English

NSC 20/1 - US Objectives with Respect to Russia

Original text of document and re-print from: Thomas H. Etzold and John Lewis Gaddis, eds., Containment: Documents on American Policy and Strategy, 1945-1950 Thanks to http://www.sakva.ru/Nick/NSC_20_1.html for preserving this NSC 20/1 (pages 173-203) U.S. OBJECTIVES WITH RESPECT TO RUSSIA TOPSECRET August 18, 1948 [Source; Records of the National Security Council on deposit in the Modern Military Records Branch, National Archives, Washington. D.C.] NSC 20/1 originated in response to a request from Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal for a "comprehensive statement of national policy'" with regard to the Soviet Union, on the grounds that until such a statement was prepared, "no logical decisions can be reached as to the proportion of our resources which should be devoted to military purposes. . . ..'' (*1) Drafted by the Policy Planning Staff, this document represented the most complete exposition up to that time of the objectives the policy of containment was supposed to accomplish. (*1). Forrestal to Sidney W. Souers, July 10, 1948, quoted in NSC 20, "Appraisal of the Degree and Character of Mllilary Preparedness Required by the World Situiilion," July 12, 1948, Foreign Relatio

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