Kennan Telegram Analysis

At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States become rivals. Both nations differed in ideological and strategic goals. George Kennan, an American diplomat, wanted to avoid Soviet expansion. Kennan writes his, “Kennan Telegram,” in which he writes about his creation of the policy of “containment.” Kennan’s idealism of containment becomes the keystone of American Cold War policies such as the “Truman Doctrine,” “The Marshall Plan,” and the “NSC-68.”
The “Kennan Telegram” leads its idealism of containment by the creation of the “Truman Doctrine.” In Part 1 of the telegram, it concludes that the Soviet strategy regarding dealing with the capitalist powers of the world was to have “communism in entire world” (Kennan Telegram). …show more content…
“The Marshall Plan” was a document written by George Marshall. He plans for the United States “to sponsor the recovery and reconstruction of Europe in the aftermath of World War II” in efforts to prevent the spread of Soviet communism (Marshall Plan). The United States provided aid by giving away billions of dollars so that “infrastructures could be repaired relatively quickly” (Marshall Plan). The goal of the United States was to prevent communism from taking over the weak governments and economies, therefore, seeking the Soviet Union as an alternative. “The Kennan Telegram” helps explain the “Marshall Plan” because Kennan’s containment ideas led to the creation of the plan. For Kennan, the main defining characteristic of Soviet foreign policy was of being “pragmatic and tactical,” since it would “promote tendencies which must eventually find their outlet in either the break-up or the gradual mellowing of Soviet power” (Kennan Telegram). The Kennan Telegram was the leading reasoning of the “Marshall Plan” containment