Kennan's Telegram Analysis

George Kennan’s long telegram was sent from Moscow to Washington containing information about Soviet Union. While observing the way in which the Soviet Union functioned and the beliefs they held true about their own societies structure, Kennan provided information in regards to the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. The primary theme of the document is underlining the differences of ideals between the United States and the Soviet Union. The primary ideal between the Soviet Union and the United States that Kennan focused on was communism and capitalism. Kennan argues that communism and capitalism can never achieve a sense of a harmonious relationship between the two. Communism and capitalism would always conflict with
Kennan’s believed that the conflict between capitalism and communism was only a matter of time, therefore he believed that America should prepare with the policy of containment. The policy of containment is an attempt to prevent the spread of communism throughout the world to maintain the capitalist system. Kennan’s telegram helped form future policies regarding how the United States would combat the spread of global communism. Kennan’s telegram was also accurate in the understanding of the relation between communism and capitalism. Kennan understood that because of differences in regards to social systems, the United States and the Soviet Union could not have a peaceful coexistent relationship. The alliance which helped bring an end to World War II would eventually come into conflict. Evidence used to support Kennan’s claims of the impending conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was speeches by influential people, such as Vladimir Putin. Putin himself had voiced concern about the potential conflict between the capitalist and communist way. With neither leader’s willing to give up the power of their social system, a conflict was
Obviously, Kennan was in support for a global capitalist system, rather than a communist system. Kennan claimed that even though capitalism was indeed not a perfect system, he claimed that the communism system was built unstable and would be unable to maintain itself as a primary system. The unstable nature of the communist system meant in the opinion of Kennan, that it would ultimately fail. Kennan believed that capitalism was the superior social system, and to maintain the wellbeing of the capitalist way of life, policies must be produced to protect it. In conclusion, Kennan understood that the alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union could not last. Capitalism and communism could not exist together, meaning that to maintain the power of a social system, there would be conflict between these powers. Kennan put forth his ideas about how to supress communism to maintain the capitalist way of life, which would eventfully be used to create US foreign