{"product_id":"dean-acheson-the-cold-war-years-195371-9780300060751","title":"Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years  1953-71","description":"\u003cp\u003eDean Acheson is best remembered as President Harry Trumans powerful secretary of state  the American father of NATO  and a major architect of U.S. foreign policy in the decade following the Second World War. But Acheson also played a major role in politics and foreign affairs after his tenure in the Truman administration  as an important Democratic Party activist and theorist during the Eisenhower presidency and as a valued adviser during the Kennedy  Johnson  and Nixon administrations. This engrossing book  the first to chronicle Achesons postsecretarial career  paints a portrait of a brilliant  irascible  and powerful man acting during a turbulent period in American history. Drawing on the recently opened Acheson papers as well as on interviews with Achesons family and with leading public figures of the era  Douglas Brinkley tells an intriguing tale that is part biography  part diplomatic history  and part politics. Brinkley considers Achesons role in numerous NATO-related debates and task forces  the Berlin and Cuban missile crises  Vietnam War decision-making  the Cyprus dispute of 1964  the anti-de Gaulle initiative of the 1960s  and U.S.-African policy. He describes Acheson as a staunch anticommunist with a persistent Eurocentric focus  a man who was intolerant of American leaders such as George Kennan  J. William Fulbright  and Walter Lippmann for opposing his views  and who often feuded with JFK  LBJ  Robert McNamara  and Dean Rusk. Finally  angered at the activities of anti-Vietnam War liberal Democrats  Acheson found himself in 1969 serving as one of Nixons most important unofficial foreign policy advisers. Throughout this time  Acheson stayed in the public eye  helped by the six books he wrote after he left office (including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Present at the Creation)  his television appearances  lectures  testimony before Congress  and correspondence with European statesmen. Brinkleys book illuminates Acheson as elder statesman and reveals how a unique individual was able to influence policy-making and public opinion without the official trappings of office.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646659584053,"sku":"ByrdShop_0300060750","price":49.35,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780300060751.jpg?v=1781676896","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/dean-acheson-the-cold-war-years-195371-9780300060751","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}