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Tuesday, December 31, 2024 Text is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

George F. Kennan

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I said that wherever these people, meaning the Soviet leadership, confronted us with dangerous hostility anywhere in the world, we should do everything possible to contain it and not let them expand any further. I should have explained that I didn't suspect them of any desire to launch an attack on us. This was right after the war, and it was absurd to suppose that they were going to turn around and attack the United States. I didn't think I needed to explain that, but I obviously should have done it.
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Interview on Online NewsHour : "George Kennan" (PBS) (18 April 1996)

 
George F. Kennan

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