Controversy, diplomacy, war: Who was former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger?

Henry Kissinger was one of the most controversial and prominent figures in US foreign policy, ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore reports

Henry Kissinger, who died on Wednesday at the age of 100, was praised by some as a skilled defender of US interests by world leaders.

But the former secretary of state under President Richard Nixon was also widely called a war criminal who left lasting damage throughout the world.

Who was Kissinger really and what were the most defining moments in his career?

Kissinger was born into a middle-class Jewish family in the Bavarian city of Fürth, on May 23, 1923. Shortly after the Nazis came into power, his family emigrated to New York.

The diplomat rarely discussed his refugee past, but in an interview with The New York Times he said that he was bullied by Nazi Youth and was sad of having to say goodbye to his grandfather.

At least 13 of the family’s close relatives perished in the Nazi gas chambers or concentration camps.

Some observers argued that Kissinger's experience in Nazi Germany shaped his underlying pessimism of world affairs.

Between 1969 to 1977, Kissinger ranged across the breadth of major foreign policy issues - first as national security adviser, later as secretary of state, and for a time holding both titles.

He served under both Presidents Nixon and Gerald Ford, but shared an especially close relationship with Nixon.

Both men are remembered for their efforts in three main areas: getting America out of the Vietnam War, opening diplomatic relations with China, and reducing tensions with the Soviet Union.

Kissinger is known for having initiated the Paris negotiations that ultimately provided a face-saving means to get the United States out of Vietnam.

Saigon eventually fell to the communists, leaving a bitter taste among former US allies who blamed Nixon, Kissinger and Congress for abandoning them.

His critics accused him of prolonging the Vietnam War and extending the conflict into Laos and Cambodia. In 1969, Kissinger ordered the carpet bombing Cambodia, killing as many as 150,000 civilians.

He also used secret channels to pursue ties between the United States and China, ending decades of isolation and mutual hostility.

Kissinger had visited China more than 100 times, most recently going in July this year where he was welcomed by President Xi Jinping.

And he also pursued a policy of détente 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.

In 1973, Kissinger shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Le Duc Tho, his North Vietnamese counterpart, for hammering out an agreement to end the Vietnam War.

The accord, which was signed January 27, 1973, had “brought a wave of joy and hope for peace over the entire world,” the Nobel committee said at the time.

He was also rewarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in early 1977. At the time President Ford called him “the greatest Secretary of State in the history of our Republic."

"His superb record of achievement is unsurpassed in the annals of American history,” he added.

After he left government, Kissinger 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.

Kissinger embraced Argentina’s military as it disappeared tens of thousands of civilians, and supported General Augusto Pinochet’s military overthrow in Chile.

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.

When asked in a July 2022 interview with ABC whether he wished he could take back any of his decisions, Kissinger said: “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.”

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