George F. Kennan

Grace Kennan Warnecke

Grace Kennan Warnecke is the author of Daughter of the Cold War about her life as a witness to history as the daughter of an influential diplomat. She was in Prague when Hitler invaded in 1938, in Moscow during WW 2, and was in charge of taking care of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s daughter after she had defected in 1967.
In this interview she discusses her famous father, Ambassador George F. Kennan, and her life. Famously expelled by Stalin while Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Kennan was a remarkable scholar and diplomat.
Few people can both see present events clearly, and predict the future. Kennan did both with his famous “Long Telegram” in 1946 to the State Department while serving in Moscow. He advocated a tough stance against Stalinist Russia, and predicted the ultimate dissolution of the Soviet Union. This telegram, the longest in State Department history, was to be the basis of US policy towards Russia for the next 50 years.
Mrs. Warnecke discusses what her father might make of the world today, and she concludes the interview by discussing her views on Russia today. She is, like her father, fluent in Russian and has met privately with Vladimir Putin.
Mrs. Warnecke is the former Chairman of the board of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.