WASHINGTON, US
Henry Kissinger, the diplomatic powerhouse whose service under two presidents left a lifelong mark on US foreign policy, has died at the age of 100.
The diplomat, best known for
his time as Secretary of State to Richard Nixon, continued to be closely
involved in global
foreign policy past his hundredth birthday – visiting Xi Jinping in
Beijing in July this year.
“Dr. Henry Kissinger, a
respected American scholar and statesman, died today at his home in
Connecticut,” his consultancy Kissinger Associates said in a statement on
Wednesday.
Although his foreign policy
decisions and their association with the doctrine of “realism” were
controversial, he survived the resignation of Mr Nixon in 1974 and
continued to offer advice in that post to his successor, Gerald Ford.
His 1973 Peace Prize - awarded
jointly to North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho, who would decline it - was one of the
most controversial ever. Two members of the Nobel committee resigned over the
selection and questions arose about the US secret bombing of Cambodia.
Serving first as National
Security Adviser to the Nixon administration, Mr Kissinger was closely
associated with the US policy of “Vietnamisation” in the 1970s, as the burden
of the war transferred from American troops to Southern Vietnamese forces.
He was given the role of
Secretary of State in 1973, serving for one year before becoming an informal
adviser to presidents on foreign policy and running his own geopolitical
consulting firm in New York City from 1982.
His influence in government
waned under the next Republican president, Ronald Reagan, and he moved to
international speaking events, private work and writing more than a dozen
books.
He was invited to the White
House to speak with every president - apart from Joe Biden - after Mr Ford
and celebrated his 100th birthday in May.
George W Bush, one of the
first to pay tribute to Mr Kissinger on Wednesday night, said he and his wife
Laura would “miss his wisdom, his charm and his humour”.
“America has lost one of the
most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs with the passing of
Henry Kissinger,” he said.
“I have long admired the man
who fled the Nazis as a young boy from a Jewish family, then fought them in the
United States Army.
“When he later became
Secretary of State, his appointment as a former refugee said as much about his
greatness as it did America’s greatness. He worked in the administrations of
two presidents and counselled many more. I am grateful for that service and advice,
but I am most grateful for his friendship.”
On Thursday morning, Dame
Karen Pierce, UK Ambassador to the US, issued a statement saying she was “very
sad” to hear of Mr Kissinger’s passing.
Although influential, Mr
Kissinger’s legacy was controversial and he invited criticism from opponents of
his policy on Vietnam, the bombing of Cambodia and the invasion of Timor-Leste
in 1975.
In the India-Pakistan War of
1971, Mr Nixon and Mr Kissinger were heavily criticised for tilting toward
Pakistan.
Mr Kissinger was heard calling
the Indians “bastards” - a remark he later said he regretted.
Anthony Bourdain, the late
food critic, once said: “Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop
wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands.”
Christopher Hitchens, the
British polemicist, dedicated an entire book to his legacy entitled The Trial
of Henry Kissinger.
Nonetheless, the
German-born Jewish refugee’s efforts led to the diplomatic opening of
China, landmark US-Soviet arms control talks, expanded ties between Israel and
its Arab neighbours, and the Paris Peace Accords with North Vietnam.
After the 9/11 attacks,
president Bush picked Mr Kissinger to head an investigative committee.
The outcry from Democrats, who
saw a conflict of interest with many of his consulting firm’s clients, forced
him to step down from the post.
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