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Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, dies at 100

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.

Quick Read

  • Henry Kissinger’s Death at 100: Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a key figure in shaping foreign policy during the Vietnam War era and the opening to China, died at age 100.
  • Influential and Controversial Figure: Kissinger was known for his significant influence under Presidents Nixon and Ford, earning both praise and criticism, including the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • Role During Watergate: Kissinger’s power increased during Watergate, assuming a significant role in Nixon’s administration.
  • Background and Later Years: A Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, Kissinger later became a respected statesman, advising both parties and running a consulting business, even engaging with President Trump’s White House.
  • Criticism Over Policies: He faced ongoing criticism for his foreign policy decisions, especially in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
  • Key Foreign Policy Moves: Kissinger was involved in major policy decisions, including Middle East shuttle diplomacy, U.S.-China ties, Vietnam War negotiations, and detente with the Soviet Union.
  • Kissinger’s Reflections: He remained reflective on his decisions and Nixon’s presidency, actively involved in global affairs into his late 90s.
  • Tributes from Prominent Figures: His death prompted tributes from figures like George W. Bush and Michael Bloomberg, highlighting his impact on foreign affairs.
  • Realpolitik Practitioner: Kissinger was known for his realpolitik approach, focusing on practical objectives in diplomacy.
  • Controversies: He faced criticism for actions such as authorizing wiretaps and the Cambodia invasion, and was a target of protests even in later years.
  • Personal Life and Public Image: Known for his relationships with women and a charismatic public persona, Kissinger married Nancy Maginnes in 1974 and was seen as a symbol of power and influence.
  • Early Life and Family: Born in Germany, Kissinger moved to the U.S. to escape Nazi persecution and had two children from his first marriage.

The Associated Press has the story:

Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, dies at 100

Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP)

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.

With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. Decades later, his name still provoked impassioned debate over foreign policy landmarks long past.

FILE – Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is interviewed by Neil Cavuto on his “Cavuto Coast to Coast” program on the Fox Business Network, June 5, 2015, in New York. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Kissinger’s power grew during the turmoil of Watergate, when the politically attuned diplomat assumed a role akin to co-president to the weakened Nixon.

“No doubt my vanity was piqued,” Kissinger later wrote of his expanding influence. “But the dominant emotion was a premonition of catastrophe.”

FILE – Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is seen during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, June 6, 2006. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev, File)

A Jew who fled Nazi Germany with his family in his teens, Kissinger in his later years cultivated the reputation of respected statesman, giving speeches, offering advice to Republicans and Democrats alike and managing a global consulting business. He turned up in President Donald Trump’s White House on multiple occasions. But Nixon-era documents and tapes, as they trickled out over the years, brought revelations — many in Kissinger’s own words — that sometimes cast him in a harsh light.

FILE – Henry Kissinger, professor of government at Harvard University, is seen in this December 1968 photo. Former Secretary of State Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo, File)

Never without his detractors, Kissinger after he left government was dogged by critics who argued that he should be called to account for his policies on Southeast Asia and support of repressive regimes in Latin America.

For eight restless years — first as national security adviser, later as secretary of state, and for a time in the middle holding both titles — Kissinger ranged across the breadth of major foreign policy issues. He conducted the first “shuttle diplomacy” in the quest for Middle East peace. He used secret channels to pursue ties between the United States and China, ending decades of isolation and mutual hostility.

FILE – Henry Kissinger, left, President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser, and Le Duc Tho, member of Hanoi’s Politburo, are shown outside a suburban house at Gif Sur Yvette in Paris, June 13, 1973, after a negotiation session, as Kissinger announced that they will later initial an agreement intended to tighten enforcement of the Vietnam Peace Agreement. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz, File)

He initiated the Paris negotiations that ultimately provided a face-saving means — a “decent interval,” he called it — to get the United States out of a costly war in Vietnam. Two years later, Saigon fell to the communists.

And he pursued a policy of detente with the Soviet Union that led to arms control agreements and raised the possibility that the tensions of the Cold War and its nuclear threat did not have to last forever.

FILE – Secretary of State Henry Kissinger briefs reporters, Oct. 12, 1973, at the State Department in Washington. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo, File)

At age 99, he was still out on tour for his book on leadership. Asked in July 2022 interview with ABC whether he wished he could take back any of his decisions, Kissinger demurred, saying: “I’ve been thinking about these problems all my life. It’s my hobby as well as my occupation. And so the recommendations I made were the best of which I was then capable.”

FILE – Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, left, gestures to the audience in the East Room of the White House, Sept. 22, 1973, as President Richard Nixon watches, in Washington. Kissinger had just been sworn in as the 56th secretary of state. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo, File)

Even then, he had mixed thoughts on Nixon’s record, saying “his foreign policy has held up and he was quite effective in domestic policy” while allowing that the disgraced president had “permitted himself to be involved in a number of steps that were inappropriate for a president.”

FILE – President Bill Clinton, left, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger laugh together after Clinton gave the closing remarks at a national policy conference, March 1, 1995, in Washington. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

As Kissinger turned 100 in May 2023, his son David wrote in The Washington Post that his father’s centenary “might have an air of inevitability for anyone familiar with his force of character and love of historical symbolism. Not only has he outlived most of his peers, eminent detractors and students, but he has also remained indefatigably active throughout his 90s.”

FILE – President George W. Bush, left, stands with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger after the president spoke about the economy during an addressing before The Economic Club of New York in New York, March 14, 2008. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Asked during a CBS interview in the leadup to his 100th birthday about those who view his conduct of foreign policy over the years as a kind of “criminality,” Kissinger was nothing but dismissive.

“That’s a reflection of their ignorance,” Kissinger said. “It wasn’t conceived that way. It wasn’t conducted that way.”

FILE – China’s President Xi Jinping, right, listens to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who led the China-U.S Track Two Dialogue, during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Nov. 2, 2015. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Kissinger continued his involvement in global affairs even in his last months. He met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in July, as bilateral relations were at a low point. And 50 years after his shuttle diplomacy helped end the 1973 Mideast war, when Israel fended off a surprise attack from Egypt and Syria, Kissinger warned of the risks of that conflict repeating itself after Israel faced a surprise assault by Hamas on Oct. 7.

FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greets former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during a meeting in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, July 13, 2007. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/Sergei Chirikov, Pool, File)

Tributes for Kissinger from prominent U.S. officials poured in immediately upon word of his death. Former President George W. Bush said the U.S. “lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs” and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Kissinger was “endlessly generous with the wisdom gained over the course of an extraordinary life.”

Kissinger’s consulting firm said he died at his home in Connecticut.

FILE – Henry Kissinger, right, and his wife Nancy walk through the Booksellers Area as they arrive for the State Dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, May 7, 2007, at the White House in Washington. Former Secretary of State Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

Kissinger was a practitioner of realpolitik — using diplomacy to achieve practical objectives rather than advance lofty ideals. Supporters said his pragmatic bent served U.S. interests; critics saw a Machiavellian approach that ran counter to democratic ideals.

He was castigated for authorizing telephone wiretaps of reporters and his own National Security Council staff to plug news leaks in Nixon’s White House. He was denounced on college campuses for the bombing and allied invasion of Cambodia in April 1970, intended to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines to communist forces in South Vietnam.

FILE – Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, left, talks with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 31, 2007, prior to Kissinger testifying before the committee about Iraq. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

That “incursion,” as Nixon and Kissinger called it, was blamed by some for contributing to Cambodia’s fall into the hands of Khmer Rouge insurgents who later slaughtered some 2 million Cambodians.

Kissinger, for his part, made it his mission to debunk what he referred to in 2007 as a “prevalent myth” — that he and Nixon had settled in 1972 for peace terms that had been available in 1969 and thus had needlessly prolonged the Vietnam War at the cost of tens of thousands of American and Vietnamese lives.

FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger faces international press at a news conference in Schloss Klessheim in Salzburg, June 11, 1974. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo, File)

He insisted that the only way to speed up the withdrawal would have been to agree to Hanoi’s demands that the U.S. overthrow the South Vietnamese government and replace it with communist-dominated leadership.

Pudgy and messy, Kissinger incongruously acquired a reputation as a ladies’ man in the staid Nixon administration. Kissinger, who had divorced his first wife in 1964, called women “a diversion, a hobby.” Jill St. John was a frequent companion. But it turned out his real love interest was Nancy Maginnes, a researcher for Nelson Rockefeller whom he married in 1974.

FILE – Margaret Thatcher, left, leader of Great Britain’s Conservative Party, looks at the Capitol from a balcony of the State Department in Washington, Sept. 18, 1975, with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In background is the Washington Monument. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File)

In a 1972 poll of Playboy Club Bunnies, the man dubbed “Super-K” by Newsweek finished first as “the man I would most like to go out on a date with.”

Kissinger’s explanation: “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”

FILE – U.S. President Richard Nixon, right, and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger walk together to the White House in Washington, Oct. 31, 1973. Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. He was 100. (AP Photo, File)

Yet Kissinger was reviled by many Americans for his conduct of wartime diplomacy. He was still a lightning rod decades later: In 2015, an appearance by the 91-year-old Kissinger before the Senate Armed Services Committee was disrupted by protesters demanding his arrest for war crimes and calling out his actions in Southeast Asia, Chile and beyond.

Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in the Bavarian city of Fuerth on May 27, 1923, the son of a schoolteacher. His family left Nazi Germany in 1938 and settled in Manhattan, where Heinz changed his name to Henry.

Kissinger had two children, Elizabeth and David, from his first marriage.

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