THE CASE OF AMBASSADOR KENNAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP68-00046R000200080054-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 20, 2014
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: October 8, 1952
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/03/20: CIA-RDP68-00046R000200080054-1
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REGINA (Sask.)
LEADER-POST
Circ. e. 40,771
Front Edit Other
Page Page Page
Date: OCT 8 1952
[7 The . case of Aril
DegPit-e- Russian fulminations, the? real
' rOison the Soviet Union has asked for the
t
reoall of U.S. Ambassador George F. Ken-
non, is that Mr. Kennan knows too much
' apout the Russians for their peace of mind,
? and they intend to make Sure that he will
gain no more first-hand knowledge of their
activities.
' The charges on which the U.S.S.R. have.
based their request for his recall, will fool
nobody. Mr.. Kerman told reporters that,
' restrictions. on foreigners in Moscow re-
minded him of those imposed on Americahs
in' Berlin after the outbreak of the Second
VVorld War. There -was no news in this.
Every American ambassador has said the
same thing. In his book "My Three Years
in Moscow," Lt.-Gen. Walter Bedell Smith,
U.S. ambassador to the 11.-8S,11f-redrist1946
to 1949; wrote:
But our greatest complaint against the'
Soviet government's treatment us ?
stemmed not from our physical discomfort,
but from the restrictions placed? upon our
freedom ps individual human:Alieings.
7,11e Russians require the MoscoW
foreign colony to live what amounts to a
ghetto existence, as isolated as the Kremlin
ancldthe men in it, from the stream of life
in the Soviet capital . . . The Soviet,'
government?saw to it that the strictest kind
of segregation was ,enforced 'betWeen 'the
foreigners and Sovit citizens : ? . with;
very few exceptions, We? Were ?6ompletely
cut off from the"great bulk Of the Russian
people by constant police surveillance, by
propaganda and by the fear of punishment.
For his remarks, Mi.. Kerman was charged
with having violated the elementary rules
obligatory for diplomats. The Russian gov-
ernnient, through its newspaper Pravda,
thenylin what ,the Russians seem fo feel is
? -it?
perfectly diplomatie Tanguage,1 called Mr.
Kennan "an ecstatic liar," "a sland'er'
and similar diplomatic names.
bassador Kennaii.
- The iluth isT?the Russians have noi'beeri
happy to liave'Mr. Kennan sitting in theit
midst for the .past 10 mdnths, because'Mr.
Kennan possibly knows as much about the
Russians and the Russian 'mind as any
American. General Bedell Smith describes
Mr. Kennan in his book, as follows:
A career officer of wide experience and
an outstanding Russian specialist, he was '
the first member of Ambasador Bullitt's
staff to arrive in Moscow after we re- '
established relations with the Soviet Union
'
in 1933. He spoke Russian perfectly, and
was actually more cultured in Russian
than are most Russians. Knowing at first
hand and largely through personal ex-
perience all the details of Soviet-American
? relations,- and learned in Soviet political .
history and ideology, he was the best posz
? sible tutor a newly arrived:chief of mission
could have.
Mr. Kerman is generally accepiek as
being the author of the "containment" plan
against Russian imperialism. This plan has
een largely effective,. and the Rhssians
bold .no love for Mr. Kennan on that score.
.'.Since bee-al.-I-ling ambassador, his peneffating
? reports to Washington, particularly on, the
"hate America" campaign, have undoubted- ?
ly worried the Russians. i
Despite all restrictions placed on for-
eigners in Moscow, Mr. Kennan, with .his!
deep knowledge of Russia and Russian,
problems, would be a dangerous man, from
the Soviet point of vieW, to have around.
So they lave trumped up Charges to
have him -removed. But in 'so doing, they,
have tipped their hand. If the Russians
really want to work for a peaceful settle-
ment of east-west problems, they could find
no better man than Mr. Kennan to work
through. Their request for his removal is
a clear indication 'of whabSoviet intentions
l'rsrcl ?
_eallatitare.
iDeclassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/03/20: CIA-RDP68-00046R000200080054-1