Henry Kissinger was the United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977,
and became famous for shaping policy in Vietnam,
the Middle East, and especially China. This is the untold truth of Henry Kissinger.
Henry Kissinger was born Heinz Kissinger on May 27,
1923. He spent his early childhood in Furth, a city on the outskirts of Nuremberg,
the second largest city in Bavaria. Kissinger was the son of Louis and Paula Kissinger,
a Jewish couple whom the Irish Times described as, quote, "profoundly religious."
In November 1923, Adolf Hitler's emergent Nazi party staged the Beer Hall Putsch
in a failed attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government. Ten years later,
Hitler would be chancellor, turning Germany into an oppressive dictatorship that reserved
particular hostility for the nation's Jewish population.
Kissinger's family was among the many that fled the country, leaving Furth in 1938.
Fortunately, the Kissingers left Germany before Kristallnacht, which occurred on November 9th
through 10th of that year. Also known as the Night of Broken Glass, Kristallnacht
was a pogram against Jewish people and property, resulting in the deaths of 91 people, the looting
of 7,500 Jewish businesses, and the vandalism of some 1,000 synagogues, according to Britannica.
Kissinger arrived in the U.S. aged 15 and settled in New York's Washington Heights,
which had so many German immigrants that it was sometimes referred to
as the "Fourth Reich," according to The New Yorker. During these early years,
Kissinger worked in a factory making shaving brushes and planned on becoming an accountant.
As detailed by The New Yorker, Henry Kissinger was drafted into the U.S.
Army in 1942. He relished the role so much that a compatriot observed,
"He was more American than I have ever seen any American."
Historian Jeremi Suri notes how he was recruited for this role because he spoke German,
had cultural knowledge of Germany, and was of Jewish heritage, which gave the Americans
confidence that he would be anti-Nazi. Serving in the 84th infantry division,
Kissinger was awarded a Bronze Star for his help in breaking up a Gestapo sleeper cell.
It was during his military experience that Kissinger met Fritz Kraemer, a fellow
German-American some 15 years older than him. Kraemer was an intense man who had animosity for
both Communists and Nazis, with whom he apparently fought in the streets of Weimar Germany.
Kraemer's "Nietzschean" perspective on the world caused Kissinger to describe him as, quote,
"the greatest single influence on my formative years." However, according to Globalo, Kraemer
cut ties with Kissinger in the 1970s because he was, quote, "visibly repulsed by Kissinger's
egotism and vanity." The Guardian reported that Fritz Kraemer died on September 8, 2003.
After holding various positions in government and publishing influential books such as Nuclear
Weapons and Foreign Policy, Henry Kissinger became head of the National Security Council in 1969,
a year in which the anti-Vietnam War movement held some of its largest protests.
According to Salon, Kissinger asked the Pentagon to outline
possible bombing strategies in Indochina, the former French colony that encompassed Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia. Soon, it was decided that Cambodia was the best target for America's
fleet of B-52 bombers. This is because it was host to large tracts of the Ho Chi Minh
trail, which the Viet Cong used to move fighters and equipment into South Vietnam.
The ensuing campaign — dubbed Operation Menu — was conducted in total secrecy,
for Kissinger knew that Congress would oppose the bombing of a neutral country.
Kissinger was reportedly "hands on" with the operation
and was reportedly very excited by the strategy. According to a Pentagon report,
"Henry A. Kissinger approved each of the 3,875 Cambodia bombing raids in 1969
and 1970 [...] as well as the methods for keeping them out of the newspapers."
Ultimately, the U.S. dropped 500,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia between 1969 and 1973,
killing a minimum of 100,000 civilians.
A defining tenet of Richard Nixon's and Henry Kissinger's relationship was pursuing
detente with the Soviet Union. According to Britannica, when Nixon assumed office in 1969,
he was keen to reduce America's military commitment without losing face. Namely,
he sought to achieve, quote, "peace with honor" in Vietnam,
detente with the Soviet Union, and the opening of relations with China, which had diverged from
the Soviet Union during the Sino-Soviet split, according to the National Cold War Exhibition.
Diplomacy with the Soviet Union was a gravely complicated issue, but Nixon had
a strong reputation as an anti-Communist and "tough negotiator." This gave him the
confidence to pursue peace without fear of harsh criticism from conservative members of Congress.
Kissinger assisted Nixon by negotiating the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, or
SALT, which featured the Treaty on Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems
and the Interim Agreement and Protocol on Limitation of Strategic Offensive Weapons.
These were signed by Nixon and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev on May 26, 1972.
Henry Kissinger's involvement with China is perhaps his most enduring legacy.
According to The Independent, Kissinger's appeal to other world leaders likely stemmed
from his success in coordinating a meeting between President Richard Nixon and Chairman
Mao Tse-Tung — one that certainly elevated him from simple politician to phenomenon status.
In 1971, Kissinger left Islamabad and laid low for a few days, ostensibly because he was ill.
However, he had actually flown to Beijing for a secret meeting with the Chinese Communist Party.
China and the U.S. were ideological adversaries and had no formal relations, notes The Atlantic,
but Nixon was intent on alleviating China from, quote,
"angry isolation," as he wrote in October 1967. The University of
Southern California reported that Kissinger spoke with Premier Zhou Enlai, telling him,
"It is the conviction of President Nixon that a strong and developing
People's Republic of China poses no threat to any essential U.S. interest.
It is no accident that our two countries have had such a long history of friendship."
The meeting was a success, with Kissinger ranking Zhou Enlai as the most impressive statesmen he
had met since Charles De Gaulle. As shown in White House papers, Kissinger suggested that Nixon could
visit in the spring of 1972, but the president's visit occurred even earlier on February 21-28,
which Nixon described as, quote, "the week that changed the world."
In 1973, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho for
negotiating the Paris Peace Accords, which secured a nationwide ceasefire in Vietnam,
the withdrawal of all U.S. troops there, and dismantling of all U.S. bases within 60 days.
"The ceasefire will take effect at twenty-four hundred Greenwich Mean Time, January 27, 1973."
Furthermore, it stipulated that Vietnam would remain split at the 17th Parallel,
and that reunification of the country would be achieved, quote,
"through peaceful means." In reaction to the prize, Kissinger said,
"I am deeply moved by the award of the Nobel Peace
Prize. [...] I can only accept this award with humility."
Tho, however, refused the prize because he didn't want to be associated with Kissinger,
according to Time magazine. However, he may have also rejected it because of rank hypocrisy,
as Tho would oversee the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam in 1975. Many were appalled by
Kissinger's award, including two members of the Nobel committee who resigned in protest.
The Yom Kippur War broke out in October 1973 when Egypt and Syria
attacked Israel on two fronts during the holy day of Yom Kippur. The battle ebbed
and flowed and was costly for both sides until the fighting ceased on October 26,
following cease-fire resolutions from the United Nations. According to Jeremi Suri,
Henry Kissinger stepped in at this point and changed the Middle East dynamic. As noted by Suri,
"[Kissinger became] the leading negotiator between the Israelis,
the Egyptians, and other major actors in the region."
Kissinger's intervention became known as "shuttle diplomacy," which referred
to how he "shuttled" between the combatants to broker deals and achieve peace. In negotiations,
Kissinger had a flexibility that was able to placate both Israelis and Arabs, which afforded
him greater success than the Russians, who were blighted by Moscow's "rigid bureaucratic chain."
However, while he successfully negotiated borders and buffer zones between Egypt and Israel,
Kissinger neglected other parts of the Middle East, namely Palestine. This would
sow resentment in a region that would see great suffering in the 21st century.
After the success in China, Vietnam and the Middle East,
Richard Nixon was concerned that Henry Kissinger was overshadowing him. According to Vanity Fair,
Nixon thought that Kissinger considered himself to have a superior intellect and
that he acted as Nixon's puppet master. Nixon also resented Kissinger's popularity with the press.
Nixon would even refer to the, quote, "K problem" in conversations with H.R. Haldeman,
the White House chief of staff. Nixon was reported to have said,
"Henry's personality problem is just too [...] difficult for us to deal [with]."
Kissinger would use his signature flattery to manipulate Nixon, but the president sometimes
distrusted his admiration. Nixon would sometimes toy with Kissinger to keep him in check.
For example, Nixon knew that Kissinger desperately wanted to be the man to make the secret visit to
China, so Nixon tortured him by suggesting all of the other worthy candidates for the job,
forcing Kissinger to sell himself to him. Kissinger, meanwhile, privately referred
to his president as "that madman," "our drunken friend," and "the meatball mind."
Many people have consulted Henry Kissinger since he left office,
including presidential candidates. According to ABC, Hillary Clinton said that she "relied
on his counsel" when she was secretary of state during the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013.
Referring to Kissinger as "a friend," Clinton wrote,
"[Henry Kissinger] checked in with me regularly,
sharing astute observations about foreign leaders and sending me written reports on his travels."
Clinton's relationship with Kissinger became particularly contentious during
her 2016 debates with Bernie Sanders, in which she said,
"I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State
Department better than anybody had run in a long time."
Sanders would say,
"I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries
of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that
Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger."
Henry Kissinger's legacy is divisive and controversial.
A Politico article asked 10 historians to summarize Kissinger's career,
and the response was broadly critical. However, the sharpest criticisms came from Christopher
Hitchens, the revered public intellectual and author of The Trial of Henry Kissinger.
"We as Americans think it's a disgrace, that Henry Kissinger's sheltered by the U.S. government."
In it, Hitchens argues:
"[Kissinger should be prosecuted] for war crimes,
for crimes against humanity, and for offenses against common or customary or
international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and torture."
According to George Washington University, judges in Chile, Argentina, and France responded to these
damning accusations by summoning Kissinger for questioning. Once such summoning occurred when
Kissinger was staying in Paris, causing the former secretary of state to leave the city.
"Kissinger's never said a word of self-criticism. Not one. And he gets very petulant and angry."
In response, Kissinger slandered Hitchens in a radio interview,
accusing him of Holocaust denial. Hitchens quickly threatened legal action, saying,
"Mr. Kissinger will be hearing from my attorney,
who will tell him two things he already knows — what he said is false, malicious and defamatory,
and if he says it again, we will proceed against him in court."
When Hitchens was suffering from terminal cancer,
C-SPAN asked what his reaction would be if Kissinger attempted to reconcile. Hitchens said:
"It would be extremely interesting,
but one of the reasons I detest him is that I sort of know that couldn't happen.
He wouldn't even agree [...] to have questions submitted in writing, let alone to meet me."
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