Dr. Frank Costigliola
Dr. Frank Costigliola is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. His most recent book is, “Kennan: A Life Between Worlds.” Although the 1940s were a period of optimism due to the end of WW2, creation of the United Nations and a commitment to re-building Europe and key Asian countries, storm clouds were looming with the advent of the Cold War. Kennan offered a third way to “contain” the former USSR. His "Long Telegram" to the State Department in 1946 and his article under the pseudonym "X," which was published in "Foreign Affairs" in 1947 laid out his “containment” approach. Kennan was opposed to the wars in Vietnam and Iraq and NATO expansion because they were counterproductive to American interests. Another ally over the years has been the United Nations by defusing tensions such as during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
