''The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made'' is a non-fiction book authored by

Walter Isaacson Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...

and

Evan Thomas Evan Welling Thomas III (born April 25, 1951) is an American journalist, historian, and author. He is the author of nine books, including two ''New York Times'' bestsellers. Early life and career Thomas was born in Huntington, New York, and r ...

. Published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

in 1986, it describes the actions of a group of

U.S. federal government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...

officials and members of the East Coast foreign policy

establishment Establishment may refer to: * The Establishment, a dominant group or elite that controls a polity or an organization * The Establishment (club), a 1960s club in London, England * The Establishment (Pakistan), political terminology for the military ...

. Starting in the immediate post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

period, the group developed the

containment Containment was a geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism after the end of World War II. The name was loosely related to the term ''cordon sanitaire'', which wa ...

policy of dealing with the Communist bloc during the Cold War. They also helped to craft institutions and initiatives such as

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

, and the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

. An updated edition of the book was released in 2012. Supportive reviews appeared in publications such as '' Foreign Affairs'' and ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''.

Members of the group

The book identifies six people who were important foreign policy advisors to U.S. presidents from

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

to Lyndon Johnson and influential in the development of Cold War era foreign policy for America. The six are: * Dean Acheson, Secretary of State under President

Harry S Truman Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

Charles E. Bohlen Charles "Chip" Eustis Bohlen (August 30, 1904 – January 1, 1974) was an American diplomat, ambassador, and expert on the Soviet Union. He helped shape US foreign policy during World War II and the Cold War and helped develop the Marshall Pla ...

, U.S. ambassador to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

* W. Averell Harriman,

Special Envoy Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

for President Franklin Roosevelt *

George F. Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly hist ...

, ambassador to the

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, State Dept.

Director of Policy Planning The Director of Policy Planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the department's internal think tank, the Policy Planning Staff. In the department, the Director of Policy Planning has a rank equivalent to Assistant ...

Robert A. Lovett Robert Abercrombie Lovett (September 14, 1895May 7, 1986) was the fourth United States Secretary of Defense, having been promoted to this position from Deputy Secretary of Defense. He served in the cabinet of President Harry S. Truman from 1951 ...

, Truman's Secretary of Defense * John J. McCloy, a

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

official and later U.S. High Commissioner for Germany. The group comprised two lawyers, two

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

s, 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. Most of these men, Lovett and McCloy in particular, were strongly influenced by Secretary of War

Henry Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...

. Elihu Root, Stimson's mentor, is often regarded as the prototypical "wise man."

Influence

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 Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing political parties find co ...

foreign policy based on resistance to the expansion of Soviet power. The authors describe them as the hidden architects behind the

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It wa ...

, the Marshall Plan, and Cold War containment. Kennan, in particular, is regarded as "the father of containment." The book portrays them as personifying an ideal of statesmanship marked by nonpartisanship, pragmatic

internationalism Internationalism may refer to: * Cosmopolitanism, the view that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality as opposed to communitarianism, patriotism and nationalism * International Style, a major architectur ...

, and aversion to ideological fervor. They tended to be practical, realistic, and nonideological. After the six had retired from public life, they and other like-minded establishment elders were dubbed The Wise Men. In 1967 and 1968, Johnson summoned them and a few others (including General

Omar Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893April 8, 1981) was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and over ...

) to advise him on foreign policy, particularly the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. In November 1967, they unanimously recommended staying in Vietnam, but in a pivotal second meeting in March 1968, most said the war could not be won and American troops should be withdrawn.

Legacy

Later public figures, such as

Clark Clifford Clark McAdams Clifford (December 25, 1906October 10, 1998) was an American lawyer who served as an important political adviser to Democratic presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter. His official gove ...

, James A. Baker III, and Robert S. Strauss are sometimes evaluated by comparing them to these "wise men".

Reviews

Excerpts *"A sober and straightforward account of what actually happened and why... In this context the book does a great service. It restores balance to our recent history, and some sheen to its heroes. It may generate a much-needed movement to correct revisionist history. It should be read." —'' Foreign Affairs'' *"In their first major book, Isaacson and Thomas have written an engrossing work of popular history that will live well beyond the 1980s." —''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' Citations * Chace, James
“Books of the Times”
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' (October 2, 1986) p. 21 * Forrestal, Michael V
“Capsule Review”
'' Foreign Affairs'', Vol. 65, No. 2 (Winter 1986/87) * Steel, Ronald
“Cohort of the American Century”
''

'' (November 2, 1986) p. 007003

References

External links

Full text available
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. (London: Faber and Faber edition)
“An American Aristocracy”
''

Open Mind Open-mindedness is receptiveness to new ideas. Open-mindedness relates to the way in which people approach the views and knowledge of others." Jason Baehr defines an open-minded person as one who "characteristically moves beyond or temporarily sets ...

'', with Richard D. Heffner. (1986) Episode 673. An interview with author

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wise Men 1986 non-fiction books American history books Books about the Cold War Cold War history of the United States History books about the 20th century History books about the United States Simon & Schuster books