Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.
With his and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. Decades later, over foreign policy landmarks long past.
Kissinger害羞草研究所檚 power grew during the turmoil of Watergate, when the politically attuned diplomat assumed a role akin to co-president to the weakened Nixon.
害羞草研究所淣o doubt my vanity was piqued,害羞草研究所� Kissinger later wrote of his expanding influence. 害羞草研究所淏ut the dominant emotion was a premonition of catastrophe.害羞草研究所�
A Jew who fled Nazi Germany with his family in his teens, Kissinger in his later years , giving speeches, offering advice to Republicans and Democrats alike and managing a global consulting business. He turned up in President Donald Trump害羞草研究所檚 White House on multiple occasions. But Nixon-era documents and tapes, as they trickled out over the years, brought revelations 害羞草研究所� many in Kissinger害羞草研究所檚 own words 害羞草研究所� that sometimes cast him in a harsh light.
Never without his detractors, Kissinger after he left government was dogged by critics who argued that he should be called to account for his policies on Southeast Asia and support of repressive regimes in Latin America.
For eight restless years 害羞草研究所� first as national security adviser, later as secretary of state, and for a time in the middle holding both titles 害羞草研究所� Kissinger ranged across the breadth of major foreign policy issues. He conducted the first 害羞草研究所渟huttle diplomacy害羞草研究所� in the quest for Middle East peace. He used secret channels to pursue ties between the United States and China, ending decades of isolation and mutual hostility.
He initiated the Paris negotiations that ultimately provided a face-saving means 害羞草研究所� a 害羞草研究所渄ecent interval,害羞草研究所� he called it 害羞草研究所� to get the United States out of a costly war in Vietnam. Two years later, Saigon fell to the communists.
And he pursued a policy of detente with the Soviet Union that led to arms control agreements and raised the possibility that the tensions of the Cold War and its nuclear threat did not have to last forever.
At age 99, he was still out on tour for his book on leadership. Asked in July 2022 interview with ABC whether he wished he could take back any of his decisions, Kissinger demurred, saying: 害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檝e been thinking about these problems all my life. It害羞草研究所檚 my hobby as well as my occupation. And so the recommendations I made were the best of which I was then capable.害羞草研究所�
Even then, he had mixed thoughts on Nixon害羞草研究所檚 record, saying 害羞草研究所渉is foreign policy has held up and he was quite effective in domestic policy害羞草研究所� while allowing that the disgraced president had 害羞草研究所減ermitted himself to be involved in a number of steps that were inappropriate for a president.害羞草研究所�
As Kissinger turned 100 in May 2023, his son David wrote in The Washington Post that his father害羞草研究所檚 centenary 害羞草研究所渕ight have an air of inevitability for anyone familiar with his force of character and love of historical symbolism. Not only has he outlived most of his peers, eminent detractors and students, but he has also remained indefatigably active throughout his 90s.害羞草研究所�
Asked during a CBS interview in the leadup to his 100th birthday about those who view his conduct of foreign policy over the years as a kind of 害羞草研究所渃riminality,害羞草研究所� Kissinger was nothing but dismissive.
害羞草研究所淭hat害羞草研究所檚 a reflection of their ignorance,害羞草研究所� Kissinger said. 害羞草研究所淚t wasn害羞草研究所檛 conceived that way. It wasn害羞草研究所檛 conducted that way.害羞草研究所�
Kissinger continued his involvement in global affairs even in his last months. He met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in July, as bilateral relations were at a low point. And 50 years after his shuttle diplomacy helped end the , when Israel fended off a surprise attack from Egypt and Syria, Kissinger warned of the of that conflict repeating itself after Israel faced a surprise assault by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Tributes for Kissinger from prominent U.S. officials poured in immediately upon word of his death. Former President George W. Bush said the U.S. 害羞草研究所渓ost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs害羞草研究所� and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Kissinger was 害羞草研究所渆ndlessly generous with the wisdom gained over the course of an extraordinary life.害羞草研究所�
Kissinger害羞草研究所檚 consulting firm said he died at his home in Connecticut.
Kissinger was a practitioner of realpolitik 害羞草研究所� using diplomacy to achieve practical objectives rather than advance lofty ideals. Supporters said his pragmatic bent served U.S. interests; critics saw a Machiavellian approach that ran counter to democratic ideals.
He was castigated for authorizing telephone wiretaps of reporters and his own National Security Council staff to plug news leaks in Nixon害羞草研究所檚 White House. He was denounced on college campuses for the bombing and allied invasion of Cambodia in April 1970, intended to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines to communist forces in South Vietnam.
That 害羞草研究所渋ncursion,害羞草研究所� as Nixon and Kissinger called it, was blamed by some for contributing to Cambodia害羞草研究所檚 fall into the hands of Khmer Rouge insurgents who later slaughtered some 2 million Cambodians.
Kissinger, for his part, made it his mission to debunk what he referred to in 2007 as a 害羞草研究所減revalent myth害羞草研究所� 害羞草研究所� that he and Nixon had settled in 1972 for peace terms that had been available in 1969 and thus had needlessly prolonged the Vietnam War at the cost of tens of thousands of American and Vietnamese lives.
He insisted that the only way to speed up the withdrawal would have been to agree to Hanoi害羞草研究所檚 demands that the U.S. overthrow the South Vietnamese government and replace it with communist-dominated leadership.
Pudgy and messy, Kissinger incongruously acquired a reputation as a ladies害羞草研究所� man in the staid Nixon administration. Kissinger, who had divorced his first wife in 1964, called women 害羞草研究所渁 diversion, a hobby.害羞草研究所� Jill St. John was a frequent companion. But it turned out his real love interest was Nancy Maginnes, a researcher for Nelson Rockefeller whom he married in 1974.
In a 1972 poll of Playboy Club Bunnies, the man dubbed 害羞草研究所淪uper-K害羞草研究所� by Newsweek finished first as 害羞草研究所渢he man I would most like to go out on a date with.害羞草研究所�
Kissinger害羞草研究所檚 explanation: 害羞草研究所淧ower is the ultimate aphrodisiac.害羞草研究所�
Yet Kissinger was reviled by many Americans for his conduct of wartime diplomacy. He was still a lightning rod decades later: In 2015, an appearance by the 91-year-old Kissinger before the Senate Armed Services Committee was disrupted by protesters demanding his arrest for war crimes and calling out his actions in Southeast Asia, Chile and beyond.
Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in the Bavarian city of Fuerth on May 27, 1923, the son of a schoolteacher. His family left Nazi Germany in 1938 and settled in Manhattan, where Heinz changed his name to Henry.
Kissinger had two children, Elizabeth and David, from his first marriage.
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