Summary of George F. Kennan's American Diplomacy

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I would like to discuss the six lectures on foreign policy that I gave at Stanford University. The concept of these lectures stems from my preoccupation with the problems of foreign policy today.

#2 The Americans of 1898 had forgotten a great deal that had been known to their forefathers of a hundred years before. They had become so accustomed to their security that they had forgotten that it had any foundations outside their continent.

#3 The Spanish-American War was the result of a situation in Cuba. It was a tragic, hopeless situation that marked the decline of a colonial relationship. We have seen other such situations since, and some of them not so long ago.

#4 There had been some improvement in the two decades between 1875 and 1895. But in 1897, things went downhill again. The Spanish minister in Washington wrote an indiscreet letter in which he spoke slightingly of President McKinley, calling him a would-be politician. This letter leaked, and was published in the New York papers, causing much indignation and resentment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822512733

IRB Media

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Insights on George F. Kennan's American Diplomacy

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I would like to discuss the six lectures on foreign policy that I gave at Stanford University. The concept of these lectures stems from my preoccupation with the problems of foreign policy today.

#2

The Americans of 1898 had forgotten a great deal that had been known to their forefathers of a hundred years before. They had become so accustomed to their security that they had forgotten that it had any foundations outside their continent.

#3

The Spanish-American War was the result of a situation in Cuba. It was a tragic, hopeless situation that marked the decline of a colonial relationship. We have seen other such situations since, and some of them not so long ago.

#4

There had been some improvement in the two decades between 1875 and 1895. But in 1897, things went downhill again. The Spanish minister in Washington wrote an indiscreet letter in which he spoke slightingly of President McKinley, calling him a would-be politician. This letter leaked, and was published in the New York papers, causing much indignation and resentment.

#5

The Spanish government could not help its minister’s indiscretion, and it promptly removed him from his job. The American government, however, was not influenced by these last-minute concessions from the Spanish government.

#6

The Cuban War of Independence was the result of many factors, but most importantly, it was the result of American opinion, the state of American politics, and the warmongering of the American press.

#7

The American military operation in the Philippines in August 1898 was the most important and