The best thing we can do if we want the Russians to let us be Americans is to let the Russians be Russian.
George F. KennanRead
It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of a steady and watchful approach in dealing with aggressive policies of the Soviet Union.
George F. Kennan suggests that U.S. policy towards the Soviet Union should prioritize a long-term strategy of containment to manage and limit Soviet expansionist ambitions. This approach requires patience, firmness, and continual vigilance to effectively counteract the Soviet threat without direct confrontation.
Themes
ContainmentPolicySoviet UnionStrategyVigilance
In practice
Example use cases
A political analyst might use this quote in a discussion about U.S. foreign policy.
More from George F. Kennan
All quotes →We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better.
George F. KennanRead
It is an undeniable privilege of every man to prove himself right in the thesis that the world is his enemy; for if he reiterates it frequently enough and makes it the background of his conduct he is bound eventually to be right.
George F. KennanRead
Actually, the inability of any society to resist immigration, the inability to find other solutions to the problem of employment at the lower, more physical, and menial levels of the economic process, is a serious weakness, and possibly even a fatal one, in any national society. The fully healthy society would find ways to meet those needs out of its own resources.
George F. KennanRead
One sometimes feels a guest of one's time and not a member of its household.
George F. KennanRead
The accords were fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalinist dictatorship.
George F. KennanRead
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