Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the last surviving member of former President Richard Nixon’s Cabinet, died on Wednesday. He is 100 years old.
The German-born scholar, statesman and US military veteran died at his home in Connecticut, according to a statement from his geopolitical consulting firm, Kissinger Associates. No cause of death was given.
Kissinger, the only presidential appointee to serve concurrently as national security adviser and secretary of state, was one of Nixon’s most trusted Cabinet members and achieved lasting changes to US foreign policy in the 20th century through his emphasis on realism and the reduction of tensions between world power.
While serving under Nixon and former President Gerald Ford from 1969 and 1977, he negotiated a new strategic alliance with China and initiated a policy of détente to engage with the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for helping to end US involvement in the Vietnam War and leading peace talks that same year between Israel and Arab states that ended the Yom Kippur War.
Ford also awarded Kissinger, who served as his national security adviser, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, for having “used the great power of America with wisdom and compassion in the service of peace.”
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the last surviving member of former President Richard Nixon’s Cabinet, was 100 years old when he died. AFP via Getty Images He was one of Nixon’s most trusted Cabinet members and achieved lasting change to US foreign policy in the 20th century through his commitment to realism. AP
His legacy has also been attacked by critics who attribute the subsequent fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese communist forces and accuse him of enabling the rise of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed 2 million Cambodians in 1975.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for helping to end US involvement in the Vietnam War and leading the peace negotiations that ended the Yom Kippur War. AFP via Getty Images
The son of German Jews, Kissinger fled with his family from Nazi rule just days before the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom, only to return six years later as a private and then a sergeant in the US Army.
He was awarded the Bronze Star for his intelligence work as a member of the Army’s 84th Infantry Division during World War II, serving briefly as the military governor of a small town just 200 miles from where he was born.
Kissinger, who worked in a toothbrush factory in New York as a teenager while teaching himself English and attending night school, began his post-military career as an academic, completing his dissertation at Harvard in 1957.
He began as a foreign policy adviser in his mid-30s working for former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination twice before serving as vice president under Ford.
After leaving public office in 1977, the statesman formed a geopolitical consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, and authored more than a dozen books on history and diplomacy, his personal memoirs and, most recently, the implications of artificial intelligence.
He was asked for his advice by world leaders and Washington power brokers until his last days.
Kissinger negotiated a close relationship with China that initiated a new strategic alliance and initiated a policy of détente to engage with the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. Hum Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Ford awarded Kissinger the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, for having “used the great power of America with wisdom and compassion in the service of peace.” Hum Images/Universal Image Group via Getty Images
“Not only has he outlived many of his peers, prominent critics and students, but he has remained active well into his 90s,” Kissinger’s son, David, wrote in a May Washington Post op-ed.
“My father’s longevity is truly miraculous when one considers the health regimen he followed throughout his adult life, which included a heavy diet of bratwurst and Wiener schnitzel, a career of relentlessly stressful decision-making, and a love of sports as a mere spectator. . , was never a participant.”
Kissinger was known to have a wry sense of humor when he was carrying out his official duties. Former Minnesota Republican senator Rudy Boschwitz, who was also born in Germany two years before his family fled the country during Adolf Hitler’s reign, relayed one such exchange with The Post.
Kissinger was known to have a wry sense of humor when he was carrying out his official duties. Stephen Yang Kissinger will be buried at a private family service. Stephen Yang A memorial service will also be held in New York City in the future, according to his consulting firm. Stephen Yang He is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, two children from his first marriage, David and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren. Stephen Yang
“Okay Rudy, the Constitution says we can’t be President,” Kissinger reportedly told Boschwitz, noting their shared heritage. “But it doesn’t say anything about the Emperor.”
“We both had a good laugh,” Boschwitz told The Post.
Kissinger will be buried at a private family service. A memorial service will also be held in New York City at a later date, according to his consulting firm.
He is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, two children from his first marriage, David and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
