- Containment
- The term “containment” was coined by George F. Kennan in his “long telegram” in 1946 and in his article written under the name “X” in Foreign Affairs in July1947 to describe his recommended response to real or perceived expansion by the Soviet Union. The policy implicitly accepted the presence of Soviet forces in the areas of Eastern Europe occupied after pushing back and defeating the German armies but outlined a constant policy of resistance, primarily by economic means, to any further spread of communist influence. If contained in this fashion, Kennan believed that the Soviet Union would collapse due to internal forces.Kennan’s ideas were largely accepted by President Truman in his speech to Congress in March 1947 asking for aid for Greece and Turkey, in which the president enunciated what became known as the Truman Doctrine. This was followed in 1948 by the Marshall Plan providing economic assistance for Western Europe. However, containment took on a more military aspect as a result of the Berlin blockade in 1949 and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. After the fall of China in 1949, the policy extended to Asia and the development of a series of regional alliances (the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization in 1954 and the Central Treaty Organization in 1959), but it led to U.S. involvement in war after the North Korean invasion of South Korea in 1950, and ultimately it can be argued that it saw the growing commitment to resist communism in Vietnam that led to greater conflict in the 1960s.
Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt–Truman Era . Neil A. Wynn . 2015.
