Henry Kissinger Celebrates his 100th Birthday: A Life of Successes and Controversies

Kissinger was born on May 27, 1923 as Heinz Alfred Kissinger in Fürth, son of a German-Jewish couple. In 1938 the family fled from the Nazis to the USA. Kissinger then grew up in New York. It is said that as a teenager he was so shy that he hardly spoke. That could explain why Kissinger still has a strong German accent to this day.

After becoming a US citizen in 1943, he was drafted into the military, fought in the Ardennes and then worked in Germany for US counterintelligence. After his return, he studied political science at the elite Harvard University with the help of scholarships and received his doctorate in 1954. In the years that followed, he taught at the university and made a name for himself as a specialist in international politics.

Security Advisor to Nixon

In 1969, Republican President Richard Nixon brought him into the White House as National Security Advisor. He later became Secretary of State at the same time – and remained so under Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford. Kissinger coined the so-called shuttle diplomacy – traveling back and forth between capitals and negotiating between conflicting parties. As Secretary of State, he was something of a celebrity, known for his power consciousness and womanizing streak.

Henry Kissinger (left) was US President Richard Nixon’s National Security Advisor.Photo: Keystone, AP Photo

The jubilee has many achievements to show for himself. He sought détente with China and the Soviet Union, made peace in the Middle East and tried to disarmament. In secret talks in what was then the USSR, he engineered the first Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement (SALT I). He also negotiated the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973/74. They are impressive achievements. Kissinger is still considered by many to be a foreign policy genius.

Power politicians without morals

However, critics see him as a power politician without morals, who also supported dictatorships – as long as it only served his interests. The accusation was that the end justified the means. At the time, he was considered increasingly self-important and withdrawn. In a 1972 interview, he compared himself to a cowboy riding alone and leading the column. He later regretted those words.

In addition to the foreign policy successes, there is a whole list of wars and crises in which Kissinger played at least a dubious role. On the one hand, there is the Vietnam War: Kissinger is said to have prevented a peace treaty that was about to be concluded in 1968 in order to help Nixon win the elections. In 1973, years of secret negotiations with the North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho finally resulted in a peace treaty. Both were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – although the war continued until 1975. Kissinger accepted the award, Le Duc Tho did not.

Henry Kissinger has also been accused of some criticism.Foto: Keystone, AP Photo/Frank Wiese

It is disputed what role Kissinger played in the secret bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Critics accuse him of having helped the Khmer Rouge to power in the Southeast Asian country as a result of his actions.

Support for Indonesia’s bloody invasion of East Timor in 1975 is also a dark spot in Kissinger’s foreign policy career. Together with the US secret service CIA, Kissinger is said to have been involved in General Augusto Pinochet’s bloody coup against Chile’s elected socialist President Salvador Allende in 1973.

summonses from courts

Kissinger received subpoenas from courts in various countries, but never appeared. To this day, he does not want to know anything about the allegations against him. When asked about the criticism – and Cambodia in particular – he reacted indignantly in an interview for US television. The topic of the program is that he will be 100 years old, he scolded. And now you come around the corner with a 60-year-old thing. He portrayed the younger generation who condemned him as ignorant.

Kissinger left the political arena after Democratic President Jimmy Carter took office in 1977. For Kissinger, however, retiring from active politics did not mean withdrawing from the public eye. He founded a consulting firm, wrote several books and, despite his advanced age, is still a popular speaker when it comes to foreign policy assessments.