The 1950s in America

Dean Acheson

by William T. Walker

Identification U.S. secretary of state from 1949 to 1953

As U.S. secretary of state, Dean Acheson was a primary aide to President Harry S. Truman in the development of American foreign policy during the post-World War II period. He is considered a major architect of the American Cold War policy of containment, which was designed to prevent Soviet expansion and to curtail the influence of communism throughout the world.

After graduating from Yale University in 1915 and Harvard Law School in 1918, Acheson began his career of public service as a secretary to Supreme Court Justice Louis B. Brandeis. During the 1920’s, he pursued a successful career as a lawyer. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Acheson as under secretary of the treasury in 1933, but Acheson left that post after several months because of a dispute over fiscal policies. After America’s entrance into World War II, Acheson returned to the Roosevelt administration as assistant secretary of state from 1941 to 1945 and continued his service at the Department of State under President Harry S. Truman as under secretary of state from 1945 to 1947. During those years, Acheson became clearly identified as an anticommunist; he played an essential role in the formulation of the Truman Doctrine , which was initiated to support Greece and Turkey in resisting Soviet expansion. Acheson also contributed significantly to the development of the European Economic Recovery Program, commonly known as the Marshall Plan .

Dean Acheson.

ph_0111215264-Acheson.jpg

(Library of Congress)

In January, 1949, Acheson was appointed secretary of state by President Truman. During his tenure in that position, Acheson continued to advance policies and programs that were focused on containing the Soviet Union. In his autobiography, Present at the Creation: My Years at the State Department (1969), Acheson argued his case for containment and provided significant details on the development of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, American problems with China in the late 1940’s, and U.S. involvement in the Korean War.

Impact

Acheson was a key proponent of Soviet containment and played an important role in the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. He developed the American policy of nonrecognition of communist China and established principles of American policy that resulted in American military intervention in Korea and, later, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. While Acheson was anticommunist, he came under attack by the American political right wing for not going far enough in his opposition to communist ideology. In particular, Acheson was attacked by Senator Joseph McCarthy as being soft on communism and for harboring communist employees in the State Department. These accusations were rendered more complex by Acheson’s failure to quickly denounce Alger Hiss ; Hiss had been identified as a Soviet agent by Whittaker Chambers . In the hysteria of McCarthyism, Acheson held his ground and was supported by Truman. However, the American right wing continued to view him as a key figure responsible for the loss of China. In 1953, Acheson returned to his legal practice; during the presidency of John F. Kennedy (and to a lesser extent that of Lyndon B. Johnson ), Acheson provided substantive advice on American foreign policy.

Further Reading

1 

Chace, James. Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. A scholarly, balanced, and highly readable biography of Acheson based on a wide range of sources.

2 

McNay, John T. Acheson and Empire: The British Accent in American Foreign Policy. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001. A valuable interpretation of the impact of British history and thought on Acheson’s policies during the 1940’s and 1950’s.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Walker, William T. "Dean Acheson." The 1950s in America, edited by John C. Super, Salem Press, 2005. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1950_102.
APA 7th
Walker, W. T. (2005). Dean Acheson. In J. C. Super (Ed.), The 1950s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Walker, William T. "Dean Acheson." Edited by John C. Super. The 1950s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2005. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.