Former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger turns 100 on Saturday, May 27, and leaves an indelible mark on his country’s foreign policy during the second half of the 20th century. A diplomat as applauded as criticized, national security adviser and Secretary of State to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1969 and 1977. Here are some key moments.
Henry Kissinger turns 100 this Saturday, May 27, and still holds the attention of world diplomacy by sharing his geopolitical advice while generating fascination and controversy.
For some visionary and for others “war criminal”, the “savant” with a hunched silhouette but still recognizable by his thick-rimmed black glasses, remains active.
The former head of US diplomacy participated on Tuesday, May 24, in a tribute at the very select Economic Club of New York, where he blew out the candles on a chocolate cake for its 100th anniversary.
His public appearances have become rarer over the years but more frequent via videoconference, as he did in Davos in January 2023. But for Kissinger, who left his mark on US foreign policy in the second half of the twentieth century, its longevity is exceptional.
From his offices in New York and his consulting firm Kissinger Associates, he maintains a relative aura among the elite in Washington and abroad, even among Democrats such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who one day said she “trusted the advice” of her ” friend”.
“American Realpolitik”
An essential player in world diplomacy during the Cold War, this Nobel Peace Prize winner began rapprochement with Moscow and Beijing in the 1970s, with a pragmatic vision of the world, a kind of “Realpolitik” in the American style.
In a sign that his vision of the world has barely changed, on Tuesday, May 24, in front of his guests, he estimated that the United States must defend its “vital interests.” Even about the war in Ukraine, a subject in which he advocates a ceasefire. “We have reached a point where we have achieved our strategic objective. Russia’s military attempt to absorb Ukraine has failed.”
But the image of the man with the harsh voice and the strong accent inherited from his German origins remains tarnished and linked to the dark pages of United States history, such as support for the 1973 coup in Chile or the invasion of East Timor. in 1975 and, of course, Vietnam.
In fact, Kissinger has never been concerned with justice; in 2004 a lawsuit was dismissed.
An investigation published Wednesday on the website The Intercept claims, based on Pentagon archival documents and testimony from survivors, that the US bombing campaign in Cambodia between 1969 and 1973, which Kissinger was responsible for, was widely underestimated, having caused many more civilian deaths than previously admitted.
Historian Muntassir Mamoon, from Dhaka University in Bangladesh, noted that Kissinger “actively supported genocide” in that country in 1971.
“The irony is that you remember that he made peace but forget everything he did to prolong the war not only in Vietnam but in Cambodia and Laos,” adds historian Carolyn Eisenberg of Hofstra University in the United States.
Short biography
Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born on May 27, 1923 in Fürth, in Bavaria, Germany. When he was 15 years old, he took refuge in the United States with his family, before becoming a naturalized American at 20.
The son of a professor, he joined military counterintelligence and the United States Army before embarking on a brilliant career at Harvard, where he was also a teacher.
He established himself as the face of world diplomacy when Republican Richard Nixon called him to the White House in 1969 as national security adviser, then as Secretary of State – both positions between 1973 and 1975 – and he continued to be the lord of diplomacy. in Gerald Ford’s presidency until 1977.
It is at that moment that he launches détente with the Soviet Union and thaws relations with Mao’s China and makes secret trips to organize Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing in 1972.
He carries out, also with the utmost secrecy and in parallel to the bombing of Hanoi, the negotiations with Le Duc Tho to end the Vietnam War.
Signing a ceasefire with North Vietnam earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, one of the most controversial awards in history.
Five key moments
1. Thaw with China
Kissinger secretly traveled to Beijing in July 1971 to establish relations with communist China, paving the way for President Nixon’s historic visit to the Chinese capital in 1972.
This hand extended to China put an end to the isolation of the Asian giant and contributed to the rise of Beijing, firstly economically, on the international stage.
2. Vietnam and the Nobel Peace Prize
Kissinger carried out, in the greatest secrecy and in parallel to the bombing of Hanoi, negotiations with the revolutionary Le Duc Tho to end the war in Vietnam.
He was rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for signing a ceasefire in 1973 with the North Vietnamese, who rejected it by assuring that the negotiated truce was not respected.
Kissinger did not dare to travel to Oslo to receive the award for fear of demonstrations, and was replaced by the US ambassador.
3. Support for dictatorships
Kissinger’s critics denounce his support for coups in Latin America in the name of the fight against communism, and in particular the one in Chile, in which the United States helped bring dictator Augusto Pinochet to power after the president’s suicide. Salvador Allende, in 1973.
4. The invasions
The defense of the general interest of the United States also led him to support, more or less tacitly, various invasions. He supported, for example, Indonesian President Suharto’s invasion of East Timor, which left 200,000 dead in 1975.
This was also the case when Turkey seized a third of the territory of Cyprus in 1974, as well as during destabilization operations in the midst of the civil war in Angola.
5. Middle East
Kissinger spent much of his time in the Middle East, where he organized a massive airlift, Operation Nickel Grass, to supply weapons to his ally Israel after a surprise attack by Arab countries on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in 1973.
He later inaugurated “traveling diplomacy” by negotiating with Israel, Syria and Egypt, which would become a key ally once outside Moscow’s sphere of influence.
(With AFP)
