num_pages: 800
description: Dean Acheson was one of the most influential Secretaries of State in U.S. history, presiding over American foreign policy during a pivotal era--the decade after World War II when the American Century slipped into high gear. During his vastly influential career, Acheson spearheaded the greatest foreign policy achievements in modern times, ranging from the Marshall Plan to the establishment of NATO.In this acclaimed biography, Robert L. Beisner paints an indelible portrait of one of the key figures of the last half-century. In a book filled with insight based on research in government archives, memoirs, letters, and diaries, Beisner illuminates Acheson's major triumphs, including the highly underrated achievement of converting West Germany and Japan from mortal enemies to prized allies, and does not shy away from examining his missteps. But underlying all his actions, Beisner shows, was a tough-minded determination to outmatch the strength of the Soviet bloc--indeed, to defeat the Soviet Union at every turn. The book also sheds light on Acheson's friendship with Truman--one, a bourbon-drinking mid-Westerner with a homespun disposition, the other, a mustachioed Connecticut dandy who preferred perfect martinis.Over six foot tall, with steel blue, merry, searching eyes and a wolfish grin, Dean Acheson was an unforgettable character--intellectually brilliant, always debonair, and tough as tempered steel. This lustrous portrait of an immensely accomplished and colorful life is the epitome of the biographer's art.
language: English
title: Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War
titlecomplete: Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War
characters: Charles E. Bohlen, Paul Nitze, George F. Kennan, Dean Rusk, Dean Acheson, Douglas MacArthur, Ernest Bevin, Louis A. Johnson, Joseph McCarthy, Konrad Adenauer, Robert Schumann, Harry S. Truman, John Foster Dulles, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Joseph Stalin, Anthony Eden, Chiang Kai-shek, W. Averell Harriman, David K. E. Bruce
genres: History, American History, Biography Memoir, Biography, Nonfiction, Politics
ratings_count: 71
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Arthur Ross Book Award
category: Silver Medal, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature
publisher: Oxford University Press