George Kennan

(noun)

(1904 – 2005) an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War. He was a core member of the group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men." In the late 1940s, his writings inspired the Truman Doctrine and the U.S. foreign policy of "containing" the Soviet Union, thrusting him into a lifelong role as a leading authority on the Cold War. His "Long Telegram" from Moscow in 1946 and the subsequent 1947 article "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" argued that the Soviet regime was inherently expansionist and that its influence had to be "contained" in areas of vital strategic importance to the United States

Related Terms

Examples of George Kennan in the following topics:

  • The Cold War and Containment

    • The basis of the doctrine was articulated in a 1946 cable by United States diplomat, George F.
    • Kennan (below).
    • As a description of United States foreign policy, the word originated in a report Kennan submitted to the U.S. defense secretary in 1947—a report that was later used in a magazine article.
    • George F.
    • Kennan was the diplomat behind the doctrine of containment.

  • The Long Telegram

    • In February 1946, George F.
    • An important moment in the development of America's initial Cold War strategy was the delivery of the "Long Telegram" sent from Moscow by American diplomat George Kennan in 1946.
    • In Moscow, Kennan felt that his opinions were being ignored by Harry S.
    • George F.
    • Kennan in 1947, the year the "X Article" was published.

  • Containment

    • The basis of the doctrine was articulated in a 1946 cable by U.S. diplomat George F.
    • Kennan known as the "Long Telegram."
    • As a description of U.S. foreign policy, the word originated in a report Kennan submitted to U.S.
    • According to Kennan, the Soviet Union did not see the possibility for long-term peaceful coexistence with the capitalist world.
    • George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904–March 17, 2005) was an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War.

  • Containment in Foreign Policy

    • The basis of the doctrine was articulated in a 1946 cable by U.S. diplomat George F.
    • State Department asked George F.
    • Kennan, then at the U.S.
    • According to Kennan:
    • George Kennan's foreign policy analysis is examined and the pillars of containment are discussed.

  • The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

    • It shifted American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union from détente (a relaxation of tension) to a policy of containment of Soviet expansion as advocated by diplomat George Kennan.
    • The initiative was named after Secretary of State George Marshall.
    • The Plan was largely the creation of State Department officials such as George F.
    • Kennan.  

  • The Truman Doctrine

    • It shifted American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union from détente (a relaxation of tension) to a policy of containment of Soviet expansion as advocated by diplomat George Kennan.
    • In February 1946, George Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, sent his famed "Long Telegram," which predicted the Soviets would only respond to force and that the best way to handle them would be through a long-term strategy of containment, that is, by stopping their geographical expansion.

  • Conclusion: Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War

    • It shifted American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union from détente (a relaxation of tension) to a policy of containment of Soviet expansion as advocated by diplomat George Kennan.

  • Origins of the Cold War

    • In February 1946, U.S. diplomat George F.
    • Kennan delivered a memo from his post in Moscow which came to be known as the Long Telegram.
    • The Long Telegram sought to explain recent Soviet behavior to Kennan's superiors in Washington, and further advised a hard line against the Soviets.
    • In Kennan's view, Soviet behavior was inherently expansionist and paranoid, posing a threat to the United States and its allies.

  • The Muckrakers

    • Ray Stannard Baker, George Creel and Brand Whitlock were active at the state and local level, while Lincoln Steffens exposed political corruption in many large cities; Ida Tarbell went after Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company.
    • Hendrick, George Kennan (explorer), John Moody (financial analyst), Henry Reuterdahl, George Kibbe Turner, and Judson C.
    • Welliver), The Independent (George Walbridge Perkins, Sr.), Outlook (William Hard), Pearson's Magazine (Alfred Henry Lewis, Charles Edward Russell), Twentieth Century (George French), and World's Work (C.M.

  • Containment in Vietnam

    • This group included Kennan, Acheson, and other former Truman advisors.