Editing Dean Acheson (section)

===Cold War diplomacy===
{{Further|Foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration|Origins of the Cold War}}
[[File:Photograph of Dean Acheson taking the oath of office as Secretary of State in the Oval Office, with Chief Justice... - NARA - 200076.jpg|thumb|Acheson sworn into office as Secretary of State, by Chief Justice [[Fred M. Vinson]], (January 21, 1949)]]
Later, in 1945, Harry S. Truman selected Acheson as the [[Under Secretary of State|Undersecretary]] of the [[United States Department of State]]; he retained this position working under Secretaries of State [[Edward Stettinius, Jr.]], [[James F. Byrnes]], and [[George Marshall]]. As late as 1946 Acheson sought détente with the Soviet Union. In 1946, as chairman of a special committee to prepare a plan for the international control of atomic energy, he wrote the [[Acheson–Lilienthal report]]. At first Acheson was conciliatory towards [[Joseph Stalin]].

The Soviet Union's attempts at regional hegemony in [[Eastern Europe]] and in Turkey and Iran changed Acheson's thinking. From this point forward, one historian writes, "Acheson was more than 'present at the creation' of the [[Cold War]]; he was a primary architect."<ref>Randall Bennett Woods, "The Good Shepherd," ''Reviews in American History'', Volume 35, Number 2, June 2007, pp. 284–288</ref> Acheson often was acting secretary during the secretary's frequent overseas trips, and during this period he cemented a close relationship with President Truman. Acheson devised the policy and wrote Truman's 1947 request to Congress for aid to Greece and Turkey, a speech which stressed the dangers of totalitarianism (but did not name the Soviet Union) and marked the fundamental change in American foreign policy that became known as the [[Truman Doctrine]].<ref>Frazier 1999</ref>

On June 30, 1947, Acheson received the [[Medal for Merit]] from President Truman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12688 |title=Citation Accompanying Medal for Merit Awarded to Dean Acheson |publisher=[[The American Presidency Project]] |date=June 30, 1947 |access-date=November 6, 2011 |archive-date=August 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814111159/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12688 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Photograph of President Truman with members of his Cabinet and other officials, in the Cabinet Room of the White... - NARA - 200610.jpg|thumb|Acheson (fifth from right) as Secretary of State at a meeting of the Truman cabinet, August 25, 1950; President Truman is fourth from right]]