North Country native John Foster Dulles wasn't the only member of his family to have a big role in 1950's Washington. Allen Dulles, John Foster's brother, was the first civilian and longest-serving director of the C.I.A. It was a career that started undercover, gathering intelligence during World War II. Our Brian Dwyer and photojournalist R.D. White look back on the life of Allen Dulles.

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WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- Back in 1955, the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Air Force developed a secret test area for a new jet spy plane. It was code-named Project Aquatone and a desert-like area in Southern Nevada was chosen as it's home.

The site contained hangers, trailers and assembly buildings for specialized personnel. It soon got an unofficial name, the Watertown Strip, named after the birth place of CIA Director Allen Dulles. It's an area we now know as "Area 51".

From a past interview, Dulles said, “I'm a Parson's son and I was brought up as a Presbyterian. Maybe as a Calvinist, I may be a fatalist, I do not know. I hope I have a reasonable moral standard."

Much like his brother John Foster, Allen Dulles grew up in Watertown. During his high-profile life, he'd make numerous trips back home to the North Country, spending vacations and holidays at a family cottage on Henderson Harbor.

John Johnson Jr., Chairman & CEO Johnson Newspaper Corp said, “He stayed in Henderson so we'd see him. He was a stately gentleman. He'd walk up and down County Route 123 in Henderson for an evening stroll."

Allen got his start gathering intelligence undercover during World War Two. He'd pass secrets of German super-weapons and even very quietly, arranged the 1945 surrender of German Forces in Italy.

Ameritus Professor SLU Foreign Affairs Robert Wells said, “He was in the CIA, but he was in the precursor of the CIA, OSS. He was right there one of the key people. The OSS was essentially what we call code #5. Which was dirty tricks."

As the CIA head, he also was involved with removing the heads of Iran and Guatemala, a move that was somewhat controversial because Dulles had somewhat of a personal interest in control of farm land used to produce bananas for the United Fruit Company, of which he was a board member.

Wells said, "We were getting involved in Latin America all through that time. Mostly it was because we had a lot of money and a lot of investment down there."

Things all started to fall apart for Dulles in the 1960's. First a pilot named Gary Powers was shot down flying a U2 over the Soviet Union during arms negotiations with the Russians. An embarrassing incident for Dulles, because his office believed the Russians did not have the Surface to Air Missile technology to do such a thing. It halted those talks. Then the last straw was in 1961. The Bay of Pigs.

"The CIA was encouraged to do something about Castro. The word came from the Executive Office,” said Wells.

The CIA organized and equipped an Army of Cuban exiles to remove Fidel Castro from power. The invasion was considered a complete disaster with the Cubans either killed or captured at the Beachhead.

Johnson said, “When something fails, somebody's got to be blamed and it has to be somebody other than the president."

In an old interview, Dulles said, “At no time has the CIA engaged in any political activity or any intelligence activity that was not approved at the highest level."

Dulles would later serve on the Warren Commission that investigated President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

A reporter asked Dulles, “Was it a shoddy job, a slipshod job?" Dulles responded, “No, I don't think so. I think we examined all the witnesses that were available and we felt would add anything new."

Allen Dulles died in 1969 after contracting influenza and pneumonia. He was 75.