General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: After JFK assassination, President Truman put his concerns about CIA in print. [View all]jalan48
(14,135 posts)In 1954, the Guatemalan government of Colonel Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, elected in 1950, was toppled by forces led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas[28] who invaded from Honduras. Commissioned by the Eisenhower administration, this military operation was armed, trained and organized by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency[29] (see Operation PBSuccess). The directors of United Fruit Company (UFCO) had lobbied to convince the Truman and Eisenhower administrations that Colonel Árbenz intended to align Guatemala with the Eastern Bloc. Besides the disputed issue of Árbenz's allegiance to communism, UFCO was being threatened by the Árbenz government's agrarian reform legislation and new Labor Code.[30] UFCO was the largest Guatemalan landowner and employer, and the Árbenz government's land reform program included the expropriation of 40% of UFCO land.[30] U.S. officials had little proof to back their claims of a growing communist threat in Guatemala;[31] however, the relationship between the Eisenhower administration and UFCO demonstrated the influence of corporate interest on U.S. foreign policy.[29] United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, an avowed opponent of communism, was also a member of the law firm, Sullivan and Cromwell, which had represented United Fruit.[32] His brother Allen Dulles, director of the CIA, was also a board member of United Fruit. United Fruit Company is the only company known to have a CIA cryptonym. The brother of the Assistant Secretary of State for InterAmerican Affairs, John Moors Cabot, had once been president of United Fruit. Ed Whitman, who was United Fruit's principal lobbyist, was married to President Eisenhower's personal secretary, Ann C. Whitman.[32] Many individuals who directly influenced U.S. policy towards Guatemala in the 1950s also had direct ties to UFCO.[30]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company#Guatemala