The 18-year-old son of I. H. Samsonite attends pacifist meeting and wears a button that says "Dean Husk is made out of library paste" [St. Fidgeta & Other Parodies, 49].
U.S. Secretary of State (b.1909-d.94; in office 1961–69). Played a major role in the United States' decision to take military action in the Korean War. A firm believer in the use of military force to prevent Communist expansion, Rusk strongly defended the Vietnam War.
Dean Husk is a play on the name of JFK's notoriously ineffective Secretary of State, Dean Rusk "but I don't get the point of this myself," explains Myers.
Bowen adds that Rusk, inherited by LBJ, was a firm supporter of the war in Vietnam. "He was a pale, rather expressionless individual, and I found John's description apt and witty. I don't know why he misspelled the name; I don't think there was any danger of prosecution to worry Macmillan. John probably liked the idea of suggesting that he was empty as well as pasty."
(also see Prynne, Nepomuk)
