Evening star., 1951-12-28
Mr.. X Goes to Moscow

The Soviet press has been hammerng away
at George F. Kennan as the villainous "Mr. X"
who in 1947 wrote the highly significant article
defining the policy of "containment" to stop Red
aggression. But the Stain government never
theless has formally agreed to accept him as the
next American Ambassador to Moscow. The
agreement, despite the prior indications of a
possible rejection, is not really surprising The
Krenlln, after all, has good reason to respect
this man. 1t has reason, too to feel more or less
complimented by the fact that diplomat of
such stature has been chosen for the post
For Ambassador designate Kennan-who will
succeed the able and hard-working Admiral Kirk
has long been recognized, although he is only
At years DID, as one of the most brilliant and most
level-headed of the State Departments top
echelon authorities. Now ending an extended
leave OF absence from the department. where he
has served for quarter of century, he prob
ably has no peer in the United States in terms
of knowing the Soviet Union-the country's
history, its language, its psychology its good
points, its bad points, the nature of its hetero-
geneous population, and the immediate and
long-range objectives of the men of the Kremlin.
It is because of the depth OF this knowledge
and an exceptional ability to articulate it and
translate it into active policy-that Mr. Kennan
has played role of prime Importance in Soviet
American relations. The military "containment"
program Is only one of the things he considers
indispensable in the present state of the world;
1t Is not enough in itself. What is imperative, in
addition. Is that the United States carry on its
diplomacy In as an enlightened and realistic a
manner as possible, guarding against a tradi-
tional tendency to take what he has described
as an excessively legalistic- -moralistic approach
to international problems. Such an approach, in
his opinion can do great deal of harm If it
ignores the hard facts of life and blocks peace
promoting compromises by too-rigid insistence
on principles that may be fundamental in our
own country but strange and unacceptable else
where.
In this connection, now that Mr.. Kennan is
to go to Moscow, his article on America and the
Russian Future"-which appeared in last Aprils
issue of Foreign Affairs makes pertinent read
ing Undoubtedly, like the earlier one on "con-
tainment," 1t has been studied very carefully in
the Krenllin, and a lot OF people here in this
country ought to give it close look too. For
Mr.. Kennan, although he does not wear rose
colored glasses is sufficiently optimistic in 1t to
feel that war with the Soviet Union--which he
labels "the shabby purgatory of the police state"
can be averted through hard-headed diplomacy
and that we may hope for changes over there
leading eventually to genuinely peaceful under
standing between East and West.
But he has warned the American people
against impatience and against ever expecting to
see "capitaistic and liberal democratic" Russia
closely resembling the United States Such a
transformation, for numerous reasons, must be
regarded as the most remote kind of possibility.
What is much more possible In his view, what
we may all hope for is that the Kremlin-re-
spending to various pressures at home and
abroad-will in time, step by step, relax its
domestic tyranny, abandon its policy of external
suhversion and aggression, end its propaganda of
lies, eliminate the Iron Curtain and start CO.
operating with the rest of the world. Those are
very great changes to contemplate, and Mr..
Kennan, as ambassador, can be counted upon to
work diligently for at least little progress
toward them.