“Containment” is a geopolitical strategy that was predominantly used by the United States, and its allies, during the Cold War against the Soviet Union to impede the spread of communism. Following the end of World War II, President Harry S. Truman, and his advisers, lacked a consensus of foreign policy necessary to deal with the Soviet threat and establish American hegemony. To help clarify the Russian perspective, diplomat George F. Kennan sent an eight-thousand-word telegram to Washington, D.C. where he outlined the ideological and cultural justifications of the Soviet Union’s elite to expand their totalitarian rule by exploiting the idea of capitalist encirclement. Officially known as the “Long Telegram,” Kennan’s insight provided the necessary foundation to assume that the United States could effectively counter the Soviet threat, despite lacking a coherent strategy.
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X,” expanded upon his previous work through the strategic concept of containment. Kennan argued that the Soviet government: is a fluid stream which moves constantly wherever it is permitted to move, toward a given goal. Its main concern is to make sure that is has filled every nook and cranny available to it in the basin of world power. But if it finds unassailable barriers in its path, it accepts these philosophically and accommodates itself to them (CITATION).
Thus, the logical conclusion, in Kennan’s mind, was the strategic concept of containment which sought to use counter-force against the geographical and political points, reciprocal to the Soviet government’s expansive tendencies.
Despite the anonymous nature of the X Article, Kennan’s influence directly impacted United States foreign policy. The Truman administration embraced the strategy of containment when he declared that the United States would resist totalitarian expansion on all
X,” expanded upon his previous work through the strategic concept of containment. Kennan argued that the Soviet government: is a fluid stream which moves constantly wherever it is permitted to move, toward a given goal. Its main concern is to make sure that is has filled every nook and cranny available to it in the basin of world power. But if it finds unassailable barriers in its path, it accepts these philosophically and accommodates itself to them (CITATION).
Thus, the logical conclusion, in Kennan’s mind, was the strategic concept of containment which sought to use counter-force against the geographical and political points, reciprocal to the Soviet government’s expansive tendencies.
Despite the anonymous nature of the X Article, Kennan’s influence directly impacted United States foreign policy. The Truman administration embraced the strategy of containment when he declared that the United States would resist totalitarian expansion on all