Word: achesonism
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Acheson recalls that after conferring all day Adenauer took him outside to play boccie, an Italian game played with large balls on a lawn. "He warned me he was going to beat me, although I proceeded to leave him a good deal behind. Then he started making all kinds of fancy shots. I told the Chancellor that he played crooked as hell, to which he answered, 'Here I make the rules!'...He cautioned me not to be frivolous...
...Acheson speaks less warmly about President De Gaulle, perhaps because he has had a good deal to do with Franco-NATO relations in which De Gaulle has often seemed an unmanageable ally. "I have just met him once. He is not an old friend of mine as is the Chancellor. De Gaulle, of course, is a grand gentleman. Very courteous. Very meticulous. When you converse with him, he makes statements rather than conversation. An extremely interesting man.... There is no point whatsoever in arguing with him, although his one great virtue is adjusting himself to facts...
...Acheson does, however, have extravagant admiration for what he calls "De Gaulle's touches of real grand style." He remembers an anecdote of Adenauer's: "After the last war there was some question as to whether the Chancellor should go to Paris. Adenauer said it was impossible for the head of a defeated nation to make this gesture. De Gaulle, instead of commanding Adenauer to Paris, wrote a personal note indicating that it would give him the greatest possible pleasure if the Chancellor would come to visit at the General's country place. The Chancellor replied that he would...
When asked whether De Gaulle's strength had increased as a result of the recent crisis in Algeria, Mr. Acheson remarked, "that is like asking whether you are lucky when losing a leg not to lose your life. That kind of argument has always seemed to me specious...
F.D.R., who retired Acheson after a disagreement about the gold situation and later recalled him to service, said of another man who had been vociferously bemoaning exile, "Tell that man to go see Dean Acheson and learn how to retire like a gentleman." Others have suggested that Dean Acheson is one of the last of his breed in the government...