partly to protect his hawkish flank because acheson is beloved by the hawks. and as a great man of history himself. so acheson does the initial review for berlin and for nato but kennedy is always on the fence. am i going to go down in history-- and he wanted to go down in history, he'd made clear he thought he could be a great president like abraham lincoln and franklin delano roosevelt. but he was afraid because they went down in history through war and in the 1960s that meant nuclear war. so don't u do you go down in history by making peace with the soviets or going to war with the soviets? and he tries to strad this will line until after 1961 through the cuban missile crisis it's not possible any longer. he has to stand up to kruschev. >> rose: kennedy and kruschev were... what was it that made kennedy feel like he'd been beaten up. >> it was a two day summit in vienna. if you rewind a bit it was the first year that television played such a role in politics. 1960 you had the first presidential debates live on television, nixon and kennedy. you had the firs

the phrase we most frequently associated with dean acheson is "present at the creation."d the truman administration from the and the world war ii to the end of the cold war. he helped create policies that the us peacefully to the decades of confrontation with the soviet union. the truman doctrine, the brandenton woods institution, te marshall plan, and the nato alliance. today we know -- today we are in a time of profound changes, and we need a person like dean acheson to adopt our policies to the new area. our keynote speaker has provided a continued to provide such inspired leadership. senator john per mccain's record of public service is exceptional, from his years of heroic service and sacrifice in the navy to almost three decades in congress, he has been a leader on issues of war and peace. he understands first hand the power, the uses, and the limitations of america's military. he understands the importance of the policy and civilian support for peace building efforts. he understands the importance of political reconciliation as was so evident in his support for nor

he calls dean acheson, secretary of state for truman, out of retirement.nd that shows he wants to protect his right flank. acheson was a hawk toward the soviet union, and the people running the desk for berlin, for germany also, by and large, were hawks. have to be tough, have to stand up to them. on the other side were people like arthur schlessinger, tommy thompson who really thought engagement was the only way to go. and you see this tension in kennedy. but the hawkish elements of domestic politics both for kruschev and for kennedy were dominant. and the reason for that was kennedy barely won, and he was more hawkish as a campaigner than richard nixon. and kruschev wanted to hold on to power. so even though their personal instincts would have been to get along, the domestic politics was pushing them to more of a confrontation. >> now, you point out at the very beginning president kennedy misinterpreted a speech that kruschev has made. could you tell us something about that, and then again whey do you think that kennedy chose that particular interpretati

why dean acheson? the phrase we most frequently associated with dean acheson, of course, is present at the creation. he served the truman administration and that transition period from the end of world war ii to the onset of the cold war. he helped create key institutions and implement policies that got us relatively peacefully through the decades of confrontation with the soviet union. the truman doctrine, the bretton woods international monetary institutions, the marshall plan, and the onset of the nato alliance. today we are in another period of profound change and challenge in international affairs, and we need leaders with the foresight and skill of dean acheson to help us create and adapt our institutions and policies to this new era. and our keynote speaker today has provided and continues to provide such inspired leadership. senator john mccain that a record of public service is truly exceptional. from his years of heroic service and personal sacrifice in the navy to almost three decades in con

the praise the most frequently associated with the dean acheson is with the creation.e served the administration and that transition time from world war ii to the offset of the cold war. he helped create key institutions and institute policies that got us the the confrontation. we need leaders of the foresight to help us create and adapt our policies. our keynote speaker continues to provide such expired the decision. the service is exceptional. to almost three decades in congress. he understands first chance the power and uses and limitations of america's military is. he understands the importance of diplomacy for peace building efforts. he understands the importance of political reconciliation that was so evident. today one of our greatest foreign-policy challenges this figure it out how to deal with the shaking turmoil in the portable transitions now under way. we are truly honored to have senator mccain speak to us. does senator mccain? >> thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you for that kind introduction. it is always wonderful to see them. i think many of th

i'm a great admirer of acheson. as a career legislator, i'm not supposed to have any kind words for him. here is how he described his interactions with congress. he wrote, we learn to bear the irrelevant with more than patience as it ate up precious time. those who assert that i do not suffer fools gladly do less than justice for these anguishing hours. you know, a lot of things change, but some things never change. i'm especially honored to speak with you this year on the 10th anniversary of the attacks on september 11 2001 and i'm very pleased that osama bin laden won't be around to mark the occasion. the president deserves the credit he is receiving for that superb achievement and i especially commend him for ordering a raid rather than simply turning bin laden's commound into a smoldering crater. that took courage. the president's decision spared many innocent lives. preserved an intelligence windfall and gave us the certainty that bin laden is dead. this is a major setback for the global terrorist movement. it

i'll give dean acheson that much credit. a slightly improved george kennan. first, it is a deep knowledge of your own society; its politics, its history, its economics, its culture, the history of its forbe relations. interestingly -- foreign relations. interestingly, american foreign policy is very seldom taught as a summit in our universities -- as a subject in our universities today. there are few really good texts on the subject. it's even less taught outside the united states. but a deep understanding of the history of this country's foreign relations, i think, is an absolutely vital first step to the production of people, the education of people who can make good foreign policy into the future. then i would say the next thing is a knowledge of the other. in this case, let's talk about the significant others. the key countries, cultures out there with whom your foreign relations will bring you into deep contact. so that what george kennan was able to do about russia one would hope that our policymakers in the future, their education will prepare them to

dean acheson, secretary of state, said that truman had done his "utmost to uphold the sanctity of the charter of the united nations and the rule law ." in fact, truman violated his own pledge that he had made five years earlier. i am sure some you remember what he was asked. i think you know what he said. he said he would call it a police action. secretary of state madeleine albright was asked by a student, how can the president go to war against iraq without authorization from congress? she said you have to understand the terms. this is not war. it is military operations. they all make it very clear that for some reason, war they know is congressional, and they will call it anything other, humanitarian intervention. it was released on april 1. you can delay it by a day or two. i don't know why you have to go out on april fools' day with a legal analysis. one of the things i have not seen by any legal analysis yet that obama was justified in using military force against libya, because after the security council passed the resolution and libya did not comply with this in full, then oba

dean acheson, secretary of state, said that truman had done his "utmost to uphold the sanctity of the charter of the united nations and the rule law ." in fact, truman violated his own pledge that he had made five years earlier. i am sure some you remember what he was asked. i think you know what he said. he said he would call it a police action. secretary of state madeleine albright was asked by a student, how can the president go to war against iraq without authorization from congress? she said you have to understand the terms. this is not war. it is military operations. they all make it very clear that for some reason, war they know is congressional, and they will call it anything other, humanitarian intervention. it was released on april 1. you can delay it by a day or two. i don't know why you have to go out on april fools' day with a legal analysis. one of the things i have not seen by any legal analysis yet that obama was justified in using military force against libya, because after the security council passed the resolution and libya did not comply with this in full, then oba