Critics viewed the tall diplomat & Nobel Prize laureate as a war criminal, despite the fact that she impacted generations of US foreign policy.
The late Henry Kissinger was a major and contentious figure in US foreign policy during the 20th century, having served as ambassador of state for Richard Nixon. He was one hundred years old.
In a statement released on Wednesday night, his consulting business Kissinger Associates declared his passing but did not give an explanation.
Over the course of his lengthy career, the well-known diplomat has advised twelve presidents, included Joe Biden, and shared the Nobel Prize for mediating the conclusion of the Vietnam War.
His opponents throughout the world portrayed him as being a war criminal, but his disregard for the rights of others and his determination to uphold US commercial objectives at all costs also shaped his legacy. He advocated for the occupation of East Timor’s territory by the military dictatorship in Indonesia, supported the attack of Angola by the government of apartheid in South Africa, and collaborated alongside the CIA to remove the popularly elected leader of Chile from office. He also gave the go-ahead for wiretapping of staff members and media.
Prior to serving as Nixon’s national security adviser after his election to the presidency in 1968, Kissinger was a Harvard professor. He had a significant impact on important choices about the Vietnam War, working directly with the president, such as the covert bombardment of Cambodian in 1969 and 1970.
He served under Gerald Ford after Nixon was overthrown by the Watergate affair, and he left office following Jimmy Carter’s victory in the 1976 election. Kissinger’s approach to the Soviet Union was deemed too soft by the Reagan administration, which eliminated any possibility of a 1980s resurgence.
Kissinger’s legacy varies among the political and academic right and left.
