Keenan was part of a group of foreign policy elders Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas, later referred to as “The Wise Men.” When Dulles became secretary of state in the Eisenhower administration, he saw no need to share responsibilities and promptly got rid of George Keenan, who Reston reports was the most knowledgeable Soviet expert in the country. Reston shares how that incident went down:

Though Kenan was the star of the Foreign Service with twenty-five years of experience behind him, Dulles called him in and told him he didn’t have a job for him. He did, however, ask Keenan to tell him what he thought of U.S.-Soviet relations, and when Keenan did so with his usual candor and clarity, Dulles remarked, “That’s very interesting. You know, you interest me when you talk about these matters. Very few people do. I hope you’ll come in from time to time and let us have your comments on what is going on.”

When Keenan got home that night, he said to his wife it was as though he (Keenan) had said to her: “You know, I’m divorcing you as of today, and you’re to leave my bed and board at once. But I love the way you cook scrambled eggs, and I wonder if you’d mind fixing me up a batch of them right now, before you go.”