Editing X Article (section)

===Immediate===
Armstrong wrote to Kennan in May 1947:{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|pp=261, 720n25}} "It's a pleasure for an editor to deal with something that needs practically no revision.{{nbsp}}... I only wish for your sake as well as for ours that it could carry your name."{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=261}} The long delay between its writing and publication – some five months – meant the piece did not discuss either of the recent communist uprisings in [[Greece]] and [[Turkey]], nor did it mention the [[Truman Doctrine]].{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=261}} The piece was due for inclusion in ''Foreign Affairs''{{'}} next issue, July 1947.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|pp=261, 271}}{{refn|group=note|The July 1947 issue first became available in late June.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=271}}}} With a little over 19,000 subscribers and an expensive cover price for the time of $1.25 ({{Inflation|US|1.25|1947|fmt=eq}}), the magazine did not circulate widely. The July issue did not deviate from regular buying trends, until journalist [[Arthur Krock]] drew attention to the "X" article in an ''[[The New York Times]]'' column of July 8.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=271}} Krock suggested that the main thrust of "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" was "exactly that adopted by the American government after appeasement of the Kremlin proved a failure",<ref name="KqG">{{harvnb|Krock|1947}}, quoted in {{harvnb|Gaddis|2011|p=271}}.</ref> and wrote that the piece's author had clearly studied the Soviet Union "at the closest range possible for a foreigner".<ref name="KqG"/> Krock concludes that the author's views "closely resemble those marked 'Top Secret' in several official files in Washington."<ref name="KqG"/>

Krock's column resulted in a rush for copies of ''Foreign Affairs''.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=271}} He had not identified Kennan as "X" in his column,{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=271}} but proved responsible for revealing Kennan's identity;{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=25}} Forrestal had let Krock see the draft copy sent to ''Foreign Affairs'' which still contained Kennan's name at its end.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=271}} Other diplomats suspected Kennan's authorship due to the piece's distinct prose as well as the quoting of Edward Gibbon.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|pp=271–272}} As the rumor spread, the State Department offered no comment. The ''[[Daily Worker]]'', the newspaper of the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party of the United States]], broke the story on Kennan's identity, with a headline on July 9 that read: {{"'}}X' Bared as State Dep't Aid {{sic}}: Calls for Overthrow of Soviet Government".{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=272}}

Kennan's role in the State Department lent the article the authority of an official policy declaration.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=25}} Though he had not intended the article to be a comprehensive statement on American foreign policy,{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=25}} a piece in the 21 July issue of ''[[Newsweek]]'' explained that the "X" article provided a rationale for both the Truman Doctrine and the [[Marshall Plan]] and "[charted] the course that this country is likely to pursue for years to come."{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|pp=272, 721n47}} Marshall, concerned by the amount of attention both Kennan and the article were drawing, spoke with Kennan in a private meeting.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=272}} Kennan's explanation that the article had been "cleared for publication by the competent official committee" satisfied Marshall, "[b]ut it was long, I suspect, before he recovered from his astonishment over the strange ways of the department he now headed."<ref>{{harvnb|Kennan|1983}}, quoted in {{harvnb|Gaddis|2011|p=272}}.</ref>