Editing Dean Acheson (section)

==Personal Life and Legacy==
In 1917, Acheson married Alice Stanley, a painter and daughter of a prominent Detroit family. The Stanley family was in the railroad business in Michigan. They had three children: Jane, David, and Mary. David Campion Acheson (1921–2018), a lawyer; Jane Acheson Brown (d. 2003); and Mary Eleanor Acheson Bundy. On October 25, 1947, Mary married William Putnam Bundy, a Skull and Bones member from Yale (class of 1939) and a rising figure in U.S. foreign policy. William, born in 1917 to a prominent Boston family, had served in the CIA and later held key roles in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, including Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1964–1969). The couple met through Washington’s elite social circles, as William worked under Acheson in the State Department. Their marriage united two influential families, reinforcing their status within America’s foreign policy establishment.

A devoted husband and father, Dean Acheson balanced his demanding career with a love of gardening and literature at his Sandy Spring, Maryland, farm. Known for his sharp wit and patrician charm, he could be both gracious and cutting, earning loyal allies and fierce critics.

Acheson died of a heart attack on October 12, 1971, at age 78, while working at his Maryland desk. His funeral at Washington National Cathedral drew global dignitaries, reflecting his stature. Acheson’s legacy is profound but polarizing. He is credited with building the post-war liberal international order—NATO, the Marshall Plan, and Bretton Woods—establishing U.S. global leadership. Historians like Robert Beisner laud his strategic clarity, but critics, including Walter LaFeber, argue his rigid anti-communism fueled Cold War escalation and ignored nationalist movements in Asia and Africa. His early support for Vietnam intervention, though later tempered, remains a point of contention.