The Resume

(February 9, 1909-December 20, 1994)
Born in Cherokee County, Georgia
Birth name was David Dean Rusk
President of the Rockefeller Foundation (1952-61)
Secretary of State under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson (1961-69)
Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1969)

Why he might be annoying:

Kennedy complained about his reticence, lack of imagination, and failure to prepare during emergency meetings.
His opinion on hearing plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion was that it 'didn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell of success,' but he declined to express his opposition that forcefully.
He opposed apartheid, but argued against imposing economic sanctions against South Africa.
He expressed private doubts about US military intervention in Vietnam, but vigorously supported the war in public.
He became such a frequent target of anti-war demonstrators that by the end of his tenure he turned down all speaking engagements outside of Washington, DC.

Why he might not be annoying:

He grew up so poor that he frequently wore underwear made from flour sacks.
He won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford.
He was married to Virginia Foisie for 57 years until his death.
He famously said of the Cuban Missile Crisis, 'We are eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked.'
He believed that a cabinet member was free to disagree with the president in private, but had to either publicly support the president or resign.
New York Times correspondent Max Frankel wrote that he was 'unfailingly courteous and considerate.'
His appointment to the faculty of the University of Georgia Law School was opposed by segregationist Governor Lester Maddox because Rusk's daughter Peggy had married a black man. (The University approved Rusk despite the governor's protests.)

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 46]
• Celebrities Born on the Same Date [February] (Ranked: 2091909)
• Cold War Participants
• I am a Colonel
• I Attended Davidson College
• I Attended Oxford
• I Attended University of California, Berkeley
• I Died in 1994 (Ranked: 85)
• Known By a Middle Name
• Look at Me, I'm with John F. Kennedy
• Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity
• Profiles 34001-34250 (Ranked: 34173)
• Rhodes Scholars
• Served in World War II
• U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
• We Celebrated Our Golden Anniversary

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 34 Votes: 14.71% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 18 Votes: 61.11% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 25 Votes: 52.00% Annoying