Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State, dies at the age of 100.
London, Thursday 30 November 2023
He served as America's top diplomat and national security adviser during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Despite leaving office in the mid-1970s, he continued to be consulted by generations of leaders for decades. The German-born former diplomat died at his home in Connecticut.
Kissinger's Realpolitik style made him a controversial figure, with critics accusing him of war crimes when he and President Richard Nixon conducted a bombing campaign against Vietnamese communists in Cambodia.
Furthermore, he faced harsh criticism over the years from people who said he supported oppressive governments all over the world, especially Augusto Pinochet's in Chile, and put his rivalry with the Soviet Union ahead of human rights.
Leading the condolences was the former US President George W. Bush, who declared that the country had "lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs".
Tony Blair, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, called Kissinger an artist of diplomacy and stated that his motivation sprang from "a genuine love of the free world and the need to protect it".
After obtaining US citizenship in 1943, he served in the US Army for three years before joining the Counter Intelligence Corps. He taught international relations at Harvard after obtaining a PhD, a master's degree, and a bachelor's degree.
He was appointed national security adviser by then-President Nixon in 1969, a post that gave him significant influence over US foreign policy.
During his eight years as secretary of state and national security adviser (1969–1977), the United States of America ultimately withdrew from the Vietnam War.
Additionally, it led to the normalisation of relations with China and the end of hostilities between Israel and Egypt and Syria during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 in the Middle East.
Read more on Henry Kissinger: www.henryakissinger.com
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