Dean Acheson

Dean Acheson (1893-1971), American statesman. Dean Gooderham Acheson was born in Middletown, Connecticut, and educated at Yale University and Harvard Law School. From 1919 to 1921, he was private secretary to Louis D. Brandeis, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1933 Acheson served as undersecretary of the treasury. He was assistant secretary of state (1941-1945) and undersecretary (1945-1947). In 1949 Acheson became secretary of state under President Harry S. Truman. Acheson continued the policies of his predecessor, George C. Marshall, most notably in the implementation of the European Recovery Program, also known as the Marshall Plan. He also represented the United States in the negotiations leading to the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Acheson received much attention for his defense of Alger Hiss, who was charged with spying for the Soviets during the 1930s. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused Acheson of protecting Communists in the Department of State. In 1953 Acheson ended his term as secretary of state, serving thereafter in special government committees and acting as a presidential advisor. His recommendation to President Lyndon B. Johnson in March 1968 that the United States pull out of the Vietnam War was a major factor in the president's decision to halt bombing over North Vietnam. Acheson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. Among his writings are Power and Diplomacy (1958) and Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (1969), for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize in history.