Dean Rusk Personal Papers, Series IX: Audiovisual, 1945-1996

Summary

Creator:
Rusk, Dean, 1909-1994
Date:
1945-1996
Extent:
346 item(s)
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 IX: Audiovisual, contains one 16mm film, four betacam videocassettes, 87 audiocassettes, 25 phonodiscs, 68 quarter-inch open reel audio tapes, 36 Umatic videocassettes, and 100 VHS videocassettes. The audio recordings range from Rusk's 1961 swearing-in as secretary of state to a 1995 memorial service for Rusk held at Davidson College. Many recordings are audio tracks of interviews conducted with Rusk for television, including a 1971 interview with Bill Moyers, a 1971 "Today" interview, appearances on all of the major networks discussing the impending 1972 presidential election, a 1973 interview with Rusk on the death of Lyndon B. Johnson, and a 1974 interview with William F. Buckley. Additional recordings include audio tracks for television programs on which Rusk did not appear but which held interest for him: a 1971 news segment on Nikita Khrushchev, a 1972 interview with Johnson by Walter Cronkite for CBS, a 1972 interview with David Halberstam on "Today," a 1972 interview with Walt and Eugene Rostow conducted by William F. Buckley, and several NBC and ABC specials concerning Vietnam. Other audio recordings include speeches delivered by Rusk including a 1972 address concerning President Richard Nixon's trip to China, Rusk's 1973 eulogy for Johnson, a 1974 graduation address to the 55th class of the Armed Forces Staff College, and a 1983 lecture entitled "The Constitution: Comity or Confrontation." The videotapes in the collection cover a broad range of subjects, but the bulk of the tapes date from 1983 to 1989 and roughly coincide with Rusk's retirement from teaching at the University of Georgia. The videotapes range in date from a copy of a March 1962 profile of Dean Rusk by WBTV-TV in Charlotte , North Carolina to the 1996 dedication of the University of Georgia 's Dean Rusk Hall. Included among the videotapes is a copy of the CBS News coverage of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Rusk's 1984 deposition in the Westmoreland v. CBS libel case, a fourteen-tape unedited interview with Dean Rusk conducted in 1985 by Edwin Newman, a thirty-minute documentary on Rusk produced by the University of Georgia in 1988 called "Conversations with Great Georgians: Dean Rusk," a multi-part series entitled "The United Nations: Issues of Peace and Conflict" that covers the 1989 Report of the Former Ambassadors to the United Nations, a three-part interview with Rusk conducted by Kenneth Harris for a BBC series entitled "The Twentieth Century Remembered," as well as several other television appearances and interviews that reflect back on Rusk's tenure as secretary of state during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and that touch on the topics of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, and the Cold War. Also included in the collection is a silent 16mm home movie from 1945 depicting then Colonel Rusk playing tennis at the palace of the viceroy (now the residence of the President of India) with friends Colonel Currie, Captain Swain, Lieutenant Plager, and other unidentified persons.

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.

Arrangement:

Dean Rusk Personal Papers, Series IX: Audiovisual is arranged by format.

Access and use restrictions

Restrictions:

Though the collection is open for research, reference copies of the audiovisual recordings are available upon request. Research requests will be filled as soon as possible and will be dependent upon the condition of the recordings.

Terms of access:

It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission to reproduce material for publication. Persons wishing to reproduce materials in the Russell Library collections should consult the Director. Reproduction or quotation 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.