'The main reason that the US pursued a policy of containment since 1946 was ideological.' Explain why you agree or disagree with this view

Containment was principally an ideological policy by its very nature as an antithesis to communism. Whilst economical aspects to containment are clearly visible in its implementation in areas such as with the Vietnam war, Containment’s earliest foundations are more in early American isolationism than in neo-imperialistic policies. Firstly, the question’s regard of the year 1946 is self-evident in its reference to Kennan’s Long Telegram. Kennan’s vitriolic diatribe against the USSR and communism as ‘malign parasite’ served as a visceral foundation for containment policy on the whole in the latter half of the twentieth century. Kennan’s proposition to build ‘bulwarks’ against communism in developing countries would form foundation of Walt Rostow’s Modernisation theory decades later. Secondly, whilst formally founded in 1946, containment can draw its genealogy as far back as 1823’s Monroe Doctrine. It was another evolution of American isolationism and protectionism that had served as the basis for US foreign policy for the majority of the country’s existence. Finally, whilst economic drives played in to containment theory, they always a form of modality rather than a definitive foundation for the policy. Containment policy through a marxist lens, can be seen as a form of neo-imperialism. Whilst neo-imperialism as a term is loosely defined, here it is taken to mean a form of exerting control over another country through economic means. Whilst America did show tendencies towards neo-colonial control, most implementations of containment theory came in the form of direct intervention and military effort (Vietnam, Korea, Guatemala et al). Ultimately, containment was very much an ideological policy, that had undercurrents of economic reasoning unofficially, but which was always foundationally seen as a moral imperative rather than an economic possibility.