The Mayor must read about political history to stay on top of the administration of our mountain hamlet. Although the career of George F. Kennan spanned the globe, his life focused on the Cold War, Russia, and the United States as it rose to the pinnacle of power in the aftermath of WWII.
His biographer had a significant challenge: how does one write the biography of a living person who wants to retain control over his life's work; how to respond to requests for access to this personal information husbanded by the individual; how does a biographer deal with an assignment that lasts beyond any reasonable time frame-when dealing with a subject on his way to becoming a centenarian.
John Lewis Gaddis, professor of history at Yale University, took up the task decades ago, with the agreement of Mr. Kennan. Little did they both know that Mr. Kennan would not only live beyond 100 years, but do so in good health, mentally and physically! So, it came down to wrestling with issues absent from most other biographical studies: as the political landscape changed world wide, new insights into the pertinent thoughts and actions of the subject required discussion, comment, revision, and interpretation of past actions.
Born in 1904, Mr. Kennan came of age when America was maturing, internationally. Participation in World War I placed America on the Continent for the first time(in significant numbers of armed troops). The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia marked the political transformation of a former kingdom to a new dictatorial regime. America now had to decide how to deal with the new political reality. Where would the expertise come from? Who would fill the the many roles required: ambassadors, attaches, ministers, messengers, interpreters, and analysts? Who could analyze information(intelligence) with thoughtful and meaningful acuity?
In the late 1890's, it was the grand uncle of George F. Kennan, George Kennan, who traveled far and wide across Russia, observing and studying the Russian peoples found across this broad, endless, forbidding landscape. His uncle wrote and spoke of what he had gathered, earning the respect not only of Americans, but of the Russians themselves.
Growing up in Wisconsin, George learned German, and at boarding school, learned Latin and an appreciation for Greek. This early facility in languages would be the springboard for his career in the Foreign Service. He applied to Princeton and was accepted in 1921, barely 17 years old. His 4 years at the Ivy League bastion were not the most precious of his life, despite the fact that he returned later and stayed for almost 50 years. The new Foreign Service, created in 1924, would be Kennan's employer in his early career. Postings in Europe introduced him to life abroad as a paid professional representing the United States. His ease of adjusting to cultural differences and his interest in the culture, history, and language of his hosts meshed with his growing estrangement with America:he felt more comfortable among "foreigners" than his own people.
Before long, he was sent to Russian as an assistant to the new ambassador. This was a great leap forward for a young professional. It would also begin his life's work as a student/historian/ interpreter of things Russian. He would become in about 12 years, the author of the historical analysis of post WWII Russia and its ruthless leader, Stalin, that would frame the Cold War for America for the next 40 years.
The biographer, John Gaddis, gained much insight to Kennan's thoughts by getting to know him over many years, and searching his personal life for clues into his thoughts, decisions, and all the factors included in a life worth living. Kennan was a complex individual, morally conflicted on a personal level; morally steadfast on a world scale; and changeable in philosophy and position as he matured, aged, and experienced the life of an international scholar. Kennan was also a gifted speaker, able to express ideas and opinions in a manor that held crowds spellbound for hours. Copies of his lectures and speeches achieved wide circulation, and some were bound together and sold in book form.
He raised a family and they often traveled with him to his many assignments. His wife, Annalise, was Norwegian, also a linguist, and she met George in Berlin, where she studied German. They married when she was but 21. They were married for over 70 years. Not bad for two dissimilar personalities.
Kennan advised presidents, was like by most, and respected by all he encountered. JFK thought much of him, and called on him often. Kennan and Johnson saw little of each other, and Kennan loathed the tall Texan with the Southerner's informal methods and roughshod political style. His biography is a study of a life that in its day, affected millions of Americans, and probably as many Germans, Russians, Norwegians, and satellite states in Eastern Europe.
It is a life worth reading about.
This book receives the mayor's FIVE STARS *****!
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