Henry Kissinger lived a life dedicated to foreign relations as Secretary of State under President Nixon. He had many accomplishments including the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for the Vietnam War accords.
Kissinger was born on May 27, 1923, in Furth, Germany. As he was growing up, there was a growing fervor of Hitler and Nazism. This prompted his family to leave Germany in 1938 and move to England and then several months later, to the US. He went to school in New York City excelling at athletics, but being even more gifted as a student. After finishing school, Kissinger started taking night classes to become an accountant and worked during the day as a factory worker.
When WWII started in 1939, Kissinger joined the US military as a German interpreter. In 1947, after the war ended, he attended Harvard where he would earn a degree in government and eventually a masters and PHD degree. After getting his PHD, he became the Associate Director of Harvard’s Department of Government and Center of International Affairs.
In the 1968 elections, elected President Richard Nixon would appoint Kissinger as his National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. As Kissinger was entering the State Department, Egypt and Syria had just launched a surprise attack on Israel. This prompted the October War of 1973, which helped to bolster Kissinger tenure as Secretary. During this war, Kissinger sent air supplies to the Israels angering Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) who would later place an oil embargo on the US. To get rid of the oil embargo, Kissinger began “shuttle diplomacy” missions where he would travel to various parts of the middle east to help negotiate disengagement agreements between enemies. Kissinger’s act of “shuttle diplomacy” would later contribute to OPEC lifting their oil embargo.
Despite the Watergate scandal, Kissinger would stay on board under President Gerald Ford. Kissinger helped Ford become used to the international scene and continued to push policies proposed by Nixon like detente with the Soviets, good relations with China, and negotiations in the Middle East.
He would leave office when Ford lost to Carter in 1976, but would later produce two books dedicated to his experiences in office.
Overall, Kissinger greatly impacted US foreign relations by helping two presidents in Ford and Nixon with international problems. He persisted as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor despite the Watergate Scandal and helped lift the OPEC oil embargo off the US.
https://www.notablebiographies.com/Ki-Lo/Kissinger-Henry.html
https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/kissinger-henry-a
I like how detailed and interesting your post on Kissinger's professional life is! While researching, I also found that his personal life was rather amusing. During his youth, he dated around 10 celebrity women, several of them calling Kissinger "the most interesting man [they've] ever met." In a poll placed in Playboy magazine in 1972, women overwhelming chose him as the man they'd most like to go on a date with. Many people considered him a "strategic wizard who dated actresses."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/04/20/a-brief-history-of-celebrity-white-house-staffers/
This post was very interesting and helped me understand Kissinger's origin story. I recently learned that Kissinger is still alive at the age of 96! He's nicknamed an "old friend of the Chinese people" because of his hard work to improve relations between the US and China, and he still does this today. After President Trump accepting a congratulatory call from Taiwan's Tsai Ingwen threatened to raise tension between the US and China, Kissinger came to the rescue. He went to Beijing to reassure Xi Jinping that the US hoped to see the US-China relationship move forward in a stable manner. Who knows what would have happened if Kissinger wasn't there to save us.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://qz.com/950103/at-age-93-henry-kissinger-appears-to-have-played-a-cruical-role-in-the-xi-jinping-donald-trump-summit/