12/4/3- the President he could resign, as some have done, or he could adapt his views to those of his chief, as others have done. Controversy Stalks The exception was John Foster Dulles. President Eisenhower, with his chain of An Impassive Rusk command concept of the office, dele- gated to Dulles the initiative. And By Marquis Childs Dulles, with his long background in for- JUST FIVE years ago a reserved, quiet eign affairs, his ambition, his aggressive mannered foundation president, whom self-confidence, was only too eager to not a single American in 10,000 had ever take it. heard of, stepped from comfortable The office as a consequence was in- anonymity into the very eye of conflict flated with Dulles, a resourceful phrase- and controversy. President-elect John F. maker, a news-maker, keeping himself Kennedy asked Dean Rusk to be Secre- in the public eye. At the same time, in tary of State in the Cabinet he was the view of critics of the Dulles era, he forming. inflated the aims of American policy far If Rusk ever regretted his decision he beyond the means and the will to carry has given no sign of it. In the turmoil of out those aims. Rusk's defenders believe an office that concentrates on the indi- that it is against this distortion of the vidual who occupies it and belted by the office that he is compared and found full force of every foreign policy crisis, wanting. he has continued to maintain a discreet CJ personal reserve. Rusk, the man, is un- ON VITAL foreign policy issues such failingly subordinate to the dedicated public servant. as Vietnam, Rusk's almost invariable No office except the Presidency is sub- custom is to restate positions firmly ject to such a glare of public, interest. marked out by the President. In his And the President, by reason of the emi- history of the JFK years Schlesinger nence of his office, is often sheltered quoted Kennedy as saying that he meant from the slings and arrows of misfor- to drop Rusk after the 1964 election. tune that assail the Secretary of State. This stirred indignant defense of the As has happened to every Secretary of Secretary. Earlier while Kennedy was State almost without exception, going still in the White House a journalist back even to the quiet era when Amer- with frequent access to the President ica's place in the world was on the quoted him as saying of Rusk: periphery of power, Rusk is a figure of "He's got guts. And his judgment is controversy. good. And in final analysis those are the One of the reasons Kennedy chose qualities a Secretary of State needs. I him was because he meant to be his own wouldn't want to make a final decision Secretary of State and the President- on a vital matter involving our security elect knew this was Rusk's concept of until I'd heard his view . " the office. He was to be an instrument If President Johnson had thought of carrying out the policy of the chief ex- replacing Rusk the Schlesinger attack ecutive. The president of the Rockefeller assured his tenure so long as he cares Foundation, as Rusk was, wrote in For- to stay. Only recently the President let eign Affairs in 1960: "The President, it be known that he considered Rusk with the aid of his Secretary of State the greatest Secretary of State in this and the support of the Congress, sup- century. As he gave complete loyalty to plies the leadership in our foreign rela- Kennedy so Rusk gives unstinting loyal- tions." ty to Johnson. c+4, Secretary of State watchers over the years have said it's an office in which RUSK HAS been scrupulous in inter- you can't win. All you can hope for in preting that definition and this is one a time of revolutionary troubles is to reason for the criticism directed at him hang on, hoping for a few breaks that publicly by historian Arthur Schlesinger will even up the score. The Congo, Rho- Jr., and privately by others in the Ken- desia, Vietnam, Egypt, Germany, France nedy wing of the Democratic establish- —they are all on the Secretary's door- ment. He fails to come up with initia- step, each with a demand for first pri- tives. He is too neutral. No one knows ority as he parcels out his 12-hour day where he really stands. This is the main in carefully measured half hours. thrust of the discontent with the Secre- While he had served in the State De- tary of State. partment, Rusk can hardly have fore- But a glance at presidential history seen what acceptance of the Kennedy shows that Rusk, with one conspicuous offer meant. exception, is in the tradition of Secre- e 1965. Ignited Features Srruttcate taries of State. Presidents have almost invariably asserted their constitutional right to direct foreign policy. And if the Secretary didn't like the policy set by .