Dean Rusk David Dean Rusk ( February 9 , 1909 – December 20 , 1994 ) was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F . Kennedy and Lyndon B . Johnson . Rusk is the joint - second - longest serving U . S . Secretary of State of all time , behind only Cordell Hull and tied with William H . Seward . Childhood and education . Dean Rusk was born in a rural district of Cherokee County , Georgia , the son of Robert Hugh and Frances Elizabeth ( Clotfelter ) Rusk . He was educated in Atlanta ' s public schools , graduated from Boys High School in 1925 , and spent two years working for an Atlanta lawyer before working his way through Davidson College . Rusk was coached in football by William " Monk " Younger and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order Sigma chapter , and the national military honor society Scabbard and Blade becoming a Cadet Lieutenant Colonel commanding the Reserve Officers ' Training Corps battalion . He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1931 . While studying in England as a Rhodes Scholar at St . John ' s College , Oxford , he received the Cecil Peace Prize in 1933 . Rusk taught at Mills College in Oakland , California from 1934 to 1949 and earned a law degree at the University of California , Berkeley in 1940 . He married Virginia Foisie ( October 5 , 1915 – February 24 , 1996 ) on June 9 , 1937 and they had three children . Career prior to 1961 . During World War II he joined the infantry as a reserve captain , and served as a staff officer in the China Burma India Theater . At war ' s end he was a colonel , decorated with the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster . He returned to America to work briefly for the War Department in Washington . He joined the Department of State in February 1945 , and worked for the office of United Nations Affairs . In the same year , he suggested splitting Korea into spheres of U . S . and of Soviet influence at the 38th parallel north . He was made Deputy Under Secretary of State in 1949 . He was made Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs in 1950 and played an influential part in the US decision to become involved in the Korean War , and also in Japan ' s postwar compensation for victorious countries , such as the Rusk documents . However he was a cautious diplomat and always sought international support . Rusk was a Rockefeller Foundation trustee from 1950 to 1961 . In 1952 he succeeded Chester L . Barnard as president of the Foundation . Secretary of State . On December 12 , 1960 , Democratic President - elect John F . Kennedy nominated Rusk Secretary of State . According to historian and former Special Assistant to President Kennedy Arthur Schlesinger , Jr . , Rusk was not Kennedy ' s first choice , but rather the " lowest common denominator " , as Kennedy ' s first choice , J . William Fulbright , proved too controversial . Rusk was sworn in in January 1961 . As Secretary of State he believed in the use of military action to combat Communism . Despite private misgivings about the Bay of Pigs invasion , he remained noncommittal during the Executive Council meetings leading up to the attack and never opposed it outright . During the Cuban missile crisis he supported diplomatic efforts . Early in his tenure , he had strong doubts about US intervention in Vietnam , but later his vigorous public defense of US actions in the Vietnam War made him a frequent target of anti - war protests . Outside of his work against communism , he continued his Rockefeller Foundation ideas of aid to developing nation s and also supported low tariffs to encourage world trade . Rusk also drew the ire of supporters of Israel after he let it be known that he believed the USS Liberty incident was a deliberate attack on the ship , rather than an accident . As he recalled in his autobiography , " As I Saw It " , Rusk did not have a good relationship with President Kennedy . The president was often irritated by Rusk ' s reticence in advisory sessions and felt that the State Department was " like a bowl of jelly " and that it " never comes up with any new ideas . " Special Consul to the President Ted Sorensen believed that Kennedy , being well versed and practiced in foreign affairs , acted as his own Secretary of State . Sorensen also noted that the president often expressed impatience with Rusk and felt him under prepared for emergency meetings and crises . Rusk repeatedly offered his resignation , but it was never accepted . Rumors of Rusk ' s dismissal leading up to the 1964 election abounded prior to President Kennedy ' s trip to Dallas in 1963 . Shortly after Kennedy was assassinated , Rusk offered his resignation to the new president , Lyndon B . Johnson . However , Johnson refused Rusk ' s resignation and retained him as the Secretary of State throughout his administration . When Johnson died in 1973 , Rusk eulogized the former President when he lay in state . After President of France Charles de Gaulle withdrew France from the common NATO military command in February 1966 and ordered all American military forces to leave France , President Johnson asked Rusk to seek further clarification from President de Gaulle by asking whether the bodies of buried American soldiers must leave France as well . Rusk recorded in his autobiography that de Gaulle did not respond when asked , " Does your order include the bodies of American soldiers in France ' s cemeteries ? " Rusk offered or planned to offer to resign in the summer of 1967 , because " his daughter planned to marry a black classmate at Stanford University , and he could not impose such a political burden on the president " after it became known that his daughter , Peggy , planned to marry Guy Smith , " a black Georgetown grad working at NASA . ( Johnson didn ' t accept it . ) " In fact , the " Richmond News Leader " stated that it found the wedding offensive , further saying that " anything which diminishes [ Rusk ' s ] personal acceptability is an affair of state " . He decided not to resign after talking first to Robert S . McNamara and Lyndon Johnson . A year after his daughter ' s wedding , Rusk was invited to join the faculty of the University of Georgia Law School , only to have his appointment denounced by Roy Harris , an ally of Governor George Wallace and a member of the university ' s board of regents , who stated that his opposition was because of Peggy Rusk ' s interracial marriage . The university nonetheless appointed Rusk to the position . Retirement . Rusk received both the Sylvanus Thayer Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 . Following his retirement , he taught international law at the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens , Georgia ( 1970 – 1984 ) . Rusk died in Athens , Georgia on December 20 , 1994 , at the age of 85 . He and his wife are buried at Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens - Clarke County , Georgia . His granddaughter Monica Maghini lives in Vermont with her son Daniel and daughter Dylan . Rusk Eating House , the first women ’ s eating house at Davidson College , was founded in 1977 and is named in his honor . The Dean Rusk International Studies Program at Davidson College is also named in his honor . Dean Rusk Middle School , located in Canton , Georgia , was named in his honor , as was Dean Rusk Hall on the campus of the University of Georgia .