The Dean Rusk Tapes: The Making of a Public Servant; Military Service to Civil Service

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Series
The Dean Rusk Tapes: The Making of a Public Servant
Episode
Military Service to Civil Service
Producing Organization
The Southern Center for International Studies
Contributing Organization
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-526-qn5z60d736
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Description
Series Description
"This weekly five-part series was aired on Georgia Public Television starting Friday, December 29, 1989 and concluding January 26, 1990. In the first program entitled: THE MAKING OF A PUBLIC SERVANT - COMING OF AGE, Mr. Rusk talks about his early childhood in Georgia and his educational background which led to his career as a public servant in the Department of State. He credits his proximity to world-shaping events while at Oxford for the development of his interest in world affairs. In the second program, THE MAKING OF A PUBLIC SERVANT - MILITARY SERVICE TO CIVIL SERVICE - Mr. Rusk discusses his military service in India during World War II, his position as Director of the Office of United Nations Affairs during the Truman Administration and his role as Secretary of State. The next three programs focus on the Vietnam War. In program three, entitled VIETNAM - THE UNCLAIMED WAR - Dean Rusk, widely criticized for his role in the Vietnam War, explains why he thinks Vietnamese aggression required American involvement lest our allies and the Soviets doubt our resolve. He laments the tragic cost of containment but fears the erosion of this commitment by generations with no memory of the Second World War. In the fourth program, THE AMERICAN DESCENT INTO VIETNAM - Dean Rusk recalls the events which drew the United States deeper into the Vietnam conflict and he refutes the suspicion that President Kennedy maintained U.S. forces in Vietnam to ensure his reelection. Describing President Johnson's role, Mr. Rusk reveals that the White House wrote a draft of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution before that incident actually occurred. Finally, Mr. Rust discusses how the peace movement undermined the American war effort and brought about a Vietnamese political victory. In the last program of the series, VIETNAM CREDIBILITY AND COLLECTIVE SECURITY - Mr. Rusk talks about collective security in a democratic system. Citing the anti-war movement during the Vietnam Conflict, he believes that the very openness and freedom of democracy makes the policy of collective security more difficult to defend. Notwithstanding the problems caused by a reluctant public, Mr. Rusk and others chose not to rally the homefront to an angry frenzy, fearing the danger of wide-spread jingoism in a fragile nuclear world. "Dean Rusk is an extraordinary communicator - an eloquent speaker using simple language that is easily understood. His humor is infectious, his honesty endearing, and his wisdom exceptional. A wonderful example of his [humility] and his ability to communicate is the following remark made by Mr. Rusk when he was asked to describe his feelings about his career as a public servant: "'There are deep satisfactions from public service. There are some costs, but its quite a thing for this country to let a barefoot freckled-face boy from Cherokee County serve as its Secretary of State so you have to be respectful of a country that even let's that happen.' "Never has there been such a tremendous video resource for understanding the triumphs and tribulations of a public servant. Used by educational institutions and individuals, these tapes offer new insight into the complex world of a former Secretary of State. "(The program was produced locally by The Southern Center's production team which handled all phases of videotaping and editing.)"--1990 Peabody Awards entry form.
Broadcast Date
1990
Asset type
Episode
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:28:51.196
Credits
Producing Organization: The Southern Center for International Studies
AAPB Contributor Holdings
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia
Identifier: cpb-aacip-ed226a128b2 (Filename)
Format: U-matic
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Citations
Chicago: “The Dean Rusk Tapes: The Making of a Public Servant; Military Service to Civil Service,” 1990, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed November 21, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-qn5z60d736.
MLA: “The Dean Rusk Tapes: The Making of a Public Servant; Military Service to Civil Service.” 1990. The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. November 21, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-qn5z60d736>.
APA: The Dean Rusk Tapes: The Making of a Public Servant; Military Service to Civil Service. Boston, MA: The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-qn5z60d736