Dean Acheson - Policy Quotes

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Comrades... played a vital role in setting the main lines of American foreign policy for many years to come and... they may feel in their hearts that it was nobly done.

Dean Acheson

President Truman used to say that budget figures revealed far more of proposed policy than speeches.

Dean Acheson

There is perhaps nothing more important in the world today than the steadiness and consistency of the foreign policy of this Republic. Too much depends on the United States for us to indulge in the luxury of either undue pessimism or premature optimism.

Dean Acheson

... the Assistant Secretary in Charge of Administration (was) a job which should be undertaken only by a saint or a fool... the House and Senate subcommittees in charge of appropriations, their chairmen, and the Comptroller General's office make this job perfect hell. Like an ill-tempered chatelaine of a medieval manor, her keys hanging from her belt, Congress parsimoniously and suspiciously doles out supplies for the shortest time, each item meticulously weighed and measured, each request at first harshly denied. Almost simultaneously yesterday's accounting goes on amid screamed accusation and denunciation of every purpose of policy.

Dean Acheson