Kennan, who served as the deputy head of mission in Moscow- Russia, felt frustrated with Truman and Washington policymakers after his attempts to persuade them to abandon the cooperation with the Soviet Union. He felt the need to create a federation to counter the Soviet influence in Europe to split it into Eastern & Western Europe which would be against the Soviet’s East. The Treasury department requested an explanation about the behaviors of the Soviet by declination to back the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. On Feb 22nd, 1946, he responded by writing a 5500-word telegram known as “The Long Telegram” to James Byrnes; the State Secretary highlighting the strategic relations with the Soviet Union (George, 25). The telegram stated that Joseph Stalin’s regime needed a hostile reaction in order to end his rule. The Marxist’s and Leninist’s ideologies for the Soviet Union fear from the outside world from the Stalin’s dictatorship would be cruel and as a result, they feared to thrust forcefully, they felt the need to sacrifice their demand.
Kennan raised this solution and strategies to unite the Western bloc in readiness to await the collapse of the Soviet regime. His new policy in the “X” article was that the pressure from the Soviet Union had to be put on hold to avoid much resistance and hostile counterattack which would lead into conflict (Fakiolas, pg 213). Terms to shift the geographical and political boundaries were to be applied in a systematic series. However, this article was not implemented until; Kennan was helped to get back to Washington where he became the deputy to foreign affairs in the National war college where he was able to implement his idea by publishing the “X” article. His policy was advocating for the withdrawal of the States from Europe. This would hence assure them enough regime formation to face the Soviet. This would end the Stalin’s regime.
In 1947, Truman appeared before the Congress requesting funding of his policy; the Truman Doctrine in order to fight the Greece communist ideology. This way the groups resisting conquest from the military would be freed. This meant that the U.S would fund economic and military assistance to the civilians facing internal subjugation. The Doctrine underpinned the Cold War.
In 1948, the US government started pulling out its troops from the South Peninsula despite it backing up the ideology and government of Syngman Rhee. By 1950, the US through its secretary stated that the Korean Peninsula was outside its defense perimeter. Thus it found no need to intervene in any war from the communist, North Korea. The idea of the US getting involved in the War created a tension equated to the politics of Cold War. Simultaneously, two events happened before the North Korean invasion making Truman uneasy – the atomic bomb explosion by the Soviet Union which ended the monopolistic weapon of the US and Soviet intervention in Turkey and Greece giving birth to the Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine. This fueled the need to ward off the communist ideology (Kim, 415).
Truman initiated the Soviet and American analysis of the military by the National Security Council in 1950. The NSC made a significant declaration to increase military funding to maintain the Soviet nations. Nevertheless, Truman administration faced rapid and continuous criticism from the Republicans for failure. Truman found himself responsible for the fall of the communist era. He was criticized and pressurized internally and externally on being hard on communism. When the Northern troops attacked the South, Truman had no authority to defend the capitalist government from the invasion from the communism troops (Kim, pg 423).
Truman administration defended the foreign nation with the over-determination not to lose another country to communism. His reaction arose from the internal pressure. The invasion of the southern bloc by the North Communist made Truman develop a fear that China and the Soviet Union had the intentions to expand their ideology of communism all over Asia (Kim, 2010).
- Fakiolas, E. T. (2017). Kennan’s Long Telegram and NSC-68: A Comparative Theoretical Analysis.. East European Quarterly, 31(4), 415-423
- George F. “The Long Telegram.” February 22, 1946. Kennan. Retrieved 01-22-2010 , 24-27
- Kim (2010). Anglo-American Relations and the Attempts to Settle the Korean Question 1953–1960 p. 213.
