Book Forum 

# *The Kennan Diaries*

(W. W. Norton & Company, 2014)

##### Watch the Event 

Download:

[ 

Video 

](https://house-fastly-unsigned-us-east-1-prod.brightcovecdn.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6039378657001/4c493abe-077d-4a29-8dac-bf9a4a045023/63b9172d-b7af-4d1e-b79d-96e1e5529718/main.mp4) 

[ 

Video 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2014/cbf-07-09-14.mp4) 

[ 

Audio 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2014/cbfa-07-09-14.mp3) 

Join the conversation on X using [\#CatoEvents](https://x.com/hashtag/CatoEvents). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.

Date and Time 

July 9, 2014 12 - 1:40 PM EDT 

Location 

Hayek Auditorium 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

Featuring the editor **Frank Costigliola**, Professor of History, University of Connecticut; moderated by **Justin Logan**, Director of Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute. 

[[![Media Name: keenan-diaries-cover.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/optimized/public/images/keenan-diaries-cover.jpg?itok=SowYreqs)](/sites/cato.org/files/images/keenan-diaries-cover.jpg)](http://www.amazon.com/The-Kennan-Diaries-George-F/dp/0393073270/?tag=catoinstitute-20)

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.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).