Affection and Trust: The Personal Correspondence of Harry S.

Affection and Trust: The Personal Correspondence of Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson, 1953-1971

In this riveting collection, published for the first time, we follow Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson, two giants of the postâ€“World War II period, as they move from an official relationship to one of candor, humor, and personal expression. Together they were primarily responsible for the Marshall Plan and NATO, among other world-shaping initiatives. And in these letters, spanning the years from when both were newly out of office until Achesonâ€™s death at the age of seventy-eight, we find them sharing the often surprising and always illuminating opinions, ideas, and feelings that the strictures of their offices had previously kept them from revealing.

Adapting easily to their private lives, they nonetheless felt a powerful need to keep in touch as they viewed with dismay what they considered to be the Eisenhower administrationâ€™s fumbling of foreign affairs, the impact of Joseph McCarthy, John Foster Dullesâ€™s foreign policy, and the threat of massive nuclear retaliation. Adlai Stevensonâ€™s poor campaign of 1956, Eisenhowerâ€™s second-term mishaps, family events, speaking engagements, and Trumanâ€™s difficulties writing his memoirs are all fodder for their conversations. In 1960 their skeptical stance toward John F. Kennedy (and his father's influence) turned them toward Lyndon Johnson. After Kennedy won they discussed Achesonâ€™s reluctant involvement in the Cuban missile crisis, his missions to de Gaulle and Prime Minister Macmillan, and the Allied position in Berlin.

Unbuttoned, careless of language, unburdened by political ambition or vanity, Truman and Acheson show their own characters and loyalty to each other on every page. Truman, a Missouri farmer with the unpolished but sharp intellect of the largely self-educated man, clearly understands that in Acheson he has a friend with a rare gift for providing unhesitant and truthful counsel. Acheson, well-educated, urbane, and well-off, understands which traits in Trumanâ€™s complex character to love and admire and when to admonish, instruct, and tease him. Both men share a deep and abiding patriotism, a quality that truly stands out in todayâ€™s world.

A remarkable book that brings to light the very human side of two of the most important statesmen of the twentieth century.
Country USA
Manufacturer Knopf
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber Illustrated
ReleaseDate 2010-11-02
UnitCount 1
Format Deckle Edge
EANs 9780307593542

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Knopf
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	Illustrated
ReleaseDate	2010-11-02
UnitCount	1
Format	Deckle Edge
EANs	9780307593542

Affection and Trust: The Personal Correspondence of Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson, 1953-1971