Featuring the editor Frank Costigliola, Professor of History, University of Connecticut; moderated by Justin Logan, Director of Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute.
George F. Kennan was the eminent U.S. foreign policy strategist of
the 20th century. Kennan was the author of the famous “X” telegram,
which outlined a policy of containment for dealing with the Soviet
Union. Although once the Director of Policy Planning at the State
Department, Kennan would renounce the way his doctrine was applied,
critiquing the Washington foreign policy establishment for its
militarism and recklessness. Why did Kennan grow estranged from the
foreign policy establishment? Why did his views diverge so widely
from what would become the conventional wisdom? What would he say
about the Obama administration’s foreign policy? Please join us for
a discussion of what Kennan’s views tell us about the man and the
Washington policy world.
