Like apples in a barrel infected by one rotten one, the corruption of Greece would infect Iran and all to the east. It would also carry infection to Africa through Asia Minor and Egypt, and to Europe through Italy and France, already threatened by the strongest domestic Communist parties in Western Europe. The Soviet Union was playing one of the greatest gambles in history at minimal cost. It did not need to will all the possibilities. Even one or two offered immense gains. We and we alone were in a position to break up the play.

The defensive perimeter [of the United States in East Asia] runs along the Aleutians to Japan and then goes to the Ryukyus.

The most important aspect of the relationship between the president and the secretary of state is that they both understand who is president.

Negotiation in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

If we learn the art of yielding what must be yielded to the changing present, we can save the best of the past.

I learned from the example of my father that the manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured.

The trouble with a free market economy is that it requires so many policemen to make it work.