USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
In a telegram during 1946, Secretary of State George Kennan said that “world communism is like a malignant parasite which feeds only on diseased tissue ____ Which question does this excerpt most help answer?

(A) ** what ideas contributed to the development of the U.S. containment policy

(B) how did the events of the Korean War reshape U.S. foreign policy

(C) why was the public so willling to support the claims of Joseph McCarthy

(D) what measures did the U.S. take to establish the Marshall Plan

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -George F. Kennan authored the concept of containment, according to which the United States should “contain” Soviet expansionism but should not use, or threaten to use, force to remove the communist regime. Kennan first raised the idea in what became known as “The Long Telegram, ” sent on February 22, 1946.

Concept note-2: -Key Points In the “Long Telegram, ” Kennan emphasized that the Soviet Union did not see the possibility for long-term peaceful coexistence with the capitalist world and that the best strategy was to “contain” communist expansion around the globe.

Concept note-3: -The United States, Kennan’s article implied, should face down the Soviet Union and its Communist allies whenever and wherever they posed a risk of gaining influence.

Concept note-4: -George Kennan, the American charge d’affaires in Moscow, sends an 8, 000-word telegram to the Department of State detailing his views on the Soviet Union, and U.S. policy toward the communist state. Kennan’s analysis provided one of the most influential underpinnings for America’s Cold War policy of containment.