Kissinger is considered one of the most important foreign ministers in American history, as he played a leading role in US foreign policy between 1969 and 1977.
A giant of American diplomacy, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, died on Wednesday at the age of 100, his foundation announced. The consultancy said in a statement that Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and played a key diplomatic role during the Cold War, “died today at his home in Connecticut.”
Henry Kissinger
The statement did not specify the cause of death for Kissinger, who was known for his small frame, hoarse voice and thick German accent.
Until his death, Kissinger remained active on the international political scene, and his advanced age did not prevent him from traveling and meeting with many world leaders, the most recent of which was Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he met last July in China .
During the meeting with the Chinese president last July (Reuters)
Kissinger is considered one of the most important foreign ministers in American history, as he played a leading role in US foreign policy between 1969 and 1977.
During this period, he pioneered the policy of international détente with the Soviet Union, coordinated the opening of American relations with the People’s Republic of China, and engaged in what became known as roving mediator diplomacy in the Middle East to end the war of Yom Kippur. negotiate the Paris Peace Accords and end American involvement in the Middle East war.Vietnam.
President Anwar Sadat and Henry Kissinger
Kissinger was active until his centennial, attending meetings at the White House, publishing a book on leadership styles and testifying before a Senate committee on the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.
In July 2023, he made a surprise visit to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
With President Ford in 1975 (Reuters)
The “fox of American politics”.
It is interesting to note that Kissinger, who was a major player in global diplomacy during the Cold War and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, launched the rapprochement with Moscow and Beijing in the 1970s, based on a pragmatic worldview considered a kind of “ Realpolitik” in American style.
But the image of the man with the hoarse voice and accent inherited from German origins is still linked to dark pages in the history of the United States, such as support for the coup in Chile in 1973 or the invasion of East Timor in 1975 , and certainly Vietnam, according to Agence France-Presse.
Henry Kissinger (Reuters)
Of German origin
The German Jew Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born on May 27, 1923 in Fürth, Bavaria. He fled to the United States at the age of fifteen with his family before becoming an American citizen at the age of twenty.
The teacher’s son later joined Military Intelligence and the US Army before beginning his studies at Harvard University, where he was a brilliant student and also worked as a teacher.
Henry Kissinger (Reuters)
His beginnings with Nixon
Kissinger established himself as the face of global diplomacy when Republican Richard Nixon invited him to the White House in 1969 to assume the position of National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State. He held both positions from 1973 to 1975. He remained the master of American diplomacy under Gerald Ford until 1977.
During that period, he initiated détente with the Soviet Union and improved relations with Mao’s China, during secret trips to organize Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing in 1972.
Henry Kissinger (Reuters)
He also conducted, in complete secrecy and simultaneously with the bombing of Hanoi, negotiations with Le Duc Tho to end the Vietnam War.
For signing the ceasefire, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with the North Vietnamese in 1973, one of the most controversial prizes in Nobel history.