Acheson, << ACH ih suhn, >> Dean Gooderham (1893-1971), was United States secretary of state under President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953. Before he held that position, Acheson had served as undersecretary to three secretaries of state—Cordell Hull, James F. Byrnes, and George C. Marshall.
In the Acheson-Lilienthal Report of 1946, Acheson urged international control of nuclear power. He negotiated the treaty that led to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. He began carrying out the Marshall Plan in 1948. This plan aided the economic recovery of Europe after World War II (see Marshall Plan ). Acheson began much of the Truman Doctrine to protect Greece and Turkey from Soviet imperialism (see Truman, Harry S. (The Truman Doctrine) ).
Senator Joseph McCarthy and other people accused Acheson of “coddling” Communists in the state department. His critics also blamed him for encouraging the Communist invasion of South Korea in 1950 and for the Communist victory in China in 1949. But his supporters have argued that Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Chinese government, lost to the Communists because he lacked the support of his own people, and not because of lack of U.S. support. Most historians have also rejected the other charges against Acheson.
Acheson wrote many books, including Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (1969), which won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for history. He was born on April 11, 1893, in Middletown, Connecticut. He died on Oct. 12, 1971.
