Holocaust survivor. Harvard professor. Unlikely sex symbol.
But Henry Kissinger, who has died at the age of 100, will surely be best remembered as an unrivaled colossus of American politics.
As President Richard Nixon’s most trusted foreign policy adviser, Kissinger had a seismic impact on world politics, leading the West’s response to Soviet Russia and helping set the course during one of the most difficult periods in modern history.
A pioneer of “détente,” he cooled relations with Mao’s China and helped draft the Paris Peace Accords that brought an end to the Vietnam War – which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.
An impressive resume indeed – but Kissinger, who largely survived the sordid and protracted Watergate scandal and even stayed in office after Nixon’s resignation to support Gerard Ford, had a personal life that generated intrigue of its own.
Dubbed the “playboy of the West Wing” and “sex symbol of the Nixon administration,” Kissinger had a number of glamorous celebrity girlfriends in his younger years, including journalist Diane Sawyer and actress Candice Bergen.
Few in politics have the great importance and influence that Kissinger had throughout his life.
Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon’s former secretary of state and national security adviser, has died at the age of 100
Kissinger, pictured in the White House in 2019 with his second wife Nancy, was a giant of US politics for several decades and played a key role in the Vietnam War and the Cold War
In the weeks and months before his death at home in Connecticut on Wednesday night, he remained active on the world stage, providing input on global affairs, including recent controversial opinions on Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Henry – originally Heinz Alfred – was born in Germany in 1923 to a Jewish family and experienced a brutal childhood.
When the Nazis came to power, he was thrown out of school and instead sent to an all-Jewish institution, where he was forbidden from interacting with German children and was regularly beaten.
When his family fled the Nazi regime in 1938, he had become a shy and “completely withdrawn” boy.
The Kissinger family went first to London, then to New York City, where they settled in Upper Manhattan and Henry took a job in a shaving brush factory.
While studying accounting, Kissinger was drafted into the US Army in 1943. That year, while living in South Carolina, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
However, superiors quickly recognized his sharp mind – coupled with his fluent German – and hired him for counterintelligence during World War II.
He saw action in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded a Bronze Star for his services. His achievements included leading a team to track down Gestapo officers and saboteurs in Germany.
Kissinger pictured in the East Room of the White House with President Richard Nixon in 1973. The couple was accused of operating in secret and ignoring protocol in an anti-democratic manner
Left: Kissinger next to Princess Diana in 1995, right: Pope Benedict XVI. and Kissinger in 2006
After leaving the military, Kissinger studied political science at Harvard College and then earned both a master’s and doctorate from Harvard University.
He accepted a position at the university and began to establish himself as a leading figure in international relations and foreign policy, advising the White House administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. In 1957, his book Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy was published, which helped influence America’s attitude toward nuclear weapons.
Kissinger’s rise to the top of American politics came when he was appointed National Security Advisor by Richard Nixon in 1969.
In November of the previous year, after Nixon’s election but before the inauguration, the president-elect invited Kissinger to a meeting in Washington. “I had no idea he was going to offer me a job,” Kissinger recalled two years later, “I told him I had to think about it.”
His decision to leave Harvard and take on the role marked the beginning of the crucial political relationship between Kissinger and Nixon. Kissinger claimed the couple had never met before Nixon’s election, despite reports to the contrary, and he was initially upset that Nixon had won the Republican nomination for president, describing him as “the most dangerous of all the men running for president.” to run for office.”
In 1973, Nixon also appointed Kissinger Secretary of State, making him the first foreign-born holder of the post and also the first to hold the post while also serving as national security adviser.
Kissinger’s tenure in the White House – including as secretary of state under Gerald Ford after Nixon’s resignation – came at a time of major geopolitical changes around the world, including in South America and the Middle East.
Kissinger controversially supported the Argentine military junta during the Dirty War that began in 1974 and supported Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Kissinger also helped organize the pivotal meeting between Nixon and Chairman Mao in 1972, the first visit by a U.S. president to the People’s Republic of China.
US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (l.) and US President Richard Nixon (c.) listen to NATO Secretary General Joseph Luns (r.) on June 26, 1974 during the 1974 Brussels Summit
Oprah Winfrey and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger attend the New York Public Library’s annual Library Lions Gala at the New York Public Library on November 13, 2006
But ultimately it was his contributions during the Vietnam War and the Cold War that shaped Kissinger’s tenure as head of government.
He initiated a bombing campaign against Cambodia between 1969 and 1973 that killed an estimated 100,000 civilians, and hid the campaign from Congress. He also oversaw similar bombing campaigns in North Vietnam.
Kissinger’s role in the Vietnam War was a key feature of Christopher Hitchens’ 2001 book “The Trial of Henry Kissinger,” a scathing polemic in which he argues that Kissinger should have been convicted of “war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the public.” shall be prosecuted under customary or international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and torture.”
Despite the criticism, Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 along with Le Duc Tho, a Vietnamese general, for negotiating a ceasefire. The pair held 68 meetings, some in secret, over a four-year period before the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. Tho turned down the Nobel Prize. Kissinger donated his prize money to charity and later attempted to return his award.
As Secretary of State, he also helped stabilize bitter relations between the United States and the Soviet Union through the policy of detente diplomacy, which Kissinger himself described as “a process of managing relations with a potentially hostile country to maintain the peace while preserving our peace.” “denoted vital interests”.
Kissinger and Nixon’s work to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union was achieved in part through their willingness to hold “back-channel” discussions, including with the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin. Kissinger and Nixon were accused of operating in secret and ignoring protocol in an anti-democratic manner.
Kissinger and his second wife Nancy watch the 2009 Wimbledon men’s singles final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick
A photo from 2007 shows Joe Biden, then a senator, greeting Kissinger before a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington
A quote from Kissinger from 1973 sums up the enigmatic relationship between the two: “I like the president.” I agree with him. We’ve been going through all this for three years, like two men in a foxhole… It’s almost irrelevant whether we like each other. It’s like asking me if I like my arm. We have no disagreements about anything central or fundamental. No disagreement about politics. We’re too close for that.’
Kissinger will also be remembered as a leading proponent of realpolitik, an approach to politics and diplomacy that prioritizes practical factors and circumstances over morality and ideology.
His life was shaped by his work, which also made him famous as the “first diplomatic star and superstar”, and he occasionally spoke about its impact on his private life.
Kissinger said in 1971: “I like women who are intense, intelligent and warm.” And any woman who survives with me must be very independent. “It would be suicide for a woman to find her identity through a man who is completely absorbed in his work.”
Kissinger married his first wife, Ann Fleischer, in February 1949, and they had two children together, David and Elizabeth, before divorcing in 1964.
He was single for several years after that, and in the three years following his appointment as Nixon’s national security adviser, Kissinger was “Washington’s most eligible bachelor.”
He was the subject of gushing magazine profiles, had to deny an affair with glamorous actress Jill St. John, a Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever – and even earned the nickname “the secret swinger.” He once recalled how the nickname came about after a Washington Post reporter asked him at a party if he was a swinger.
“Look,” I told her, “I can’t admit I’m a swinger without getting in trouble.” I can’t admit I’m not a swinger. So why don’t we say I’m a secret swinger?
Kissinger’s contributions during the Vietnam War and the Cold War shaped his tenure as head of government. Pictured: U.S. Marines disperse as a CH-46 helicopter catches fire after it was shot down near the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam in July 1966
Most were thrilled that the Vietnam War, which had lasted more than a decade, was over for the United States (photo from 1965). Kissinger’s critics accused him of war crimes because of his role in the war
His second wife, Nancy Kissinger, whom he married in 1974 and remained with until his death, found the “swingers” story hilarious. She joked in 1974: “Henry is so honest. “He’s always been honest.”
Kissinger’s reputation in America reached its peak in December 1973, when a poll ranked him number one on the list of men Americans most admire – displacing President Nixon from the top spot. Later revelations during his time in office and allegations of war crimes would ultimately cause irreparable damage to this once impeccable reputation.
Away from politics, Kissinger was a lifelong soccer fan and supporter of SpVgg Fürth, his hometown soccer team. He was reportedly informed of match results by the German embassy every Monday morning during his tenure.
Until shortly before his death, Kissinger continued to participate in the public debate, both privately and as chairman of his consulting firm Kissinger Associates.
In May last year he was criticized for saying Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to end the war. In January, he spoke via video link to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he expressed support for Ukraine’s NATO membership and said the West must continue to engage in dialogue with Russia.
Kissinger is survived by his wife Nancy Kissinger and his two children.