When was George F. Kennan born and where did he grow up?

George F. Kennan arrived in the world on the 16th of February 1904 within a household in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up believing his mother Florence James had passed away during childbirth after she died of peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix two months after his birth.

What is the significance of The Long Telegram written by George F. Kennan?

The Long Telegram became commonly known as a document outlining a new strategy for diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union to Secretary of State James Byrnes. This lengthy telegram sent from Moscow on the 22nd of February 1946 argued that Soviet behavior depended mainly on the internal necessities of Joseph Stalin's regime.

Why did George F. Kennan leave his position as ambassador to the USSR?

Soviet authorities declared George F. Kennan persona non grata and refused to allow him to re-enter the USSR after he made a statement at a press conference comparing his conditions to those encountered while interned in Berlin during hostilities between the United States and Germany. This incident marked a turning point in his career away from direct government service.

What were George F. Kennan's views on NATO enlargement and Iraq?

George F. Kennan described NATO enlargement as a strategic blunder of potentially epic proportions during a 1998 interview with The New York Times. He warned that attacking Iraq would amount to waging a second war bearing no relation to the first war against terrorism.

George F. Kennan: the story on HearLore

Q: How did George F. Kennan respond to U.S. involvement in Vietnam?

George F. Kennan testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February 1966 stating that preoccupation with Vietnam was undermining U.S. global leadership. He compared the Johnson administration's policy towards Vietnam as being like that of an elephant frightened by a mouse.

George Frost Kennan arrived in the world on the 16th of February 1904, within a household in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father was Kossuth Kent Kennan, a lawyer specializing in tax law who traced his lineage to impoverished Scots-Irish settlers from eighteenth-century Connecticut and Massachusetts. The boy named himself after the Hungarian patriot Lajos Kossuth, whose name his father had chosen for him. Tragedy struck just two months after George's birth when his mother Florence James died of peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix. He grew up believing she had passed away during childbirth, a belief that haunted him throughout his life. He never formed a close bond with his father or stepmother, though he remained deeply attached to his older sisters. At age eight, he traveled to Germany to live with his stepmother and learn the German language. During the summers of 1915 and 1916, he attended Camp Highlands in Sayner, Wisconsin, which was then known as the Wisconsin Highlands Summer Camp. He later enrolled at St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin before arriving at Princeton University in the second half of 1921.

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Kennan served as deputy head of the mission in Moscow until April 1946. Near the end of that term, the Treasury Department requested an explanation for recent Soviet behavior regarding its refusal to endorse the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. On the 22nd of February 1946, Kennan responded from Moscow with a lengthy telegram containing 5,363 words, sometimes cited as exceeding 8,000 words. This document became commonly known as The Long Telegram and outlined a new strategy for diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union to Secretary of State James Byrnes. The ideas expressed were not entirely new, but the argument and vivid language arrived at an opportune moment. Kennan wrote that at the bottom of the Kremlin's neurotic view of world affairs lay the traditional and instinctive Russian sense of insecurity. After the Russian Revolution, this insecurity mixed with communist ideology and Oriental secretiveness and conspiracy. He argued that Soviet international behavior depended mainly on the internal necessities of Joseph Stalin's regime. Stalin needed a hostile world to legitimize his autocratic rule. Thus he used Marxism-Leninism as a justification for the Soviet Union's instinctive fear of the outside world. The solution was to strengthen Western institutions to render them invulnerable while awaiting the mellowing of the Soviet regime.

Kennan returned to Washington where he served as first deputy for foreign affairs at the National War College. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal helped bring him back and strongly influenced his decision to publish the X article. In March 1947, President Truman appeared before Congress to request funding for the Truman Doctrine to fight Communism in Greece. Kennan published a well-timed article under the pseudonym X titled The Sources of Soviet Conduct in the July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs. Unlike the Long Telegram, this article asserted that Stalin's policy was shaped by Marxist-Leninist ideology which advocated revolution to defeat capitalist forces. It also highlighted Stalin's determination to use the notion of capitalist encirclement to legitimize his regimentation of Soviet society. Kennan argued that Stalin would not moderate the supposed Soviet determination to overthrow Western governments. He believed the goal of Soviet policy was to withdraw all U.S. forces from Europe. The settlement reached would give the Kremlin sufficient reassurance against regimes hostile to the Soviet Union. Kennan further argued that the United States would have to perform containment alone but could do so without undermining its own economic health. If successful, the Soviet party structure would undergo immense strain resulting in either break-up or gradual mellowing of Soviet power.

In December 1951, President Truman nominated Kennan to be the next United States ambassador to the USSR. His appointment received strong endorsement from the Senate. At Moscow, he found the atmosphere even more regimented than on previous trips with police guards following him everywhere. Soviet propaganda charged the U.S. with preparing for war, a charge Kennan did not wholly dismiss. He began asking himself whether they had contributed to belief in Moscow that it was war they were after. In September 1952, Kennan made a statement at a press conference comparing his conditions at the ambassador's residence to those encountered while interned in Berlin during hostilities between the United States and Germany. While not unfounded, the Soviets interpreted this as an implied analogy with Nazi Germany. They declared Kennan persona non grata and refused to allow him to re-enter the USSR. Kennan acknowledged retrospectively that it was a foolish thing for him to have said. The incident cost him his ambassadorship and marked a turning point in his career away from direct government service.

Kennan accepted Kennedy's offer to serve as ambassador to Yugoslavia beginning in May 1961. He found his assignment in Belgrade much improved compared to experiences in Moscow a decade earlier. He commented that he was surrounded by exceptionally able and loyal assistants whose judgment he valued. The Yugoslav government treated American diplomats politely unlike the Russians who had treated him harshly. President Josip Broz Tito and foreign minister Koča Popović suspected Kennedy would adopt an anti-Yugoslav policy. They considered Kennedy's decision to observe Captive Nations Week as evidence of U.S. support for anticommunist liberation efforts. Relations between Yugoslavia and the United States began to worsen due to diplomatic blunders including the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the U-2 spy incident. In September 1961, Tito held a conference of nonaligned nations where he delivered speeches interpreted by the U.S. government as pro-Soviet. Kennan argued that Tito's perceived pro-Soviet policy was actually a ploy to buttress Khrushchev's position within the Politburo against hardliners opposed to improving relations with the West. By 1962, Congress passed legislation denying financial aid grants to Yugoslavia and revoking its most favored nation status. Kennan strongly protested this legislation arguing it would strain relations further but failed to elicit change from Congress.

Kennan joined the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study in 1956 and spent the rest of his life there. During the 1960s, he criticized U.S. involvement in Vietnam arguing that America had little vital interest in the region. In February 1966, he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the request of chairman Senator J. William Fulbright. He stated that preoccupation with Vietnam was undermining U.S. global leadership. President Johnson tried to upstage these hearings by holding an unannounced summit in Honolulu starting on the 5th of February 1966. Kennan testified that if the United States were not already fighting in Vietnam he could think of several reasons why they should wish not to become involved. He compared the Johnson administration's policy towards Vietnam as being like that of an elephant frightened by a mouse. The hearings aired live on television though CBS network reruns I Love Lucy while Kennan testified due to presidential pressure. NBC resisted and did air the proceedings. Before appearing before the Senate, 63% of Americans approved of Johnson's handling of the war; after his testimony, only 49% did.

In 1989, President George H.W. Bush awarded Kennan the Medal of Freedom, the nation's greatest civilian honor. Yet he remained a realist critic of recent U.S. presidents urging withdrawal from public advocacy of democracy and human rights. A key inspiration for American containment policies during the Cold War, Kennan later described NATO enlargement as a strategic blunder of potentially epic proportions. During a 1998 interview with The New York Times after Senate ratification of NATO expansion he said there was no reason for this whatsoever. He warned that attacking Iraq would amount to waging a second war bearing no relation to the first war against terrorism. At age 98, he declared efforts by the Bush administration to associate Al-Qaeda with Saddam Hussein pathetically unsupportive and unreliable. In February 2004 scholars gathered at Princeton University campus to celebrate Kennan's 100th birthday. Among attendees were Secretary of State Colin Powell and journalist Chris Hedges. Kennan died on the 17th of March 2005, at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, aged 101. He was survived by his Norwegian wife Annelise whom he married in 1931 and four children.

George F. Kennan.

The Long Telegram Origins

The Long Telegram Origins

Architect Of Containment Policy

Diplomatic Stints In Moscow

Ambassador To Yugoslavia

Academic Critic Of Foreign Policy

Legacy And Final Years

Architect Of Containment Policy

Diplomatic Stints In Moscow

Ambassador To Yugoslavia

Academic Critic Of Foreign Policy

Legacy And Final Years

Continue Browsing

Common questions

George F. Kennan.

1. The Long Telegram Origins

1. The Long Telegram Origins

2. Architect Of Containment Policy

3. Diplomatic Stints In Moscow

4. Ambassador To Yugoslavia

5. Academic Critic Of Foreign Policy

6. Legacy And Final Years

2. Architect Of Containment Policy

3. Diplomatic Stints In Moscow

4. Ambassador To Yugoslavia

5. Academic Critic Of Foreign Policy

6. Legacy And Final Years

Continue Browsing

Common questions

The Long Telegram Origins

The Long Telegram Origins

Architect Of Containment Policy

Diplomatic Stints In Moscow

Ambassador To Yugoslavia

Academic Critic Of Foreign Policy

Legacy And Final Years

Architect Of Containment Policy

Diplomatic Stints In Moscow

Ambassador To Yugoslavia

Academic Critic Of Foreign Policy

Legacy And Final Years