Henry Kissinger, a former top US official who made big decisions in the Cold War, has passed away at 100.
He was the top diplomat and national security adviser for the United States during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
Even after he stopped being in charge in the 1970s, many leaders still asked for his advice for many years.
The ex-diplomat, who was born in Germany, passed away at his house in Connecticut.
Former US President George W Bush paid respects, saying the US had “lost one of the most reliable and unique voices on foreign affairs”.
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Kissinger was really good at diplomacy and genuinely cared about protecting the free world.
President Nixon’s daughters, Tricia and Julie, said that Kissinger’s life story was very special and very American.
The statement said that people will remember Henry Kissinger for all the good things he did to make peace better. “However, we will always remember his personality. ”
He was born in Germany in 1923. His family left Germany and went to the US in 1938 to escape the Nazis. His dad was a teacher. He always kept his Bavarian accent.
He became a citizen of the United States in 1943 and then served in the US Army for three years. After that, he worked in the Counter Intelligence Corps.
After finishing college and getting a PhD, he taught about how countries relate to each other at Harvard.
In 1969, President Nixon chose him to be in charge of protecting the country, which allowed him to have a lot of influence on US foreign policy.
During his time as national security adviser and secretary of state from 1969 to 1977, he helped the US stop fighting in the Vietnam War, start talking to China, and bring peace in the Yom Kippur War between Egypt, Syria, and Israel. The hard work led to the creation of shuttle diplomacy.
Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel, who is in a war with Hamas, praised Kissinger’s work on the peace deal with Egypt. He wrote on social media that “the whole world still benefits from the important work he did”.
In China, where many people liked Kissinger a lot, news about his death quickly became popular on Weibo, a social media site.
China News said he was a good friend of the Chinese people in his obituary.
China Central Television praised him as an important diplomat and a key figure in US-China relations, calling him a “legend” and a “living fossil”.
Over the years, people criticized Kissinger for focusing on competing with the Soviet Union instead of human rights, and for supporting harsh rulers like Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
People were still mad about some of his decisions, even after he died. Rolling Stone wrote about Henry Kissinger saying he was a war criminal loved by America’s ruling class, who has died. And the left-leaning Huffpost called him “The Beltway Butcher” on their website.
Kissinger didn’t care about criticism.
“Their ignorance is shown by that,” the old and rough-voiced leader told CBS in an interview just before turning 100 years old.
In 1973, he won a Nobel Peace Prize with Le Duc Tho from North Vietnam. Le Duc Tho didn’t want the prize.
The award caused two people on the Nobel committee to quit.
After Kissinger stopped working for the government in 1977, he kept talking a lot about public issues. Twelve US presidents asked for his advice, from John F Kennedy to Joe Biden, and lawmakers also wanted his opinion.
Notably, Kissinger is the only American who has spoken directly with every Chinese leader from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping.
He was on the boards of different companies and wrote 21 books about foreign policy and security.
Even at the age of 100, Kissinger continued to live a busy life. In July, he made a surprise trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Despite the current tensions between China and the US, Kissinger was warmly welcomed and honored during his visit.
The White House was upset about the visit and the National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, was sad that a regular person had the chance to meet with Chinese leaders while the US government did not.
In July 2022, when he was 99 years old, Kissinger was asked during an interview with ABC on a book tour if he regretted any of his decisions.
“I’ve been thinking about these problems my whole life. ” “I enjoy doing it and it’s also my job,” he said. “I made the best suggestions I could at that time. ”
He is no longer alive, but his wife Nancy and two children, Elizabeth and David, and five grandchildren are still here. They were married for almost 50 years.