Dean Rusk Personal Papers, Series II: U.S. Secretary Of State, Department Of State, 1939-1995

Summary

Creator:
Rusk, Dean, 1909-1994
Date:
1939-1995
Extent:
11 box(es) (4.75 linear feet) and 12 microfilm reels
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Dean Rusk Personal Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641.

Background

Scope and content:

Dean Rusk Personal Papers, Series II: U.S. Secretary Of State, Department Of State includes transcripts of addresses, interviews, statements, press releases, and speeches that Dean Rusk gave during his tenure as Secretary of State. Researchers may be interested in statements by Rusk on the deaths of various famous figures in the world of politics and foreign affairs including President Herbert Hoover, King Mohamed V of Morocco, Adlai E. Stevenson, Sir Winston Churchill and Robert F. Kennedy. Opening and closing remarks on numerous foreign relations events, such as the meetings of the US-Japan Committee on Economics and Trade, and the SEATO [Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty] conference in 1961, the Geneva Disarmament Conference in 1962, and meetings over the Dominican Republic Crisis with the OAS [Organization of American States] in 1965, can also be found here. There are several copies of congressional testimonies by Dean Rusk given between 1949 and 1979. Also, a small group of files consisting of articles that Dean Rusk designated for his "personal papers" upon leaving the office of Secretary of State. Topics covered in these files include Vietnam, the effect of student activism on international relations, the Berlin Crisis of 1961-1964, the role of analogy in law, Rusk's success over nuclear nonhappening, foreign travel by the Secretary of State, and the National Academy of Sciences. Certain records relating to the Palestine question were maintained in the offices of Dean Rusk and Robert McClintock, these records exist on microfilm.

Biographical / historical:

Dean Rusk was born on February 9, 1909 in Cherokee County, Georgia. He attended Lee Street Elementary and Boys' High School in Atlanta, Georgia. Rusk obtained an A.B. degree from Davidson College, North Carolina in 1931, and a B.S. (Rhodes Scholar) and M.A. in 1933 and 1934 from St. John's, Oxford, England. He returned to the United States to become Associate Professor of Government and Dean of Faculty at Mills College, Oakland, California, from 1934 to 1940 and studied law at the University of California, Berkeley, class of 1940.

Rusk served in the United States Army from 1940 to 1946 in the China-Burma-India theater. At first he served with the Third Infantry Division, then later with the Military Intelligence Service. Rusk was released from duty with the rank of colonel.

After his military career ended, Rusk joined the Department of State from 1947 to 1952, as Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs and for Far Eastern Affairs. From 1952 to 1960 he was president of the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Rusk to the office of Secretary of State. He remained in this position until 1969, through the administrations of Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Rusk was in office during the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, when East Germany began constructing the Berlin Wall, and as the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was also Secretary of State during the height of the Vietnam Conflict.

In 1970, Rusk came to the University of Georgia's School of Law as the Samuel H. Sibley Professor of International Law, and he later established the Dean Rusk Center for International and Comparative Law. Rusk served the University of Georgia until his death on December 20, 1994.

Rusk married Virginia Foisle in June, 1937. They had three children together, David Patrick, Richard Geary and Margaret Elizabeth. In 1990, As I Saw It , the book he co-authored with his son, Richard, was published.

Processing information:

Clippings have been copied onto bond paper for protection of content. Photographs, audiovisual material and artifacts have been removed from the papers for preservation purposes and inventoried.

Arrangement:

This series is organized into six subseries: A. Speech Files, B. Office Schedules C. Department of State Publications, D. Congressional Testimonies, E. Personal Files, and F. Palestine Reference Files of Dean Rusk and Robert McClintock.

Access and use restrictions

Terms of access:

Library acts as "fair use" reproduction agent.

Before material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permission. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original.

Preferred citation:

Dean Rusk Personal Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641.