A diplomatic genius for some, a war criminal for others, Richard Nixon’s former Secretary of State remained active until the end. A look back at the life of this dominant figure in the political history of the 20th century.
He left his mark on world diplomacy through his long career and his constant search for international balance.
Henry Kissinger, whose childhood name was Heinz Albert, was born on May 27, 1923, in Fürth, a small town in Bavaria, where his father, Louis, was a high school teacher. Despite the convulsions of the young Weimar Republic, childhood there was happy, marked by studies, prayers at the synagogue, leisure and football.
But in 1933, with Hitler coming to power, absolute evil knocked at the door. For five years, he experienced the humiliation of exclusion from school at the age of 10, with the high masses of the Hitler Youth shouting their hatred of the Jews, until in 1938, his father decides the big family departure for America. He obtained American citizenship 5 years later.
The young Henry Kissinger is bilingual, knows his native country well and his sharpness of mind is noted. He was spotted by the American secret services, who entrusted him with missions in Europe during the Second World War. Back in the United States, he studied at Harvard, where he became a professor. His skills in international security opened the doors to politics for him.
When Nixon was sworn in as the 37th President of the United States on January 20, 1969, Kissinger became National Security Advisor. On September 22, 1973, Nixon named Kissinger Secretary of State, the equivalent of a Minister of Foreign Affairs.
A follower of realpolitik, the principle by which a foreign policy is defined more by the balance of power, possibility and effectiveness rather than doctrines, Kissinger influenced President Nixon on the path to détente with the USSR.
At the time, relations between the United States and China had also been at a standstill for more than 20 years. Working behind the scenes, Henry Kissinger managed to renew the dialogue. In 1972 President Nixon met Mao Zedong, founder and leader of the People’s Republic of China.
But the image of the United States is seriously damaged by the war in Vietnam, in which the American army has been mired for several years. Henry Kissinger then proposed to the Nixon administration a 4-step plan for disengagement from the conflict. In 1973, he notably participated in the negotiations which led to the signing of a ceasefire in Paris. His commitment earned him the Nobel Peace Prize the same year.
An outstanding diplomat, Henry Kissinger was personally involved in the negotiations. We owe him what will be called the “shuttle policy” : go back and forth between the opposing parties. As following the Yom Kippur War in 1973: he made eleven trips between Israel, Syria and Egypt, until an agreement was reached.
He has little appreciation for the diplomacy of the European Economic Community, ancestor of the European Union. He sees a lack of common international policy. In 1970, he launched “Europe, what phone number?”a phrase that will make him famous on our side of the Atlantic.
Kissinger left the White House on January 20, 1977, with the swearing-in of Democratic President Jimmy Carter. But he always remained in the orbit of Washington politics.
At the start of 2023, Kissinger was still intervening in the public sphere by speaking, by videoconference, on the war in Ukraine, during an exchange at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In July of the same year, he was received in China by President Xi Jinping, in a period of tense relations with the United States.
Until the end, the former diplomat who celebrated his 100th birthday on May 27, 2023 will have remained in the service of diplomacy until the end.
