Former U.S. Diplomat Henry Kissinger Marks 100th Birth and Still Active in Global Affairs

Former Diplomat and Assistant to the President Henry Kissinger Celebrating his 100th birthday on Saturday, he has outlived many of his political contemporaries who have led America through some of its most turbulent times, including his presidency. Richard Nixon and the Vietnam war.

was born in Germany On May 27, 1923, Kissinger, who is still known for his key role in American foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s, including the eventual withdrawal of the United States from Vietnam, Not until it became closely related to many of the most contentious behaviors in the conflict.

Writing in The Washington Post on Thursday, David Kissinger wrote that the centenary of his father’s birth “may feel the inevitable vibe to those who know the strength of his character and his love of historical symbolism.” No,’ he said. Not only did he outlive most of his peers and prominent detractors and students, but he remained active throughout his 90s. ”

David Kissinger noted that Elder Kissinger will celebrate this week by visiting New York, London and his hometown of Fürth, Germany.

In recent years, Kissinger has continued to wield influence over power brokers in Washington as an elder statesman. He has advised Republican and Democratic presidents, including the White House during the Trump administration, while speaking in a German accent he has not forgotten since he was 19, fleeing the Nazi regime with his family through his international consulting business. It is carried out. teenagers.

During his eight years as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, Kissinger led the first examples of “shuttle diplomacy” for Middle East peace, secret negotiations with China to end ties between the burgeoning superpowers, and involved in major foreign policy events, including agitation on national security issues. The Paris peace talks call for an end to the Vietnam conflict and the US military presence.

Kissinger, like Nixon, bore the brunt of criticism from U.S. allies when North Vietnamese communist forces occupied Saigon in 1975 and the remaining U.S. soldiers fled what is now known as Ho Chi Minh City.

Kissinger was also accused of orchestrating the expansion of the conflict into Laos and Cambodia, enabling the rise of a genocidal Khmer Rouge regime that killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians.

Kissinger was recognized in his support as a central proponent of the detente period. Detente is the diplomatic effort between the United States and the Soviet Union that began from 1967 to 1979 to defuse Cold War-era tensions through trade and arms negotiations, including the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.

Kissinger remained one of the most trusted advisors throughout the Nixon administration from 1969 to 1974, and his power only increased through the Watergate scandal that overthrew the 37th president.

Gerald FordIn 1977, he awarded Kissinger the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that he had “exercised with wisdom and compassion the great powers of America in the cause of peace.” was awarded.

Some have accused Kissinger of emphasizing power over harmony during his tenure in Washington, enacting pragmatic policies that put U.S. interests first while supporting and encouraging repressive regimes in Pakistan, Chile, and Indonesia. there is