WASHINGTON - George Kennan, the key architect of the US policy of containment of the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, has died at the age of 101, US media reported Friday.
The veteran diplomat and Pulitzer prize-winning author died late Thursday in Princeton, New Jersey, according to the reports.
"There is no figure in the history of 20th century foreign policy who contributed so much over so many decades, in so many ways," said Gideon Rose, managing editor of Foreign Affairs magazine.
While Kennan left the foreign service more than half a century ago, his mark on global affairs was immense. In 1947 he wrote a celebrated article in Foreign Affairs, signing it "X", which formed the basis of US foreign policy for decades.
"It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies," he wrote.
At the same time, he stressed that Washington should avoid bluster and exertions of toughness. Dealing with Moscow requires that the government "should remain at all times cool and collected and that its demands on Russian policy should be put forward in such a manner as to leave the way open for a compliance not too detrimental to Russian prestige."
Rose called it the "single most celebrated piece" ever published in the highly influential journal.
Kennan's proposal became the foundation of the Cold War, which governed relations between the United States and the Soviet Union until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The policy resulted in both the creation of the NATO alliance in 1949 and the Vietnam War of the 1960s.
A diplomat who served in embassies across Europe before World War II, Kennan helped launch the post-war Marshall Plan for Europe's reconstruction.
He also assisted the creation of the Office of Strategic Services, the CIA's predecessor.
But his influence was diminished in 1949 with the appointment of Dean Acheson as secretary of state, who took a more aggressive stance towards Moscow.
In 1952 Kennan was made ambassador to the Soviet Union, but within months Russian leader Joseph Stalin declared him "persona non grata" for criticisms he made of Moscow's policies.
Afterwards Kennan broke with the US foreign policy establishment over Washington's aggressive stance and the arms race with Russia.
"He felt bitter about the militarization of containment", said Rose.
He spent the rest of his active years at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, writing and lecturing, meanwhile serving as ambassador to Yugoslavia during 1961-1963.
Among some 20 books he authored were a history of US-Soviet relations in 1956 and his memoirs in 1967, both of which won the Pulitzer Prize.
He later said that the government misunderstood the key points of the "X" article, assuming the Soviets remained a military threat to the United States when, he said, they were too exhausted by World War II to attack the United States.
"I should have explained that I didn't suspect them of any desire to launch an attack on us," he said in a 1996 television interview.
He blamed the overly aggressive containment stance for the Korean and Vietnam wars, and argued in the 1960s that the United States had no strategic interest in Vietnam.
03/18/2005 18:40 GMT