Henry Kissinger, a major controversial figure in American diplomacy and secretary of state under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, died Wednesday at the age of 100, his organization announced.
Mr. Kissinger, a key player in world diplomacy during the Cold War, “died today at his home in Connecticut,” his consulting firm Kissinger Associates said in a statement, without giving the reason for his death.
The diplomat’s family will hold a private funeral, the statement said, referring to a subsequent public honoring ceremony in New York.
With his death, “America has lost one of its safest and most heard voices in foreign policy,” said former American President George W. Bush, a Republican like himself, in a press release.
When Henry Kissinger initiated the rapprochement with Moscow and Beijing in the 1970s, his image was tarnished by dark pages in the history of the United States, such as supporting the coup in Chile in 1973 or the invasion of East Timor in 1975. Of course, the Vietnam War.
Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, right. Photo MEGA/IF
In Beijing in July
It is his sense of “realpolitik,” of the cold calculation of national interests defended by those in power, that has made him a highly criticized figure around the world.
The man with the gravelly voice was a respected and controversial diplomat and loved to explain his ideas to journalists and at international conferences. He fascinated his audience with his longevity and great experience and was admired by some as a great sage and hated by others who viewed him as a war criminal.
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The man, who celebrated his 100th birthday in May, had kept the ear of the world’s great people many decades after he gave up his responsibilities in international affairs.
He traveled to Beijing in July to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who welcomed a “legendary diplomat” on the occasion.
On Thursday, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng called the disappearance of Mr. Kissinger, the architect of the rapprochement between Beijing and Washington in the 1970s, a “great loss.” “I am deeply shocked and saddened,” the Chinese diplomat wrote on X.
For his part, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida praised the American diplomat’s “significant contribution to peace and stability” in Asia.
Henry Kissinger and Gerald Ford, right. Photo AFP
Thawing of relationships
China holds a special place in Mr. Kissinger’s career. He played a key role in thawing American relations with Mao’s China by making secret trips to organize Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing in 1972.
This hand extended to China ended the Asian giant’s isolation and contributed to Beijing’s rise, initially economically, on the world stage.
Another important contribution: He always led the negotiations to end the Vietnam War in the greatest secrecy and parallel to the bombings on Hanoi.
Henry Kissinger is also recognized in the United States for his role as a mediator between Israel and Arab countries. In 1973, after the surprise attack on Arab countries during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Israel, he notably organized a massive airlift to supply the Israeli ally with weapons.
Nobel Prize
Heinz Alfred Kissinger, a German Jew born in Bavaria in 1923, fled Nazi Germany and became a naturalized American at the age of 20. The son of a schoolteacher, he joined military counterintelligence and the American army before completing a brilliant degree at Harvard, where he also taught.
Recognizable by his large glasses, he established himself as the face of world diplomacy when Republican Richard Nixon appointed him to the White House in 1969 as national security adviser and then as secretary of state, holding both positions from 1973 to 1975.
He survived the departure of Mr Nixon – who resigned in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal – and remained master of diplomacy under his successor Gerald Ford until 1977.
The signing of a ceasefire won him the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize along with the North Vietnamese leader, one of the most controversial in Nobel Prize history.
Duke Tho refused the award on the grounds that the negotiated ceasefire had not been kept and that Mr. Kissinger had not dared to travel to Oslo for fear of demonstrations.