What was the policy of containment designed to do?

The policy of containment was designed to prevent the spread of communism beyond its existing borders. Developed by American diplomat George F. Kennan after World War II, this policy was a cornerstone of the United States’ strategy during the Cold War. Kennan proposed that instead of engaging in direct military conflict with the Soviet Union, the U.S. should focus on preventing the spread of Soviet influence and the ideology of communism to other countries, especially those that were not yet aligned with either the Western or the Soviet bloc.

The premise of this policy was that the Soviet Union and communism were inherently expansionist and sought to spread their influence globally. The United States, under the Truman administration, developed the containment policy as a middle path between appeasement and direct military engagement. It resulted in a variety of strategies, such as providing economic assistance to countries to strengthen their economies and political systems against communism (e.g., the Marshall Plan), establishing military alliances like NATO, and even engaging in proxy wars where they supported anti-communist governments and groups (e.g., the Korean War and the Vietnam War).