“Exceptionalism”—the view that the United States has a right to impose its will because it knows more, sees farther, and lives on a higher moral plane than other nations—was to them not a platitude, but the organizing principle of daily life and global politics...
With a glance, a nod, and a few words, without consulting anyone other than the President, the brothers could mobilize the full power of the United States anywhere in the world."
Stephen Kinzer, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
"Seneca had made the bargain that many good men have made when agreeing to aid bad regimes. Their presence strengthens the regime and helps it endure. But their moral influence may also improve the regime's behavior. For many, this has been a bargain worth making, even if it has cost them—as it may have cost Seneca—their immortal soul. The Rome he has been trained to serve, the Rome of Augustus and Germanicus, was gone. In its place stood Neropolis, ruled by a megalomaniac brat.” James Romm