DLNews Politics:

Henry Kissinger, a former US secretary of state and national security adviser who escaped Nazi Germany in his youth to become one of the most influential and controversial foreign policy figures in American history, has died. He was 100. Kissinger was born in Furth, a small industrial town in Bavaria that had lost a quarter of its Jewish population in the early 1930s as the Nazi persecution of Jews intensified. He worked in a shaving brush factory and attended high school by night before being drafted into the US Army. His fluency in German helped him land a job with counterintelligence, searching for Nazis in the occupied countries as Allied forces closed in on Germany. He was later awarded a Bronze Star.

After the war, Kissinger enrolled at City College of New York, where he studied accounting before being redrafted and sent to Harvard to pursue a Ph.D. in political science. He and Professor Elliott started a seminar that brought young foreign politicians, civil servants, and journalists to the university, setting him up with an influential network of global players. The group included Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the future president of France; Yasuhiro Nakasone, Japan’s prime minister; Bulent Ecevit, the longtime prime minister of Turkey; and Mahathir Mohamad, the founder of modern Malaysia.

As a diplomat under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, Kissinger exerted unparalleled influence as the United States forged ties with China and reshaped its relations with the Soviet Union. His use of realpolitik, or a pragmatic approach to diplomacy that favored practical objectives over lofty ideals, was praised by many and criticized by others as Machiavellian.

He also promoted a policy of detente with the Soviets, which led to arms control agreements and raised the possibility that Cold War tensions did not have to last forever. As a result, his legacy was a mix of accomplishments and setbacks.

Even after he left office, Kissinger was sought out for his opinions and did not hesitate to share them. He published several books and made frequent media appearances to discuss international affairs. He continued to shape global affairs long after leaving the suites of government power, even as his age and health began to fade.

The eloquent man with the silver-grey hair was among the most recognizable figures in the world, and his voice could be heard from coast to coast. He was one of only three people in American history to serve as national security adviser and secretary of state; the other two were Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. He logged 667,732 miles during his 3 1/2 years heading the State Department, visiting 59 countries. Even in his late years, Kissinger remained active in global politics, meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in July while U.S.-Chinese relations were at a low point and warning against the dangers of a repeat of the 1973 Yom Kippur war in Syria. He amassed an impressive resume of accolades and controversies in a career that spanned seven decades.