Containment

Containment

Containment refers to the foreign policy strategy of the United States in the early years of the Cold War. The policy was first laid out in George F. Kennan's famous long telegram. It was then made public in 1947 in his anonymous Foreign Affairs article "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," better known as the X Article.

Kennan argued that the primary goal of the United States should be to prevent the spread of Communism to non-Communist nations, that is, to "contain" Communism within its borders. The Truman Doctrine aimed at this goal, and containment was one of its key principles. This lead to American support for regimes around the world to block the spread of communism.

After the disaster of the Vietnam War Kennan asserted that his ideas had been misinterpreted, and that he never advocated military intervention, merely economic support.