For Rusk, more queries on Vietnam
Dublin Core
Title
For Rusk, more queries on Vietnam
Subject
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Rusk, Dean
Description
The visit of former Secretary of State Dean Rusk's visit to Mary Washington specifically talking at the Vietnam War.
Creator
Sullivan, Paul
Source
The Free Lance-Star
Publisher
HIST 298, University of Mary Washington
Date
1977-11-12
Rights
The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source.
Format
3 JPG
Language
English
Coverage
Fredericksburg, VA
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk was on campus at Mary Washington College yesterday, fielding questions about United States foreign policy from students and professors, especially about the era of Vietnam when he played a key role.
The visit opened a three-day stay for Rusk as Distinguished Visitor in Residence at MWC for 1977, climaxing Sunday evening with a major address by the former top statesman.
In both a press session and an afternoon class meeting, Rusk faced dozens of student interrogators, most of them well-back-grounded, polite but persistent and frequently armed with written questions. While it wasn't a campus scene from the 60s, charged with the air of confrontation-a few students did appear timid in the face if the imperturbable Rusk-many of them took advantage of the chance to probe the mind of a man who had worked the levers of great powers.
What they discovered was a sure-footed professor whose knowledge of foreign affairs was gained in eight rough years in the Washington pressure cooker and deepened by both distance and time since then.
Defending without defensiveness, Rusk did not noticeably back away from crucial U.S. actions in Southeast Asia during is years as a key advisor, but he did tell one questioner that with the hindsight of 1977, some things might well have been done differently.
A professor of international law these days at the University of Georgia, Rusk displayed ease, candor and authority in his remarks.
"It's hard to do in cold blood what you may need hot blood for," he said of U.S. restraint in the conduct of the Vietnam conflict.
On a personal note he told one student journalist that his greatest satisfaction form government service was his role in "adding eight more years to the time since a nuclear weapon has been used to kill someone," a point which he picked up later int he day with the comment: "War is the principal obscenity on the face of the human race; how we prevent it is the question."
Conservatively attired in vested dark blue pin stripes, the statesman-turned-teacher appeared to be more at ease than his questioners in a meeting with journalists, most of whom were students. "You learn to say nothing at considerable length at a press conference," he cracked.
In a more serious vein, Rusk said it will take another 15 to 20 years and a younger generation to place the Southeast Asian conflict in historical perspective.
Facing a philosophy class following lunch, Rusk dealt with an hour's worth of queries concerning the role of morality in foreign policy.
"If your decisions are going to be about people," he declared take them into account, you are not going to be dealing with the real world." Morality, he said, contrary to popular cynicism, figures in foreign policy decisions, but often by way of a foundation or background to events and actions.
A history major dug into the morality of U.S. policy in the Vietnamese war, following through repeatedly when the Johnson administration advisor failed to concede weakness in that aspect of the national stance.
In an hour of civilized but steady interrogation in the first of his classroom meetings with MWC students, Dean Rusk may have been ready oft the bell when it rang, but it didn't show. He rose from a plain wooden desk, got a solid round of applause and left-for more of the same at a class in comparative government.
The former statesman is the seventh notable to visit the campus under the Distinguished Visitor in Residence program, which is sponsored by the college alumni association. Since its inception it has brought to the campus anthropologist Margaret Mead, social activist Saul Alinsky, historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., novelist Chaim Potok, choreographer Agnes deMille and columnist Frank Mankiewicz.
The visit opened a three-day stay for Rusk as Distinguished Visitor in Residence at MWC for 1977, climaxing Sunday evening with a major address by the former top statesman.
In both a press session and an afternoon class meeting, Rusk faced dozens of student interrogators, most of them well-back-grounded, polite but persistent and frequently armed with written questions. While it wasn't a campus scene from the 60s, charged with the air of confrontation-a few students did appear timid in the face if the imperturbable Rusk-many of them took advantage of the chance to probe the mind of a man who had worked the levers of great powers.
What they discovered was a sure-footed professor whose knowledge of foreign affairs was gained in eight rough years in the Washington pressure cooker and deepened by both distance and time since then.
Defending without defensiveness, Rusk did not noticeably back away from crucial U.S. actions in Southeast Asia during is years as a key advisor, but he did tell one questioner that with the hindsight of 1977, some things might well have been done differently.
A professor of international law these days at the University of Georgia, Rusk displayed ease, candor and authority in his remarks.
"It's hard to do in cold blood what you may need hot blood for," he said of U.S. restraint in the conduct of the Vietnam conflict.
On a personal note he told one student journalist that his greatest satisfaction form government service was his role in "adding eight more years to the time since a nuclear weapon has been used to kill someone," a point which he picked up later int he day with the comment: "War is the principal obscenity on the face of the human race; how we prevent it is the question."
Conservatively attired in vested dark blue pin stripes, the statesman-turned-teacher appeared to be more at ease than his questioners in a meeting with journalists, most of whom were students. "You learn to say nothing at considerable length at a press conference," he cracked.
In a more serious vein, Rusk said it will take another 15 to 20 years and a younger generation to place the Southeast Asian conflict in historical perspective.
Facing a philosophy class following lunch, Rusk dealt with an hour's worth of queries concerning the role of morality in foreign policy.
"If your decisions are going to be about people," he declared take them into account, you are not going to be dealing with the real world." Morality, he said, contrary to popular cynicism, figures in foreign policy decisions, but often by way of a foundation or background to events and actions.
A history major dug into the morality of U.S. policy in the Vietnamese war, following through repeatedly when the Johnson administration advisor failed to concede weakness in that aspect of the national stance.
In an hour of civilized but steady interrogation in the first of his classroom meetings with MWC students, Dean Rusk may have been ready oft the bell when it rang, but it didn't show. He rose from a plain wooden desk, got a solid round of applause and left-for more of the same at a class in comparative government.
The former statesman is the seventh notable to visit the campus under the Distinguished Visitor in Residence program, which is sponsored by the college alumni association. Since its inception it has brought to the campus anthropologist Margaret Mead, social activist Saul Alinsky, historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., novelist Chaim Potok, choreographer Agnes deMille and columnist Frank Mankiewicz.
Original Format
Newspaper
Student Editor of the Digital Item
Williams, Megan
Files
Citation
Sullivan, Paul, “For Rusk, more queries on Vietnam,” HIST299, accessed July 12, 2026, https://hist299.umwhistory.org/items/show/44.