Henry Kissinger dead at 100: Nixon secretary of state and giant of US diplomacy dies
Brady Knox
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Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, one of the most influential statesmen of the 20th century, has died at age 100.
Kissinger served as secretary of state under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford from 1969 to 1977. While in the position, he played a central role in opening up relations with China, beginning detente with the Soviet Union, ending the war in Vietnam, assisting Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, navigating through the OPEC oil embargo, and assisting authoritarian regimes in crushing communist movements worldwide.
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Kissinger died at his home in Connecticut, according to Reuters.
“International stateman, lifelong scholar, skilled negotiator and architect of a lasting era of peace, stability, prosperity and global order — Dr. Kissinger’s impact on generations of citizens, from the U.S. to China, cannot be minimized,” his website stated in summing up his legacy.
Hailed by some as a foreign policy savant and decried by others as a power-hungry political operative, the Nobel Peace Prize winner leaves behind a complicated legacy. Born in Fürth, Germany, his family fled Nazi persecution in 1938 for the United States, where Kissinger became a colossus in the world of international diplomacy.
Up until his death, Kissinger headed and actively participated in the business of his international consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
World War II interrupted his part-time enrollment at the City University of New York — the naturalized citizen was drafted into the Army. His fluency in German earned him a job in counterintelligence, and in 1945, he received a Bronze Star. In civilian life following the war, Kissinger enrolled at Harvard University where he got his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees.
He started consulting with the federal government while still in graduate school and went on to work with both government officials and think tanks on foreign policy issues, including as foreign policy adviser to Nelson Rockefeller as he ran for president in 1960, 1964, and 1968. Kissinger was appointed national security adviser and later secretary of state by former President Richard Nixon and remained as secretary of state under former President Gerald Ford. There, he advocated for détente with the Soviet Union, paved the way for the opening of China to the West, and spearheaded efforts toward U.S. withdrawal and cease-fire in Vietnam.
Kissinger received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Medal of Liberty, given to foreign-born American leaders, in 1986. But it was the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for his efforts to bring the Vietnam War to an end, that was regarded as controversial when it was awarded, and that Kissinger tried to return when the cease-fire failed. The top diplomat, an advocate of Vietnamization, heavily influenced the decision to bomb Cambodia to stop North Vietnam’s advance — a controversial choice that led to the death of approximately 150,000 Cambodians.
Kissinger’s ability to gain the trust of uncooperative foreign leaders such as Leonid Brezhnev, with whom he negotiated in the strategic arms limitation talks and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, led some to label him a foreign policy savant. But others have criticized him as a relentless political operative who would do anything to amass power and influence or accused him of crimes against humanity for his advocacy of U.S. intervention in South America and elsewhere.
Many regard Kissinger as one of the U.S.’s most effective secretaries of state. Once quoted as saying, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,” Kissinger was willing to wiretap members of his own staff and exclude others, including Nixon, from the flow of information.
After his tenure in the two administrations, Kissinger remained active in U.S. foreign policy. Shortly after President Donald Trump’s election, Kissinger met with him to discuss global affairs and visited Trump again at the White House in May 2017. He similarly met with President Joe Biden at the White House in 2022.
More recently, Kissinger weighed in on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, controversially suggesting that Ukraine should be ready to cede territory in order to negotiate peace with Russia.
The former secretary of state made his last international trip to Beijing in July, greeting Chinese President Xi Jinping as an “old friend.” Xi reciprocated the warm greeting, saying that he had “great respect” for the diplomat.
Kissinger Xi
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He published 21 books, including World Order in 2014, Diplomacy in 1994, and On China in 2011, all of which have become prominent reads for those studying international affairs. His final book, The Age of AI And Our Human Future, co-authored with two others, was published two years before his death.
Kissinger is survived by his wife, Nancy Maginnes, and his children by first wife Ann Fleischer, Elizabeth and David.