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The Untold Truth Of Henry Kissinger
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and became famous for shaping policy in Vietnam,
the Middle East, and especially China. This
is the untold truth of Henry Kissinger.
Henry Kissinger was born
Heinz Kissinger on May 27,
1923. He spent his early childhood in
Furth, a city on the outskirts of Nuremberg,
the second largest city in Bavaria. Kissinger
was the son of Louis and Paula Kissinger,
a Jewish couple whom the Irish Times
described as, quote, "profoundly religious."
In November 1923, Adolf Hitler's emergent
Nazi party staged the Beer Hall Putsch
in a failed attempt to overthrow the
Bavarian government. Ten years later,
Hitler would be chancellor, turning Germany
into an oppressive dictatorship that reserved
particular hostility for the
nation's Jewish population.
Kissinger's family was among the many that
fled the country, leaving Furth in 1938.
Fortunately, the Kissingers left Germany before
Kristallnacht, which occurred on November 9th
through 10th of that year. Also known as
the Night of Broken Glass, Kristallnacht
was a pogram against Jewish people and property,
resulting in the deaths of 91 people, the looting
of 7,500 Jewish businesses, and the vandalism of
some 1,000 synagogues, according to Britannica.
Kissinger arrived in the U.S. aged 15 and
settled in New York's Washington Heights,
which had so many German immigrants
that it was sometimes referred to
as the "Fourth Reich," according to The
New Yorker. During these early years,
Kissinger worked in a factory making shaving
brushes and planned on becoming an accountant.
As detailed by The New Yorker, Henry
Kissinger was drafted into the U.S.
Army in 1942. He relished the role
so much that a compatriot observed,
"He was more American than I
have ever seen any American."
Historian Jeremi Suri notes how he was
recruited for this role because he spoke German,
had cultural knowledge of Germany, and was
of Jewish heritage, which gave the Americans
confidence that he would be anti-Nazi.
Serving in the 84th infantry division,
Kissinger was awarded a Bronze Star for his
help in breaking up a Gestapo sleeper cell.
It was during his military experience
that Kissinger met Fritz Kraemer, a fellow
German-American some 15 years older than him.
Kraemer was an intense man who had animosity for
both Communists and Nazis, with whom he apparently
fought in the streets of Weimar Germany.
Kraemer's "Nietzschean" perspective on the world
caused Kissinger to describe him as, quote,
"the greatest single influence on my formative
years." However, according to Globalo, Kraemer
cut ties with Kissinger in the 1970s because
he was, quote, "visibly repulsed by Kissinger's
egotism and vanity." The Guardian reported
that Fritz Kraemer died on September 8, 2003.
After holding various positions in government
and publishing influential books such as Nuclear
Weapons and Foreign Policy, Henry Kissinger became
head of the National Security Council in 1969,
a year in which the anti-Vietnam War
movement held some of its largest protests.
According to Salon, Kissinger
asked the Pentagon to outline
possible bombing strategies in Indochina, the
former French colony that encompassed Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia. Soon, it was decided that
Cambodia was the best target for America's
fleet of B-52 bombers. This is because it
was host to large tracts of the Ho Chi Minh
trail, which the Viet Cong used to move
fighters and equipment into South Vietnam.
The ensuing campaign — dubbed Operation
Menu — was conducted in total secrecy,
for Kissinger knew that Congress would
oppose the bombing of a neutral country.
Kissinger was reportedly
"hands on" with the operation
and was reportedly very excited by the
strategy. According to a Pentagon report,
"Henry A. Kissinger approved each of
the 3,875 Cambodia bombing raids in 1969
and 1970 [...] as well as the methods
for keeping them out of the newspapers."
Ultimately, the U.S. dropped 500,000 tons
of bombs on Cambodia between 1969 and 1973,
killing a minimum of 100,000 civilians.
A defining tenet of Richard Nixon's and
Henry Kissinger's relationship was pursuing
detente with the Soviet Union. According to
Britannica, when Nixon assumed office in 1969,
he was keen to reduce America's military
commitment without losing face. Namely,
he sought to achieve, quote,
"peace with honor" in Vietnam,
detente with the Soviet Union, and the opening
of relations with China, which had diverged from
the Soviet Union during the Sino-Soviet split,
according to the National Cold War Exhibition.
Diplomacy with the Soviet Union was a
gravely complicated issue, but Nixon had
a strong reputation as an anti-Communist
and "tough negotiator." This gave him the
confidence to pursue peace without fear of harsh
criticism from conservative members of Congress.
Kissinger assisted Nixon by negotiating
the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, or
SALT, which featured the Treaty
on Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems
and the Interim Agreement and Protocol on
Limitation of Strategic Offensive Weapons.
These were signed by Nixon and General
Secretary Leonid Brezhnev on May 26, 1972.
Henry Kissinger's involvement with China
is perhaps his most enduring legacy.
According to The Independent, Kissinger's
appeal to other world leaders likely stemmed
from his success in coordinating a meeting
between President Richard Nixon and Chairman
Mao Tse-Tung — one that certainly elevated him
from simple politician to phenomenon status.
In 1971, Kissinger left Islamabad and laid low
for a few days, ostensibly because he was ill.
However, he had actually flown to Beijing for a
secret meeting with the Chinese Communist Party.
China and the U.S. were ideological adversaries
and had no formal relations, notes The Atlantic,
but Nixon was intent on
alleviating China from, quote,
"angry isolation," as he wrote in
October 1967. The University of
Southern California reported that Kissinger
spoke with Premier Zhou Enlai, telling him,
"It is the conviction of President
Nixon that a strong and developing
People's Republic of China poses no
threat to any essential U.S. interest.
It is no accident that our two countries
have had such a long history of friendship."
The meeting was a success, with Kissinger ranking
Zhou Enlai as the most impressive statesmen he
had met since Charles De Gaulle. As shown in White
House papers, Kissinger suggested that Nixon could
visit in the spring of 1972, but the president's
visit occurred even earlier on February 21-28,
which Nixon described as, quote,
"the week that changed the world."
In 1973, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded
to Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho for
negotiating the Paris Peace Accords, which
secured a nationwide ceasefire in Vietnam,
the withdrawal of all U.S. troops there, and
dismantling of all U.S. bases within 60 days.
"The ceasefire will take effect at twenty-four
hundred Greenwich Mean Time, January 27, 1973."
Furthermore, it stipulated that Vietnam
would remain split at the 17th Parallel,
and that reunification of the
country would be achieved, quote,
"through peaceful means." In reaction
to the prize, Kissinger said,
"I am deeply moved by the award of the Nobel Peace
Prize. [...] I can only accept
this award with humility."
Tho, however, refused the prize because he
didn't want to be associated with Kissinger,
according to Time magazine. However, he may
have also rejected it because of rank hypocrisy,
as Tho would oversee the North Vietnamese invasion
of South Vietnam in 1975. Many were appalled by
Kissinger's award, including two members of
the Nobel committee who resigned in protest.
The Yom Kippur War broke out in
October 1973 when Egypt and Syria
attacked Israel on two fronts during the
holy day of Yom Kippur. The battle ebbed
and flowed and was costly for both sides
until the fighting ceased on October 26,
following cease-fire resolutions from the
United Nations. According to Jeremi Suri,
Henry Kissinger stepped in at this point and
changed the Middle East dynamic. As noted by Suri,
"[Kissinger became] the leading
negotiator between the Israelis,
the Egyptians, and other
major actors in the region."
Kissinger's intervention became known
as "shuttle diplomacy," which referred
to how he "shuttled" between the combatants to
broker deals and achieve peace. In negotiations,
Kissinger had a flexibility that was able to
placate both Israelis and Arabs, which afforded
him greater success than the Russians, who were
blighted by Moscow's "rigid bureaucratic chain."
However, while he successfully negotiated borders
and buffer zones between Egypt and Israel,
Kissinger neglected other parts of the
Middle East, namely Palestine. This would
sow resentment in a region that would
see great suffering in the 21st century.
After the success in China,
Vietnam and the Middle East,
Richard Nixon was concerned that Henry Kissinger
was overshadowing him. According to Vanity Fair,
Nixon thought that Kissinger considered
himself to have a superior intellect and
that he acted as Nixon's puppet master. Nixon also
resented Kissinger's popularity with the press.
Nixon would even refer to the, quote, "K
problem" in conversations with H.R. Haldeman,
the White House chief of staff.
Nixon was reported to have said,
"Henry's personality problem is just too
[...] difficult for us to deal [with]."
Kissinger would use his signature flattery to
manipulate Nixon, but the president sometimes
distrusted his admiration. Nixon would sometimes
toy with Kissinger to keep him in check.
For example, Nixon knew that Kissinger desperately
wanted to be the man to make the secret visit to
China, so Nixon tortured him by suggesting all
of the other worthy candidates for the job,
forcing Kissinger to sell himself to him.
Kissinger, meanwhile, privately referred
to his president as "that madman," "our
drunken friend," and "the meatball mind."
Many people have consulted Henry
Kissinger since he left office,
including presidential candidates. According
to ABC, Hillary Clinton said that she "relied
on his counsel" when she was secretary of state
during the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013.
Referring to Kissinger as
"a friend," Clinton wrote,
"[Henry Kissinger] checked in with me regularly,
sharing astute observations about foreign leaders
and sending me written reports on his travels."
Clinton's relationship with Kissinger
became particularly contentious during
her 2016 debates with Bernie
Sanders, in which she said,
"I was very flattered when Henry
Kissinger said I ran the State
Department better than anybody
had run in a long time."
Sanders would say,
"I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger
was one of the most destructive secretaries
of state in the modern history of
this country. I am proud to say that
Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will
not take advice from Henry Kissinger."
Henry Kissinger's legacy is
divisive and controversial.
A Politico article asked 10 historians
to summarize Kissinger's career,
and the response was broadly critical. However,
the sharpest criticisms came from Christopher
Hitchens, the revered public intellectual
and author of The Trial of Henry Kissinger.
"We as Americans think it's a disgrace, that Henry
Kissinger's sheltered by the U.S. government."
In it, Hitchens argues:
"[Kissinger should be prosecuted] for war crimes,
for crimes against humanity, and for
offenses against common or customary or
international law, including conspiracy
to commit murder, kidnap, and torture."
According to George Washington University, judges
in Chile, Argentina, and France responded to these
damning accusations by summoning Kissinger for
questioning. Once such summoning occurred when
Kissinger was staying in Paris, causing the
former secretary of state to leave the city.
"Kissinger's never said a word of self-criticism.
Not one. And he gets very petulant and angry."
In response, Kissinger slandered
Hitchens in a radio interview,
accusing him of Holocaust denial. Hitchens
quickly threatened legal action, saying,
"Mr. Kissinger will be hearing from my attorney,
who will tell him two things he already knows —
what he said is false, malicious and defamatory,
and if he says it again, we will
proceed against him in court."
When Hitchens was suffering from terminal cancer,
C-SPAN asked what his reaction would be if
Kissinger attempted to reconcile. Hitchens said:
"It would be extremely interesting,
but one of the reasons I detest him is
that I sort of know that couldn't happen.
He wouldn't even agree [...] to have questions
submitted in writing, let alone to meet me."
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