George Kennan and the Dilemmas of US Foreign PolicyOne of a select group of American foreign service officers to receive specialized training on the Soviet Union in the late 1920s and early 1930s, George Frost Kennan eventually became the American government's chief expert on Soviet affairs during the height of the Cold War. Drawing upon a wealth of original research, David Mayers' fascinating life of George Kennan examines his high-level participation in foreign policy-making and interprets his political and philosophical development within a historical framework. Mayers presents an engaging and lucid account of Kennan's training; his rise to prominence during the late 1940s and his policy failures; and his later roles as critic of America's external policy, advocate of détente with the Soviet Union, and proponent of nuclear arms limitation. Mayers also explores Kennan's complicated relationships with such important political figures and analysts as Dean Acheson, John Foster Dulles, and Walter Lippmann. |
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abroad according to Kennan Acheson administration allies ambassador American army atomic balance of power Bohlen bomb British Charles Bohlen China Chinese civil Cold Cold War communist continued country’s critics cultural Czech danger Davies defense democracy democratic Department diplomacy diplomatic domestic Eastern Europe economic embassy File 2-B forces Foreign Affairs foreign policy Foreign Service FRUS future George Kennan Germany Germany’s Ibid influence intellectual interests Japan Japanese Kennan believed Kennan Papers Korea late later Lippmann Marshall Plan Memoirs ment military moral Moscow National War College NATO Nazi never nuclear weapons official party peace Policy Planning Staff political position postwar Princeton problems Red Army regime Reith Lectures responsibility Roosevelt Russia SDPPSP secretary social society South Soviet Union Soviet-US relations Stalin Stevenson Third World tion Tito’s traditional Truman Truman Doctrine United University Press USSR Vietnam Washington Western York Yugoslav Yugoslavia
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Page 5 - Foreign politics demand scarcely any of those qualities which are peculiar to a democracy; they require, on the contrary, the perfect use of almost all those in which it is deficient.
Page 8 - Nothing is more dangerous in wartime than to live in the temperamental atmosphere of a Gallup poll, always feeling one's pulse and taking one's temperature.