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Dean Acheson

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Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department Revised Edition

by Dean Acheson (Author)

4.6 106 ratings

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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

With deft portraits of many world figures, Dean Acheson analyzes the processes of policy making, the necessity for decision, and the role of power and initiative in matters of state.

Acheson (1893–1971) was not only present at the creation of the postwar world, he was one of its chief architects. He joined the Department of State in 1941 as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and, with brief intermissions, was continuously involved until 1953, when he left office as Secretary of State at the end of the Truman years.

Throughout that time Acheson's was one of the most influential minds and strongest wills at work. It was a period that included World War II, the reconstruction of Europe, the Korean War, the development of nuclear power, the formation of the United Nations and NATO. It involved him at close quarters with a cast that starred Truman, Roosevelt, Churchill, de Gaulle, Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Attlee, Eden Bevin, Schuman, Dulles, de Gasperi, Adenauer, Yoshida, Vishinsky, and Molotov.

ISBN-10

0393304124
ISBN-13

978-0393304121
Edition

Revised
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

September 17, 1987
Language

English
Dimensions

6.1 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches
Print length

842 pages
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Editorial Reviews

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Dean Acheson joined the U.S. Department of State in 1941 as an assistant secretary for economic affairs. Shortly after the end of World War II, he attempted to resign, but was persuaded to come back as under secretary of state; Harry Truman eventually rewarded Acheson's loyalty by picking him to run the State Department during his second term (1949 to 1953).

"The period covered in this book was one of great obscurity to those who lived through it," Acheson wrote at the beginning of his memoirs, first published in 1969. "The period was marked by the disappearance of world powers and empires ... and from this wreckage emerged a multiplicity of states, most of them new, all of them largely underdeveloped politically and economically. Overshadowing all loomed two dangers to all--the Soviet Union's new-found power and expansive imperialism, and the development of nuclear weapons." Present at the Creation is a densely detailed account of Acheson's diplomatic career, delineated in intricately eloquent prose. Going over the origins of the cold war--the drawing of lines among the superpowers in Europe, the conflict in Korea--Acheson discusses how he and his colleagues came to realize "that the whole world structure and order that we had inherited from the nineteenth century was gone," and that the old methods of foreign policy would no longer apply. Among the accolades Acheson garnered for his candid self-assessment was the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for history.

Review

The passing decades confirm Dean Acheson's place as the clearest thinking, most effective Secretary of State of the twentieth century. As a writer he has no equal since Thomas Jefferson first occupied the office in the eighteenth century.--Gaddis Smith, Yale University

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Revised edition (September 17, 1987)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 842 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393304124
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393304121
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.68 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #392,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #641 in History (Books)
- #1,109 in US Presidents
- #9,797 in World History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 106 ratings

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Customers find the book fascinating, excellent, and decisive. They also appreciate the witty, charming, and intelligent writing style.

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Readability Humor

6 customers mention "Readability"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book fascinating, important, and a great read. They appreciate the writing style, content, information, and intellect of the author.

"...Acheson's sense of humor, it sort of sneaks up on the reader and it really is great...." Read more

"...With pride, with humility, with insight, and with wit starting in the epigraph from Alphonso X, King of Spain, 1252-84: “Had I been present at the..." Read more

"What a pleasure to read this book. The writing style, content, information and intellect of an interesting man and the times he lived and worked in..." Read more

"An important and decisive book on how the U.S. and Gen'l Geo.C.Marshall restored Europe after WWII, including Germany...." Read more

3 customers mention "Humor"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the humor in the book witty and charming. They also appreciate the writing style, content, information, and intellect of the author.

"...The book really is great. I love Acheson's sense of humor, it sort of sneaks up on the reader and it really is great...." Read more

"...on the cover, his personable humanity, personality and humor take one by surprise...." Read more

"What a pleasure to read this book. The writing style, content, information and intellect of an interesting man and the times he lived and worked in..." Read more

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Rob

Excellent read! Highly recommend it!

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2013

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I got this book while reading Condeleeza Rice's book about her time in the Bush Administration. She refers to Dean Acheson several times so I decided to go ahead and get it.

It was hard to get started. I had this picture of a stuffy guy from the middle of the last century in my head. However, I liked Condi's book so I stuck with it. She is a smart cookie and I can learn from people who are smart cookies!

The book really is great. I love Acheson's sense of humor, it sort of sneaks up on the reader and it really is great. I also admire the man's honesty in describing strengths and foibles of the personalities as he experienced being at the center of a truly consequential time in our history.

It is long and I do my reading at the YMCA on the elliptical in the morning and this book (still reading it) makes the time pass.

16 people found this helpful

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Con Harrigan Emmons

Foggy Bottom USA

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2019

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From Henry Kissinger’s 1994 book DIPLOMACY: “Dean Acheson was a uniquely sophisticated Secretary of State who knew his history. He had a clear sense of the requirements of the balance of power, as evidenced by many subtle analyses of geostrategic issues. But he was also sufficiently American in his approach to diplomacy to be convinced that, left to its own devices, Europe had made a mess of the balance of power, and that, for the concept of equilibrium to have meaning for Americans, it needed to be embedded in some loftier ideal. In short, America would do anything for the Atlantic Alliance except call it an alliance.”

Here there is no grand global historical view as in Kissinger’s classic. Quite the opposite. Dean Acheson writes: “The state of the world in those years and almost all that happened during them was wholly novel within the experience of those who had to deal with it. ’History,’ writes C.V. Wedgwood, ‘is lived forward but it is written in retrospect. We know the end before we consider the beginning and we can never wholly recapture what it was to know the beginning only.’ In a way, this volume is an attempt to do just that; for those who acted this drama did not know, nor do any of us yet know, the end.”

This 1969 book is a record of Acheson’s role from 1941-1952 in creating a New World Order. With opposition from many but bipartisan agreement from more. People who knew that it had to be done, that America had to do the doing, or it wouldn’t be done at all. With 76 sections, few of which exceed 15 pages, Acheson writes a concise history of the victories and defeats, the agreements and disagreements, the rights and the wrongs. With pride, with humility, with insight, and with wit starting in the epigraph from Alphonso X, King of Spain, 1252-84: “Had I been present at the creation I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.” Wouldn’t we all, Alphonso, wouldn’t we all?

13 people found this helpful

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lidz

WE NEED YOU, DEAN ACHESON

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2015

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Immensely readable! It has taken me a long time to almost make it thru all of "Present." But it has been more than well worth it. These have been hours that one need not have to worry about not having gotten back. They are a valuable investment worthy of time. I did not know Dean Acheson, but I feel like I have come to know him and he would have been a grand gentleman to know. From his stern visage on the cover, his personable humanity, personality and humor take one by surprise. You read along thinking that he would have been a fine relaxed, genial companion with whom to have luncheon. I can see how and why he was invited to so many. Dean comes across as the type of fellow with whom you want to have a drink and a sandwich with perhaps at a local English-like club or pub. While I cannot see him in the scene with Joe and Barack over beers in the White House Backyard, I can picture him at Churchill's in The Brown Palace in Denver. I look forward to my reading of "Present" every evening after supper and already feel that I will have lost contact with a friend when I finish the book. Why do we not have such diplomats, statespeople, Foreign Service Officers, Secretaries of State such as Dean Acheson forming our Government today?

7 people found this helpful

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A Nonny Mouse

Well-maintained HB book and packaged superbly - excellent in every way!

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2022

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This book is a first edition and despite its age, it is in excellent condition. The seller took incredible care to package it carefully and securely to ensure that it arrived in pristine condition, which it did. I am delighted with my new-to-me book, and am grateful to the kind individual who packaged it so beautifully - a fellow bookworm! Highly recommend!

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2021

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What a pleasure to read this book. The writing style, content, information and intellect of an interesting man and the times he lived and worked in the highest offices of government. The men around him were of a different breed and code. It is like watching a movie on paper. Mr. Acheson was a witty, charming, gentleman and a treasure to America.

One person found this helpful

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Nathan

Thanks

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2020

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Different cover page than the one depicted but otherwise fine

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Joe

My original intent in reading this 800 page tome was to become better informed about a man whose name constantly pops up ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2016

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In 1969 Dean Acheson published this book as memoirs of his tenure in the State Department from 1941 to the end of the Truman presidency in 1953. My original intent in reading this 800 page tome was to become better informed about a man whose name constantly pops up when reading about the first post-WWII decade of world affairs. While the book will give you a detailed understandingly Acheson’s personality and character, it is more a history of international affairs from 1941 through 1952. One of the things I learned is the incredible amount of behind-the-scenes work that goes into negotiating international agreements – and the statesmanship required to win congressional approval. After reading the book, I was surprised (and not surprised) to discover it was awarded the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for History.

9 people found this helpful

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Daxopher

Not enuf write on his administration structure, how received by FS officers & embassy

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2022

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See above re: Present at the Creation

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Top reviews from other countries

lawrence bryan

great

Reviewed in Canada on October 11, 2021

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great

a user

Excellent condition and timeliness, paper and binding superb, contents excellent

Reviewed in Germany on August 13, 2021

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The author's legal background and his key role in shaping an order that held for half a century make each page rewarding. Clarity of thought and expression allow one to view that 'other country', the past, with a minimum of effort. The binding, and paper quality were complemented by the speedy delivery and protective packaging.

"vergajofra"

It has 800 pages and requires good general knowledge which young people would lack.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

Book by number two or three in American foreign affairs under Roosevelt and then Truman.

Don't expect to learn anything about "the enemy" (Russians, Chinese, North Koreans). He neither denigrates them (like Madeleine Albright does) nor attributes high intellectual value to them (like Churchill does of Stalin). Churchill understands that King David did not enter World History by slaying dwarfs.

It is the opposite of de Gaulle's memoirs. Acheson is excellent for his description of the 'detailed internal mechanism' of what he calls "State" (American “State Department”, their foreign affairs ministry). De Gaulle is more philosophical and (sometimes right, sometimes wrong) situates what he is writing about in world history (as he sees it). World history doesn’t seem to exist for Acheson. The tactical problems are excellently described. The strategic analysis is almost absent but what is happening (between 1945 and 1952 (for example) is not, for him, a battle between good people and evil people (as for Anne Applebaum and Madeleine Albright).

Acheson does not admire Roosevelt and does not consider him intelligent. He worships Truman and General Marshall (about whom we nevertheless learn almost nothing in this book). There is nevertheless an excellent explanation of the General MacArthur problem in Korea.
He never repeats himself except for the MacArthur problem that he describes three times. It would take a Freud to understand what he is hiding.

Churchill's book (12 short volumes) is different from both. If one has time, loves good writing, and wants to understand the world, one should read the three. Each of these books has irreplaceable merits and defects.

It has 800 pages and requires good old-fashioned general knowledge which young people (of which I am not) would lack. Too bad.

Acheson could have told us so much about second roles (like him). About Molotov, Eden, Pearson, etc. He seems to see them as sneaky diplomats not worthy of writing about and we learn almost nothing about them.

Yogesh

Five Stars

Reviewed in India on February 13, 2018

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Good

JJW

Interesting Read

Reviewed in Canada on January 27, 2021

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Well written and a good history of the early post war era.

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