# Walter Lippman's Critique of The Containment Policy Walter Lippman issued a critique of George Kennan's [[Sources of Soviet Conduct|Containment Policy]] based on his interpretation that Kennan was calling for military containment and in fact a great debate exists on whether Kennan meant the containment to be of a political or military nature.[^1] The critique was published in 1947 under the title [*The Cold War*](http://www.learner.org/workshops/primarysources/coldwar/docs/lippman.html.), retrieved in February 2009. Full text: [[The Cold War by Walter Lippman, 1947.pdf]] Lippman objected to any military containment because he believed that any such policy would result in a misuse of American power, which will eventually cause the United States to neglect and alienate allies for several reasons. One being the prospect of war, another them becoming vassals of the United States. > The prospect of war, which could break out by design or accident, by miscalculation or provocation, if at any of these constantly shifting geographical and political points the Russians or Americans became so deeply engaged that no retreat or compromise was possible. In this war their lands would be the battlefield. Their peoples would be divided by civil conflict. Their cities and their fields would be the bases and the bridgeheads in a total war which, because it would merge into a general civil war, would be as indecisive as it was savage. Instead of military containment, Lippman suggests that the U.S. diplomatic efforts should be concentrated on evacuation from Europe of all non-European military forces. "After the withdrawal, an attempt to return would be an invasion – an open, unmistakable act of military aggression. Against such an aggression, the power of the United States to strike the vital centers of Russia by air and by amphibious assault would stand as the opposing and deterrent force." [^1]: See [A War Best Served Cold](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/opinion/31thompson.html) and comments to [If George F. Kennan Met Osama bin Laden](http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/schoenfeld/732), both accessible in March 2009