George Kennan

In 1946, writing from Moscow, Kennan sent the "long telegram" to Washington, D.C. The telegram interpreted the Soviet Union's foreign policy as expansionist and rooted in a traditional Russian sense of insecurity and the need to oppress its population. The long telegram influenced the belief that the Soviet Union's foreign policy was not driven by rational grievances. Consequently, no concessions, but only a strategy of containment could guide the US' foreign policy towards the Soviet Union.