
by personal contact with a large number of people who knew
Mr. Dulles well, both inside and outside the United States, and by
my own memory of him. Those I saw included leading political
and military figures who often had to deal with him, diplomats,
civil servants, his own staff, journalists, lawyers, personal friends
and members of his family. Naturally, some were his admirers and
some were among his severest critics. But to all I am extremely
grateful for the time and trouble they took in helping me, and for
their kindness in bearing with my many questions. I know that
they often spoke as freely as they did because they knew they were
not going to be quoted or mentioned by name. In particular, I hope
that nothing I have written may distress Mr. Dulles's family.

Mr. Dulles's papers are understandably voluminous, and it will
probably be several years before his definitive biography is pub-
lished. But so much material is already available in various forms
that the problem is what to omit rather than what to look for.
I emphasize this because I do not want anyone to start by thinking
that this book is intended to do the work of Mr. Dulles's ultimate
biographers. It is what it says--a reappraisal of Mr. Dulles's record
so far as we can see it now. Some day, when the actors have all left
the stage and the historians alone can read their lines, a different
kind of book will emerge. Until then, I think this one can lay fair
claim to having a valid contribution to make.

Among the publications to which I would like to make my
special acknowledgments are the two books which have preceded
mine, John Foster Dulles by John Beal ( Harper & Brothers, New
York) and Duel at the Brink by Roscoe Drummond and Gaston Coblentz
( Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York); Mr. Dulles
own two works, War, Peace and Change and War or Peace ( The
Macmillan Co., New York); A Testimonial to Grace by Avery Dulles
( Sheed & Ward, New York); The Spiritual Legacy of John
Foster Dulles edited by Henry P. van Dusen ( Westminster Press,
Philadelphia); and the privately circulated memorial booklet by

-viii-