George F. Kennan és Magyarország

This article reviews the career of George F. Kennan, of whom many things are known - both his professional and private life-, but some small details are still missing. This essay investigates his relations and ideas about Hungary, which so far have earned passing mentions at best. This is not surprising, because Hungary rarely became a central issue during the Cold War - with 1956 being an obvious exception. Still, occasionally Hungary received Kennan’s attention throughout his long career: he made observations and took note of Hungary, Hungarian foreign policy, and Hungarians as early as the eve of World War II, and as late as Hungary’s joining NATO at the end of the 1990s. It is of interest to see how the famously realist Kennan approached Hungary and Hungarian issues throughout more than half a century. By introducing Kennan’s episodic views and impressions regarding Hungary in the larger part of the twentieth century, the article fills a small gap in the growing field of the history of American-Hungarian relations, and also adds to the portrait of Kennan.