Rusk, Dean

▪ 1995

      U.S. diplomat (b. Feb. 9, 1909, Cherokee county, Ga.—d. Dec. 20, 1994, Athens, Ga.), as U.S. secretary of state (1961-69) during the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations, gave unwavering support for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War amidst massive protests at home as the war escalated and U.S. participation increased. After graduating (1931) from Davidson (N.C.) College, Rusk attended St. John's College, Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar and earned (1934) an M.A. in philosophy, politics, and economics. He taught at Mills College, Oakland, Calif., from 1934 to 1940, when he was called to active duty in the U.S. Army. During World War II, Rusk served Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell as deputy chief of staff for the China-Burma-India theatre and rose to the rank of colonel before leaving the military in 1946. That year he joined the State Department and held a variety of posts before being recruited by Kennedy in 1961 to head the department. In this role he served as advisor to the president during the showdown with Moscow known as the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. U.S. aerial photographs revealed that the Soviets were constructing missile-launching installations in Cuba. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade and threatened military reprisals, after which Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles under UN supervision. In his 1990 memoirs, As I Saw It, Rusk recounted his assessment of the situation: "We are eyeball to eyeball, and the other fellow just blinked." He helped negotiate some of the first arms-control accords with Moscow. After stepping down as secretary of state, Rusk taught international law at the University of Georgia until he retired in 1984.

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▪ United States secretary of state

in full  David Dean Rusk  

born Feb. 9, 1909, Cherokee county, Ga., U.S.

died Dec. 20, 1994, Athens, Ga.

      U.S. secretary of state during the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson administrations who became a target of antiwar hostility as he consistently defended the United States' participation in the Vietnam War.

      After graduating from Davidson College in 1931, Rusk earned his master's degree at St. John's College, Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar. From 1934 to 1940 he taught political science at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., becoming dean of the faculty in 1938.

      During World War II, Rusk served General Joseph W. Stilwell as deputy chief of staff for the China-Burma-India theatre. After the war he held positions in both the state and war departments. In March 1950 he became assistant secretary of state for Far Eastern affairs, a position in which he was involved in U.S. prosecution of the Korean War. Rusk supported the war, but he disagreed with General Douglas MacArthur's advocacy of expanding the fighting into China.

      Rusk was president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1952 to 1960. In 1961 he became secretary of state under President Kennedy. Within a year he faced crises in Cuba, Indochina, and Berlin. Rusk's characteristically cool and reticent personality, however, contributed to the State Department's reduced role in national policy making.

      Rusk was retained as secretary of state in the Johnson administration following Kennedy's assassination. From 1964 to 1968 he consistently defended the United States' military involvement in Vietnam, making himself a target of growing antiwar sentiment in the country. His longtime opposition to the diplomatic recognition of Communist China confirmed his image as an inflexible stalwart of the Cold War.

      Rusk retired after leaving office in January 1969, but he subsequently accepted a professorship in international law at the University of Georgia, which he held until his retirement in 1984.

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