George F. Kennan
George F. Kennan
George Frost Kennanwas an American diplomat and historian. He was known best as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War on which he later reversed himself. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histories of the relations between USSR and the United States. He was also one of the group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth16 February 1904
CountryUnited States of America
George F. Kennan quotes about
fig leaves
The accords were fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalinist dictatorship.
rights standards should
We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better.
long united-states elements
It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.
coercion natural instruments
Instruments of coercion, once created, have a tendency to find their own natural masters.
lonely believe long
The best an American can look forward to is the lonely pleasure of one who stands at long last on a chilly and inhospitable mountaintop where few have been before, where few can follow and where few will consent to believe he has been.
ideas abuse atheism
The truth is sometimes a poor competitor in the market place of ideas – complicated, unsatisfying, full of dilemmas, always vulnerable to misinterpretation and abuse.
healthy inability immigration
Actually, the inability of any society to resist immigration, the inability to find other solutions to the problem of employment at the lower, more physical, and menial levels of the economic process, is a serious weakness, and possibly even a fatal one, in any national society. The fully healthy society would find ways to meet those needs out of its own resources.
stubborn world opinion
There is more respect to be won in the opinion of this world by a resolute and courageous liquidation of unsound positions than by the most stubborn pursuit of extravagant or unpromising objectives.
public-opinion opinion force
Public opinion, or what passes for public opinion, is not invariably a moderating force in the jungle of politics.
tissues world communism
World communism is like [a] malignant parasite which feeds on diseased tissue
time guests members
A guest of one's time and not a member of the household.
eyebrows want best-things
The best thing we can do if we want the Russians to let us be Americans is to let the Russians be Russian.
mistake principles doctrine
A doctrine is something that pins you down to a given mode of conduct and dozens of situations which you cannot foresee, which is a great mistake in principle. When the word 'containment' was used in my 'X' article, it was used with relation to a certain situation then prevailing, and as a response to it.
army population red
The Red Army... swept the native population clean in a manner that has no parallel since the days of the Asiatic hordes.