Dean acheson cold war history

Byrnesand George Marshall. Inas chairman of a special committee to prepare a plan for the international control of atomic energy, he wrote the Acheson—Lilienthal report. At first Acheson was conciliatory towards Joseph Stalin. From this point forward, one historian writes, "Acheson was more than 'present at the creation' of the Cold War ; he was a primary architect.

Acheson devised the policy and wrote Truman's request to Congress for aid to Greece and Turkey, a speech which stressed the dangers of totalitarianism but did not name the Soviet Union and marked the fundamental change in American foreign policy that became known as the Truman Doctrine. During the summer ofafter the unexpected Democratic victory in the elections did not quiet the question " Who Lost China?

The document known officially as United States Relations with China with Special Reference to the Period —which later was simply called the China White Paperattempted to dismiss any misinterpretations of Chinese and American diplomacy toward each other. Although Acheson and Truman had hoped that the study would dispel rumors and conjecture, the documents helped to convince many critics that the administration had indeed failed to check the spread of communism in China.

Acheson's speech on January 12,before the National Press Club [ 17 ] did not mention the Korea Peninsula and Formosa Taiwan as part of the all-important "defense perimeter" of the United States, known as the Acheson Line. When Soviet archives opened in the s, however, research found that the speech had little if any impact on Communist decision for war in Korea.

Acheson's advocacy of foreign policy discomfited many traditional American allies, who banded together with India's de facto foreign minister Krishna Menonin what Acheson named at the time and again in his memoirs as the ' Menon cabal '. Casey of Australia; and Lester B. Pearson of Canada, who famously observed in that "the days of easy and automatic relations with the United States are over'.

Critics blamed Acheson for what they called the " loss of China " and launched several years of organized opposition to Acheson's tenure; Acheson ridiculed his opponents and called this period in his outspoken memoirs "The Attack of the Primitives". Although he maintained his role as a firm anti-communist, he was attacked by various anti-communists for not taking a more active role in attacking communism abroad and domestically, rather than hew to his policy of containment of communist expansion.

Both he and Secretary of Defense George Marshall came under attack from men such as Joseph McCarthy ; Acheson became a byword to some Americans, who tried to equate containment with appeasement. This criticism grew very loud after Acheson refused to "turn his back on Alger Hiss " when the latter was accused of being a Communist spy, and convicted of perjury for denying he was a spy.

He retired on January 20,the last day of the Truman administration, and served on the Yale board of trustees along with Senator Robert A. Taftone of his sharpest critics. Acheson returned to his private law practice. Although his official governmental career was over, his influence was not. He was ignored by the Eisenhower administration but headed up Democratic policy groups in the late s.

Much of President John F. Kennedy 's flexible response policies came from the position papers drawn up by this dean acheson cold war history. Acheson's law offices were strategically located a few blocks from the White House and he accomplished much out of office. He became an unofficial advisor to the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Acheson so strongly opposed the final decision merely to blockade that he resigned from the executive committee.

During the s, he was a leading member of a bipartisan group of establishment elders known as the Wise Menwho initially supported the Vietnam War. As secretary of state, Acheson had supported the French efforts to control Indochina as the necessary price for French support of NATO, and to contain communism. Byhowever, his viewpoint had changed. President Johnson asked Acheson to reassess American military policy, and he concluded that military victory was impossible.

He advised Johnson to pull out as quickly as possible, to avoid a deepening division inside the Democratic Party. Johnson took Acheson's advice, in terms of de-escalating the war, and deciding not to run for reelection. Acheson distrusted Hubert Humphreyand supported Richard Nixon for president in He broke with Nixon in with the incursion into Cambodia.

Inhe received the Presidential Medal of Freedomwith Distinction. The Modern Library placed the book at No. At p. His body was found slumped over his desk in his study. He had a son, David C. Acheson father of Eleanor D. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects.

Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. American politician and lawyer — Alice Stanley.

Dean acheson cold war history: US secretary of state (–53) and

Early life and education [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. Career [ edit ]. Economic diplomacy [ edit ]. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, he said, had been leading the country down the primrose path with overly optimistic predictions. His controversial statements continued to the end of his life, when he defended Richard Nixon against press attacks. The national press, he insisted, simply must stop destroying presidents.

Dean acheson cold war history: As Secretary of State, Acheson

Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. All rights reserved. You can opt out at any time. Roosevelt administration as Under Secretary of the Treasury. InAcheson began his career at the Department of State as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, a position that gave him a front-row seat to the increasing tensions between the United States and Japan that led to war.

In this capacity, Acheson oversaw the U. Truman on January 21, He usually preferred to have me there with him because he wanted to make sure that matters were followed up on. He also wanted witnesses and a record of conversations so that he could deal effectively with any subsequent arguments. That was my role essentially. For a young man my age, it was a heady experience….

There were some interesting aspects of this period: the McCarthy period —very difficult.

Dean acheson cold war history: He was also Truman's main foreign

One would not have expected that an attack from the outside would induce people to turn around and run. And it did not happen except in one case. I never suspected that any of the assistant secretaries would do anything improper. Everybody who worked there closed ranks. It was good for the Department and the people in it. Acheson had told me that it was not necessary for Dulles to be involved in everything.

He should only see selected telegrams. He had been brought in as a general advisor. He had to see the same traffic that the senior staff saw. He and Acheson never liked each other. I was frequently the go-between. In the beginning, Dulles resented it. He would ask for an appointment with the Secretary and I would escort him to the door to let him in.

Obviously, Dulles resented me. So he had a couple of private meetings with the Secretary. They were minor requests, but nothing happened. So I told him that I would see what I could do. So I got his requests honored, after asking the Secretary if it was all right. After that, Dulles became aware of the fact that he needed me to be in on his meetings with the Secretary.

Dulles, if you wish. As time went on, the relationship between the two became dicey and tricky. The big issue of course became the Korean War in Dulles was in Japan working on the Peace Treaty when the war broke out. He immediately returned to Washington. I went to see him in his office. Eleanor Dulles, his sister, was in there with him.

Dulles asked me to come in to his office. He was on the phone with Bob Taft, telling him how much he approved what the U. He thought that we had made the United Nations a living, breathing organization and he approved heartily of the Truman-Acheson decision…. He held that line for the first few weeks and then starting in the first week of December he talked to a lot of reporters.

Several of them called me — Mark Childs and others — to tell me that Dulles was now opposing the war and that he was saying that he never would have handled the crisis in that way. If he had been in charge, if he had anything at all, he would have used air power alone. I was furious. The story was confirmed by at least two press people. Eagleburger pictured at left.

First of all, I developed tremendous dean acheson cold war history and affection for someone I think is one of the greats of American foreign policy in the 20th century, Acheson was, even in those years, and that was when he was in his early 70s and had long since left the government, a superb human being and clearly substantially more capable of coherent thought than most of those around him in the Johnson administration.

He took a very tough view of how the U. While it is true that most of his recommendations were not accepted, it was also interesting to watch, because it was only because Acheson was there pushing and, in effect, on occasion proposing some pretty stringent reactions that the administration was forced to think through how, in fact, it would deal with the crisis.

So Acheson, though not the man who developed the policy, forced the administration to take a hard look at some real questions. Part of the thing about the Acheson period that interested me most was watching Acheson deal with the President of the United States. He had supported Lyndon Johnson for President when Kennedy got the nomination, largely because, as he himself told me, he had such distrust for John Kennedy and felt he was less than up to the task.

But with all of that, the period when he came back into the government was difficult for him, and particularly difficult because he and Johnson did not get along well…. I had told Acheson I would wait for him outside at the southwest Executive Avenue entrance and he could brief me on what had gone on, and we could figure out what we were going to do next.

He was driving his own car, and he pulled out, and I got in the car, and he was crying. Tears were running down his cheeks.