by Brandon Goldman @YoThatsRough
Henry Kissinger passed away at his Connecticut home Thursday at the age of 100. Kissinger served under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford as both secretary of state and national security advisor. He unquestionably stood as one of the most influential and significant American diplomats in the 20th century.
Born in 1923, Kissinger fled Nazi Germany with his family at the age of 15 for New York City. During World War II, he served as a German interpreter for the American army and earned the Bronze Star Medal for his work in intelligence, which led to the arrests of many members of the German Gestapo.
Upon returning from the war, he enrolled at Harvard University, where he eventually joined the faculty in 1957 as the associate director of Harvard’s Department of Government and Center for International Affairs.
President Nixon selected Kissinger as his national security adviser in 1968, later appointing him as secretary of state during his second term. Kissinger held the unique distinction of being the first person to occupy both roles simultaneously, maintaining both titles into the Ford administration.
The name “Henry Kissinger” remains deeply linked to controversy due to the policy recommendations he made during his tenure in the 1970s.
Critics of Henry Kissinger often demanded he be held to account for his policy of secretly bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War, claiming he was responsible for the deaths of tens or even hundreds of thousands of Cambodians. The bombings likely created an environment in which the communist Khmer Rouge could exploit public anger to ultimately seize power and initiate widespread atrocities under Pol Pot’s regime.
During this time, Kissinger was also credited with the controversial decision to “open” communist China to America and the rest of the Western world. The Chinese remember Kissinger fondly for bringing them material wealth in the 20th century and for making them a legitimate player on the world stage.
“Realpolitik,” a method of making political decisions based on practical realities rather than moral or ideological considerations, guided Kissinger’s foreign policy and often led to high-stakes gamesmanship with the USSR.
In particular, Kissinger and Nixon worked hard to ease tensions with the Soviet Union, leading to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.
Kissinger has remained a highly regarded American diplomat and received several accolades for his achievements. Alongside the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, in 1977, and in 1986, was among ten influential foreign-born leaders to receive the Medal of Liberty.
In recent years, Kissinger has always kept his sense of mission, continuing to write books and appear in TV interviews. His latest book, entitled Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy, was written just last year at the age of 99.
Kissinger’s legacy in American politics will endure as that of a towering and controversial figure, leaving a lasting impact on countless figures in the new generation of American foreign policy leadership.