Editing Dean Acheson (section)

==Later life and death==
[[File:Grave of Dean Acheson - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg|thumb|250px|The gravesite of Dean Acheson in [[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]].]]
Acheson retired on January 20, 1953, the last day of the Truman administration, and served on the Yale board of trustees along with Senator [[Robert A. Taft]], one of his sharpest critics. He was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1955.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 1, 2011}}</ref>

Acheson returned to his private law practice. Although his official governmental career was over, his influence was not. He was ignored by the Eisenhower administration but headed up Democratic policy groups in the late 1950s. Much of President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s [[flexible response]] policies came from the position papers drawn up by this group.{{which|date=October 2021}}

Acheson's law offices were strategically located a few blocks from the White House and he accomplished much out of office. He became an unofficial advisor to the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. During the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]], for example, he was dispatched by Kennedy to France to brief French President [[Charles de Gaulle]] and gain his support for the United States blockade. Acheson so strongly opposed the final decision merely to blockade that he resigned from the executive committee.<ref>Douglas Brinkley, ''Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years, 1953-71'' (1992).</ref>

During the 1960s, Acheson was a leading member of a bipartisan group of establishment elders known as [[The Wise Men (book)|the Wise Men]], who initially supported the Vietnam War. As secretary of state, Acheson had supported the French efforts to control Indochina as the necessary price for French support of NATO, and to contain communism. By 1968, however, his viewpoint had changed. President Johnson asked Acheson to reassess American military policy, and he concluded that military victory was impossible. He advised Johnson to pull out as quickly as possible, to avoid a deepening division inside the Democratic Party. Johnson took Acheson's advice, in terms of de-escalating the war, and deciding not to run for reelection. Acheson distrusted [[Hubert Humphrey]], and supported Richard Nixon for president in 1968. He provided advice to the Nixon administration through [[Henry Kissinger]], focusing on NATO and on African affairs. He broke with Nixon in 1970 with the [[Cambodian campaign|incursion into Cambodia]].<ref>Robert L. Beisner, ''Dean Acheson: a life in the Cold war'' (2009) pp 620-41.</ref><ref>Gregory T. D'Auria, "Present at the rejuvenation: the association of Dean Acheson and Richard Nixon." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 18 (1989): 393-412.</ref>

In 1964, Acheson received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], with Distinction. In 1970, he won the [[Pulitzer Prize for History]] for his memoirs of his tenure in the State Department, ''[[Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department]]''. The [[Modern Library]] placed the book at No. 47 on its top 100 non-fiction books of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnonfiction.html |title=100 Best Nonfiction « Modern Library |publisher=Randomhouse.com |access-date=December 9, 2012}}</ref>

Acheson died of a massive stroke at his farm in [[Sandy Spring, Maryland]] on October 12, 1971 at the age of 78. He was found slumped over his desk in his study.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Dean Acheson Dies on His Farm at 78 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/13/archives/dean-acheson-dies-on-his-farm-at-78.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 13, 1971 }}</ref> Acheson was interred in [[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]] in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.<ref>Resting Places: The Burial Places of 14,000 Famous Persons, by Scott Wilson</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.oakhillcemeterydc.org/app/themes/oakhill/assets/records/c18.pdf |title=Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, D.C. (Chapel) - Chapel Lot 18 |website=[[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]] |access-date=2022-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302174322/https://www.oakhillcemeterydc.org/app/themes/oakhill/assets/records/c18.pdf |archive-date=2022-03-02 |url-status=live}}</ref>

His son, [[David Campion Acheson|David C. Acheson]] (father of [[Eleanor D. Acheson]]), had two daughters, Jane Acheson Brown and Mary Acheson Bundy, wife of [[William Bundy]].<ref name=obit/>