The best an American can look forward to is the lonely pleasure of one who stands at long last on a chilly and inhospitable mountaintop where few have been before, where few can follow and where few will consent to believe he has been.

S. (1972) Memoirs: 1950–1963 Boston: Little Brown and Company OCLC 4047526 . To counter this potential source of Soviet influence Kennan's solution was to direct economic aid and covert political help to Japan and Western Europe to revive Western governments and prop up international capitalism; by doing so the United States would help to rebuild the balance of power.

foreign policy. Soon thereafter U. S.