 Dean Rusk Personal Papers, Series I: Rockefeller Foundation
Collection DescriptionBiographical NoteDean 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. Scope and ContentThe Rockefeller Foundation series consists of Rusk's office files while he was president. These files contain correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, transcripts and press releases. There is correspondence between Rusk and then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, former President Harry Truman, Henry Kissinger, Rockefeller Foundation Director of Special Studies, and Rockefeller family members Nelson, Laurance, David and John D. Most of the files deal with the foundation's work in the area of foreign relations, as well as Rusk's confirmation hearings when he became Secretary of State. Organization and ArrangementThis series is in alphabetical order by subject. Administrative InformationPreferred CitationDean Rusk Personal Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641. Processing Information noteClippings 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. User RestrictionsLibrary acts as "fair use" reproduction agent. Copyright InformationBefore 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. Finding Aid PublicationFinding aid prepared on: 2008. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject TermsRelated Collections in this Repository
Dean Rusk Oral History Collection Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection William Tapley Bennett, Jr. Papers D.W. Brooks Oral History Collection Related Collections in Other RepositoriesDean Rusk Papers, Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York Dean Rusk Oral Histories, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, Austin, Texas Dean Rusk Files, Department of State Records, National Archives | ||||||||||||||||||||