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Born February 9, 1909
Cherokee County, Georgia
Died December 20, 1994
Athens, Georgia

U.S. secretary of state, 1961–69

As U.S. secretary of state from 1961 to 1969, Dean Rusk was one of America's major Vietnam War policy makers. Rusk supported U.S. military involvement in Vietnam because he viewed the conflict as an important test of America's determination to contain communism around the world. As the war's popularity diminished, though, Rusk's steady defense of U.S. actions in Vietnam made him a controversial figure. After leaving public life in 1969, he continued to consider the American effort in Vietnam to have been honorable and right.

Escapes poverty through education

David Dean Rusk was born in February 1909 in Cherokee County, Georgia. His parents were Frances (Clotfelter) Rusk, a...