The U.S. Foreign Policy during the Cold War Essay Example for Free

The U.S. Foreign Policy during the Cold War EssayIt is true that foreign strategy of the United States during the Cold War (1947-1989) is called containment. This policy roll in the hay be described as the efforts to stop global governmental movement toward communist and socialist political orientation (the ideology of the Soviet Union) and promote political popularity of participatory ideas dominating in Europe and the United States. That is how it was supposed to create a certain political isolation of the Soviet Union, which would sooner or later learn to a number of various problems, such as political decadence, economic stagnation and so on. In other words, containment was a policy enjoin on gradual weakening and declining the power of the Soviet Union by preventing the expansion of communist beliefs around the world and defending the ideas of democracy and opened economy. The strategy of containment was created and proposed by George Frost Kennan, an American politici an and diplomat, known as the father of containment, who worked in 1944-1946 as a head of American mission to the Soviet Union and was an first-class specialist in understanding the relations between Washington and Moscow.Having sent his historical long telegram Kennan warned the administration of Truman about possible dangers of messing with Soviet political powers. Besides, later on he publicized his ideas about the necessity to follow the policy of containment in Foreign Affairs magazine, where he stated the main grammatical constituent of any(prenominal) United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies and ideologytaught them Soviets that it was their duty eventually to overthrow the political forces beyond their borders. (U. S. Department of State, n. d. ). Kennan also argued that Soviet Russia was an antagonistic and closed-minded society, driven by a great irresistible impu lse to dominate combined with a huge political insecurity. That is why, he thought, only a determined and resolute reaction of the United States would be the best resultant to frustrate the ambitions of Soviet authorities and eventually bring the power of American ideological ally to a standstill.These ideas of Kennan received a lot of warm reinforcing stimulus in American administrative circles and became the main postulates of famous Marshall Plan on reformation. Therefore, Kennans call for containment had a tremendous impact on American policy-makers and inspired the hardheaded power politics that shaped the Cold War (Holbrook, 2005). The controversy of this policy arose around the issue of the limits of containment, because it was crucial not to lose the date of the situation and peripheral interests of the U. S.That is why in 1950 a detailed plan, stipulating the stages and activities of the United States in the framework of the Cold War was issued by National Security Counc il as a document called NSC-68. Anyway, the strategy of containment was a great success in the long run, and it became one of the most far- pictureing and prudential political moves in modern history, because any aggression from one of the sides in this peaceful competition called the Cold War would spark a serious conflict and possibly bring to global cover outcomes. George F.Kennan himself in his interview to CNN analysts commented on the effectiveness of the containment policy as the following the alternative was to have a great military conflagration and I could see no good coming out of this (CNN, n. d. ) Certainly, not every American politician was supporting the policy of containment and there were some, who insisted on more determined activities of the U. S. directed against communist ideology expansion. In particular, John Foster Dulles, the 52nd Secretary of the State, was promoting the ideas of liberation of Western European countries.Nevertheless, the strategy of contai nment which .. helped to define the issues and values dividing America and Russia, was a well-considered political step, which eventually contributed to collapse of communist ideology in Western Europe (UXL Encyclopedia, 2005).References Cornwell, R. (2005, March 19) Obituary George Kennan. The Independent. 58 (893), 6. George F. Kennan. (2005). UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. 1. Farmington Hills, MI UXL (Gale). George F. Kennan, U. S. Embassy, Moscow. (n. d. ). CNN.A CNN Perspectives Series. Retrieved declination 19, 2007, from http//www. cnn. com/SPECIALS/cold. war/episodes/01/interviews/kennan/. Holbrooke, R. (2005, March 21). The Paradox of George F. Kennan. The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved December 19, 2007, from the World Wide weathervane http//www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/articles/A52533-2005Mar20. html. Kennan and Containment. (n. d. ). U. S. Department of State. Retrieved December 19, 2007, from the World Wide Web http//www. state. g ov/r/pa/ho/time/cwr/17601. htm.