 Dean Rusk Oral History Collection
Collection DescriptionHistorical 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. Thomas J. Schoenbaum currently serves a Professor of International Studies at the International Christian University in Japan. He has taught at the law schools of the University of North Carolina, Tulane University, and the University of Georgia. At Tulane he served as associate dean and at Georgia he was executive director of the Dean Rusk Center of International and Comparative Law. He has practiced law extensively as special counsel for several law firms and has litigated corporate, environmental, and admiralty cases in the federal courts. Professor Schoenbaum has received six Fulbright awards and has held teaching posts in many countries, including Germany, Belgium, the UK, South Africa, Austria, Russia, and Japan. He has served as visiting fellow at St. John's College, Oxford and as principal fellow of the Lauterpacht Research Centre of International Law at Cambridge. Professor Schoenbaum specializes in international commercial and environmental law. He is the author of many articles and books, including The World Trade Organization: Law, Policy and Practice (2003), Admiralty and Maritime Law (3d ed. 2001), and Environmental Policy Law (2002). He is currently working on new books in the areas of international environmental law and international business transactions. (Courtesy of the George Washington University Law School website, 2007) Richard Geary Rusk, second oldest son of Dean of Rusk, resides in Oconee county, Georgia where he owns a construction company. He is a writer and serves as director of Moore's Ford Memorial Committee. Richard Rusk coauthored his father's biography, As I Saw It (1990). Scope and ContentThe collection consists of 172 oral history interviews with Dean Rusk and his colleagues between 1984-1989. Includes audiotapes and transcriptions documenting Rusk's life from early childhood in the 1910's through his teaching career in the 1980's. The interviews contain information on Rusk's service as U.S. Under Secretary and Secretary of State during the administrations of Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson and his involvement in foreign relations including the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War. The interviews also document his position as president of the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1950s. Organization and ArrangementThe interviews in the Dean Rusk Oral History Collection were given interview identifiers "A," "B," "C,"..."AA," "BB," "CC"..."AAA," "BBB," "CCC," and so on. The interviews are roughly in chronological order, as arranged by interview identifier. Administrative InformationAccess RestrictionsThe collection is open for research and all intervieews, except those that are closed, have access links for streaming online. Interviews marked [CLOSED] are not open to research at this time. Preferred CitationDean Rusk Oral History Collection, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641. Copyright InformationIt 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. Finding Aid PublicationFinding aid prepared on: 2011. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject TermsRelated Collections in this Repository
D.W. Brooks Oral History Collection Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection Related Collections in Other RepositoriesDean Rusk Oral Histories, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, Austin, Texas Dean Rusk Personal Papers, John F. Kennedy Library, National Archives and Records Administration, Boston, Massachusetts Dean Rusk Papers, Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York Dean Rusk Files, Department of State, Washington, DC | ||||||||||||||||||||||