COLD WARRIOR DEAN RUSK DIES AT 85

Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, who guided the Kennedy Administration through the Cuban Missile Crisis and led the Johnson Administration deeper into Vietnam, died last night from heart disease in his Athens, Ga., home. Touted as one of Kennedy's team of "best and brightest," Rusk stayed in the post through the end of Johnson's tenure in 1969 -- despite criticism (even from one of his sons) over his advocacy of the flagging Vietnam war effort. For that, he never apologized: "Because of this nation's commitments, I had a duty to perform; to try to prevent North Vietnam from overrunning South Vietnam by force. That was my job and I tried to do it," he once wrote.