The perhaps most vilified Secretary of State in modern American history is ... Dean Acheson?!? With an opening line like that, Henry Kissinger, in his review of Robert L. Beisner's “Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War,” is just begging to be the butt of any number of ironic blogosphere commentaries.
If your idea of a good time is reading reflections by a former "secret bomber" of South Asian countries and enabler of viciously murderous Latin American coups on the joys of holding the reins of power, then you won't want to miss nuggets like this one, in which you can almost taste Henry's wistful longing for the simple pleasures of his former job:
The position of secretary of state is potentially the most fulfilling in the government short of the presidency. Its scope is global; ultimately it rests on almost philosophical assumptions as to the nature of world order and the relationship of order to progress and national interest. Lacking such a conceptual framework, incoherence looms in the face of the daily task of redefining America’s relationship to the world via the thousands of messages from nearly 200 diplomatic posts and the constant flow of communication from the Executive Department — all this against the backdrop of Congressional liaison and press inquiry.
It's good to be the lapdog of the boss, when the boss is the leader of the free world. (Just ask Condi Rice.) So it's no wonder -- as detailed in a recent article by Bob Woodward in the Washington Post on Kissinger's reinvolvement with Bush Administration foreign policy -- that at times like these, Henry would hardly be capable of staying away.
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