Awards & Winners

George F. Kennan

Date of Birth 16-February-1904
Place of Birth Milwaukee
(Wisconsin, United States of America, Area code 414)
Nationality United States of America
Also know as The Father of "Containment", George Frost Kennan, George Kennan
Profession Historian, Political scientist, Politician, Diplomat, Writer, Biographer
Quotes
  • 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 Frost Kennan was an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist, and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War. He later wrote standard histories of the relations between Soviet Union and the Western powers. He was also a core member of the group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men". In the late 1940s, his writings inspired the Truman Doctrine and the U.S. foreign policy of "containing" the Soviet Union, thrusting him into a lifelong role as a leading authority on the Cold War. His "Long Telegram" from Moscow in 1946 and the subsequent 1947 article "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" argued that the Soviet regime was inherently expansionist and that its influence had to be "contained" in areas of vital strategic importance to the United States. These texts quickly emerged as foundation texts of the Cold War, expressing the Truman administration's new anti-Soviet Union policy. Kennan also played a leading role in the development of definitive Cold War programs and institutions, notably the Marshall Plan. Soon after his concepts had become U.S. policy, Kennan began to criticize the foreign policies that he had seemingly helped launch. Subsequently, prior to the end of 1948, Kennan was confident the state of affairs in Western Europe had developed to the point where positive dialogue could commence with the Soviet Union. His proposals were discounted by the Truman administration and Kennan's influence was marginalized, particularly after Dean Acheson was appointed secretary of state in 1949. Soon thereafter, U.S. Cold War strategy assumed a more assertive and militaristic quality, causing Kennan to lament over what he believed was as an aberration of his previous assessments.

Awards by George F. Kennan

Check all the awards nominated and won by George F. Kennan.

1994


Ambassador Book Award for American Studies
Honored for : Around the Cragged Hill: A Personal and Political Philosophy

1983


Nominations 1983 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
National Book Award for General Nonfiction (Hardcover) The Nuclear Delusion: Soviet-American Relations in the Atomic Age

1980


Nominations 1980 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
National Book Award for History (Hardcover) The Decline of Bismarck's European Order

1973


Nominations 1973 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
National Book Award for Biography Memoirs, 1950-1963

1968


National Book Award for History and Biography (Nonfiction)
Honored for : Memoirs, 1925-1950
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
Honored for : Memoirs, 1925-1950

Nominations 1968 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
National Book Award for History and Biography (Nonfiction) Memoirs, 1925-1950

1959


Nominations 1959 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
National Book Award for Nonfiction Russia, the Atom, and the West

1957


Bancroft Prize
Honored for : Russia Leaves the War
National Book Award for Nonfiction
Honored for : Russia Leaves the War
Pulitzer Prize for History
Honored for : Russia Leaves the War

Nominations 1957 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
National Book Award for Nonfiction Russia Leaves the War