Editing X Article (section)

==Impact of the ''Foreign Affairs'' article==

===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>

===Walter Lippmann's critique===
Political commentator [[Walter Lippmann]] responded to the article,{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=25}} published in the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' across fourteen different columns, the first which appeared on September 2, 1947.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=273}} Lippmann's analysis was widely read and collected in his 1947 book, ''The Cold War''.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=273}}{{refn|group=note|Lippmann's book was one of the first times that the term "[[Cold war (term)|cold war]]" was applied to the [[Cold War|geopolitical conflict]].{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=273}} Refer to {{harvnb|Lippmann|1947}}.}} Lippmann critiqued the article as having presented a "strategic monstrosity", providing the Soviets with the initiative in any conflict, resulting in the United States depending on "a coalition of disorganized, disunited, feeble or disorderly nations, tribes and factions."{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=273}}

Lippmann incorrectly concluded that Kennan's article had inspired the Truman Doctrine, which Lippmann opposed.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|pp=273–274}} Kennan's article was completed in late January 1947 and Truman announced his Doctrine in a March 12, 1947 speech. Despite this chronology, Gaddis writes: "there is no evidence that it influenced the drafting of that address and abundant evidence that Kennan had sought to remove the language in it to which Lippmann later objected."{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=273}} For Lippmann, however, the piece was "not only an analytical interpretation of the sources of Soviet conduct. It is also a document of primary importance on the sources of American foreign policy – of at least that part of it which is known as the Truman Doctrine."{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=273}}

Because of the rushed nature in which Kennan had written the article, he regretted some views expressed within and agreed with some of Lippmann's critiques.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=25}} Though Kennan did not send the final draft of the piece until 11 April – a month after the announcement of the Truman Doctrine – he did not revise it, despite having disagreements with sections of the Doctrine.{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|pp=273–274}} Kennan's position in the State Department made him hesitant to offer any public clarification,{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=275}} and he would not respond until the publication of the first volume of his memoirs in 1967.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=25}}

===Long term===
"The Sources of Soviet Conduct" widely introduced the term "containment".{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|pp=24–25}} Reflecting on the article in his 1979 memoir, [[Henry Kissinger]] writes, "George Kennan came as close to authoring the diplomatic doctrine of his era as any diplomat in our history."<ref name="Kissinger 1979 135"/> Gaddis writes that Kennan's silence in the face of Lippmann's critiques resulted in the idea of containment becoming "synonymous, in the minds of most people who knew the phrase, with Truman's doctrine".{{sfn|Gaddis|2011|p=275}} Gaddis further writes that some have misinterpreted Kennan's views by placing undue emphasis on the "conspicuous but misleading 'X' article".{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=53}}{{refn|group=note|As examples, Gaddis points to {{harvnb|Wright|1976}}, {{harvnb|Mark|1978}} and {{harvnb|Halle|1967|pp=106–108}}.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|pp=53, 404n2}}}}

In the article, Kennan uses the term "counterforce" rather than "counter-pressure" and does not explain its meaning, something he admitted in his memoirs led to confusion for readers.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=48n}} Kennan reassessed his views on perimeter defense after the article was published, instead shifting to the idea of "strongpoint defense", in which defense was instead focused on particular areas.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005a|p=57}}

Kennan recalled in his memoirs that his "entire diplomatic experience took place in rather high northern latitudes".<ref>{{harvnb|Kennan|1983|p=181}}, quoted in {{harvnb|Borstelmann|2005|p=321}}.</ref> [[Thomas Borstelmann]] writes that Kennan's few experiences outside of Europe contributed to his detestation of the people of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America: "He tended to lump them together as impulsive, fanatical, ignorant, lazy, unhappy, and prone to mental disorders and other biological deficiencies."{{sfn|Borstelmann|2005|p=321}} In the first of his memoirs, published in 1967, Kennan links Soviet despotism to its leaders "attitude of Oriental secretiveness and conspiracy".<ref>{{harvnb|Kennan|1983|p=551}}, quoted in {{harvnb|Borstelmann|2005|p=321}}.</ref> In a 1942 lecture, he explained that the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 revealed the Russians were not "westernized" but instead "17th century semi-Asiatic people".{{sfn|Borstelmann|2005|p=321}} Borstelmann further writes that Kennan's perspectives on race were not unique to him but were instead common in his contemporary American policymaking circles.{{sfn|Borstelmann|2005|p=321}}