{"id":102,"date":"2024-01-19T21:14:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T21:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/?page_id=102"},"modified":"2024-02-20T13:52:34","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T13:52:34","slug":"symmetry-and-asymmetry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/course-syllabus\/symmetry-and-asymmetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Symmetry and Asymmetry"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<h2>Why did George Kennan have doubts about the Truman administration&#8217;s containment policies?<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Fundamental to this approach was the notion of asymmetrical response &#8211;of applying one&#8217;s own strengths against adversary weaknesses, rather than attempting to match the adversary in all of his capabilities.&#8221; &#8211;Gaddis, p. 60<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Kennan&#8217;s Containment Goals<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Restore balance of power (political \/ economic aid)<\/li>\n<li>Exploit tensions within global communism (overt \/ covert)<\/li>\n<li>Modify Soviet behavior over time (counter-pressure)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>It is very simple to deal with an enemy, simpler than dealing with a friend.&#8221; &#8211;Kennan quoted in Gaddis, 72<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Truman&#8217;s Containment Policies<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Occupation as rehabilitation in Germany &amp; Japan<\/li>\n<li>Truman Doctrine in Greece and Turkey (and beyond?)<\/li>\n<li>Marshall Plan and economic recovery in Western Europe<\/li>\n<li>Berlin Airlift<\/li>\n<li>NATO alliance<\/li>\n<li>Atomic supremacy (hydrogen fusion bomb)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>There was in the administration&#8217;s emphasis on capabilities at the expense of intentions a tendency to equate the importance of information with the ease of measuring it &#8211;an approach better suited to physics than to international relations. &#8211;Gaddis, p. 82<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Early containment vocabulary<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Asymmetrical response<\/li>\n<li>Fall of China<\/li>\n<li>Heartlands and rimlands<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1945-1952\/national-security-act\">National Security Act (1947)<\/a> &#8211;CIA, DoD, NSC<\/li>\n<li>Spheres of influence<\/li>\n<li>Strongpoint defense vs. perimeter defense<\/li>\n<li>Titoism<\/li>\n<li>Totalitarianism<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Featured Student Work<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/henrywallace.weebly.com\/\">See Charlotte Goodman&#8217;s work on Henry Wallace<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/georgekennanprofile.weebly.com\/\">See Jack Kimbrell&#8217;s website on Kennan&#8217;s &#8220;fall&#8221; in 1949<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why did George Kennan have doubts about the Truman administration&#8217;s containment policies? &nbsp; Fundamental to this approach was the notion of asymmetrical response &#8211;of applying one&#8217;s own strengths against adversary weaknesses, rather than attempting to match the adversary in all of his capabilities.&#8221; &#8211;Gaddis, p. 60 Kennan&#8217;s Containment Goals Restore balance of power (political \/ [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-102","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/102\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-coldwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}