Following the end of World War II, the prewar elites set out to reclaim the political and economic dominance that had begun slipping out of their hands during the Great Depression. But although the Republicans took control of Congress in 1947-48, President Truman was able to prevent them from rolling back Roosevelt’s New Deal reforms.

Instead, a kind of grand bargain was worked out. Anti-communism became the ruling ideology of both liberals and conservatives and was used to eliminate any serious challenges to capitalism. The unions gave up their demands for a real share of power in exchange for the promise of a middle class lifestyle. The elites maintained control of the most powerful parts of government — the State Department, the Department of Defense, and the CIA. And the United States adopted an interventionist foreign policy that protected corporate access to markets and resources.

Meanwhile, one figure after another who had been playing footsies with the Nazis before the war moved smoothly back into positions of power. It seems clear that the elite protects its own.

• Allen Dulles
• Allen Dulles - The Postwar Years
• John McCloy
• The Farish Family