October 6, 1973 Soviet American Relations John Mandelbaum THE boundaries of the Cold War are marked by two documents. The first is an article that appeared in the; July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs, entitled "The Sources of Soviet Conduct". It was signed by "Mr X", who turned out to be George Kennan, then an official of the State Department. Kennan wrote that its Marxist ideology gave the foreign policy of the Soviet Union an expansionist character. In the post-war world the Soviets would try to extend their influence anywhere they could. The United States, he said, must resist, by "the adroit and vigilant application of counter-force at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points".
