The Wise Men (book)
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| Author |
Walter Isaacson Evan Thomas |
|---|---|
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
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Publication date
|
1986 |
| Pages | 816 pp. |
| ISBN | |
| 327.2/092/2 | |
| LC Class | E747.I77 1986 |
The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made is a 1986 book by Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas. It describes the actions of a group of US government officials and members of the East Coast foreign policy establishment. Starting in the immediate post-World War II period, the group developed the containment policy of dealing with the Communist bloc during the Cold War. They also helped to craft institutions and initiatives such as NATO, the World Bank, and the Marshall Plan. An updated edition of the book was released in 2012, as well as a "Quicklet" summary of the book.
The book identifies six people who were important foreign policy advisors to US presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson and were influential in the development of Cold War era foreign policy for America. The six are:
The group comprised two lawyers, two bankers, and two diplomats. Five of the six were from the so-called Georgetown Set. Acheson, Harriman, and Lovett had known each other since their days at prep school or college and on Wall Street. Bohlen, Kennan and McCloy were younger and did not know the others well until their public lives brought them into close contact.
They coalesced as a group when Truman became President in 1945 and greatly needed advice on foreign policy, as he knew very little in that area. The group helped to create a bipartisan foreign policy based on resistance to the expansion of Soviet power. The authors describe them as the hidden architects behind the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and Cold War containment. Kennan, in particular, is regarded as "the father of containment."
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