Acheson and Empire
The British Accent in American Foreign Policy

This text offers a reassessment of Dean Acheson's policies toward the former colonial world during his period as secretary of state from 1949 to 1953. The book argues that Acheson inherited a way of understanding the world that encouraged impartial-style international relationships.

Acheson and Empire contends that the widely accepted view of Acheson as a foreign policy realist is misleading and that historians should acknowledge that his affinity for the British Empire went beyond his clothing and mannerisms. McNay maintains that the widely accepted view of Acheson as one of a group of "wise men" who shaped the Cold War world by basing their decisions on cold calculation of American interests should be reconsidered. Drawing from extensive research in archival sources, including the Truman Library, the National Archives, the Public Record Office in London, and Acheson's personal papers at Yale, Acheson and Empire offers a fresh look at Dean Acheson that runs counter to previous biographies and many histories of the Cold War.