Henry Kissinger, former National Security Advisor (NSA) and U.S. Secretary of State, died on November 29th in his Connecticut home. He was 100. Kissinger was a German-born Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany in 1938. Even though he arrived in America speaking little English, he carved his path into American politics with the Nixon Administration and assumed the position of NSA in 1968 and Secretary of State in 1973.
At the height of his power in 1973, Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the Vietnam War, although it came with heavy controversy. Kissinger was a pivotal piece in Operation Menu, a covert U.S.S.A.C (United States Strategic Air Command) tactical bombing that lasted over a year from 1969-1970 in eastern Cambodia. The event likely killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians. While some see Kissinger as an American hero, others see him as a war criminal.
The Cambodian attack initiated the controversial legacy Kissinger left behind. The Nobel Prize he won was shared with Lê Đức Thọ, a Vietnamese diplomat and politician for the negotiations that led to the 1973 Paris Agreement which ended the United States’ martial involvement in Vietnam.
Although, that is not all of Kissinger’s legacy. He also helped rebuild relationships with Russia and established a relationship with China, both at the height of the Cold War. Kissinger is remembered fondly in China, being referred to as a “legendary diplomat.”
Kissinger had a presence in multiple other countries for better or for worse. In Bangladesh, he publicly stood for a genocide committed by the West Pakistani Government, as it would be a useful counter-weight in his relations with China and India. In 1973, The October War broke out, which was an attack on Israel initiated by Syria and Egypt. Kissinger refuted the Pentagon’s attempts to send arms to Israel, which led to Israeli forces being replenished, and gaining an upper hand on Syria in Golan, a region of Israel and to eventual ceasefire after only . In 1976, after Kissinger had left office he continued to validate a genocide in Argentina after a neo-fascist military took over. Kissinger has a blood-stained reputation but no matter the stance on him, he has made a major and unforgettable impact on the world.
