George Kennan was the chief intellectual architect of the U.S. Cold War policy of containment, which he articulated in the ”Long Telegram,” sent from Moscow in 1946. The “Long Telegram” lays out what he saw as the chief features of the Soviet state and its approach to world affairs. In it he suggests that trying to contain the USSR would be more effective in the long run than would direct confrontation. Although Kennan’s influence on foreign policy was strong, he was unable to prevent containment from being implemented almost exclusively as a military policy rather than the economic and political strategy that he had envisioned. In devising the policy of containment, Kennan thought that policy makers would choose their conflicts in such a way as to maximize potential gains while minimizing potential losses, in terms of life, political capital, and economic resources.