Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger was a German-born American diplomat who served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford.
He shaped Cold War foreign policy through détente with the Soviet Union, opening relations with China, and negotiating the Paris Peace Accords ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
His name evokes both diplomatic pragmatism and controversy over covert operations in Chile, Cambodia, and elsewhere.
Kissinger often appears as shorthand for amoral realpolitik: a Kissinger-style approach to foreign affairs.
Relaxation of strained relations
- Soviet UnionFormer communist superstate
- Nixon37th U.S. president
- shuttle diplomacyNegotiation via traveling intermediary
- Vietnam WarCold-era Indochina military engagement
Paris Peace Accords · SALT · nuclear arms · containment · brinkmanship · proxy wars · superpower · Brezhnev
Equal distribution of influence
- national interestNation's collective welfare priorities
- geopoliticsGeography's role in statecraft
- statecraftArt of government
- pragmatismPractical problem-solving philosophy
power politics · amorality · Machiavellian · world order · spheres of influence · great powers · stability · multipolarity
Discussion seeking mutual accord
- statesmanshipSkillful government leadership
- shuttle diplomacyNegotiation via traveling intermediary
- Nobel Peace PrizeHonor for advancing harmony
- Middle EastAsia-Africa-Europe junction zone
Yom Kippur War · disengagement · ceasefire · mediation · foreign policy · State Department · summit · bilateral
Illegal acts during conflict
- PinochetChilean military autocrat
- BangladeshSouth Asian republic
- East TimorHalf-island Southeast Asian nation
- human rightsInalienable personal freedoms
accountability · extradition · civilian casualties · Laos · wiretapping · critics · trial · indictment
detente
Relaxation of strained relations
- Soviet UnionFormer communist superstate
- Nixon37th U.S. president
- shuttle diplomacyNegotiation via traveling intermediary
Vietnam War · Paris Peace Accords · SALT · nuclear arms · containment · brinkmanship · proxy wars · superpower · Brezhnev · Mao
balance of power
Equal distribution of influence
- national interestNation's collective welfare priorities
- geopoliticsGeography's role in statecraft
- statecraftArt of government
pragmatism · power politics · amorality · Machiavellian · world order · spheres of influence · great powers · stability · multipolarity · hegemony
negotiation
Discussion seeking mutual accord
- statesmanshipSkillful government leadership
- shuttle diplomacyNegotiation via traveling intermediary
- Nobel Peace PrizeHonor for advancing harmony
Middle East · Yom Kippur War · disengagement · ceasefire · mediation · foreign policy · State Department · summit · bilateral · peace process
war crimes
Illegal acts during conflict
- PinochetChilean military autocrat
- BangladeshSouth Asian republic
- East TimorHalf-island Southeast Asian nation
human rights · accountability · extradition · civilian casualties · Laos · wiretapping · critics · trial · indictment
- Foreign Policy ThinkersCondoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright, John Bolton
- Vietnam War FiguresHo Chi Minh, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon
- Henrys
- diplomatsambassador, diplomat, consul, envoy, emissary
- Nixon eraNixon, Watergate scandal, resignation, impeachment, coverup
- Emigre IntellectualsThomas Mann, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht
Henry KissingerWoodrow Wilson
Twenty-eighth American president
Jimmy Carter · Eleanor Roosevelt · Kofi Annan · Dag Hammarskjöld · idealist
Henry KissingerAmnesty International
Human rights advocacy group
Human Rights Watch · Elie Wiesel · Nelson Mandela · Jimmy Carter · Ralph Nader
Henry KissingerJane Fonda
dove · peacenik · anti-war activist · isolationist · pacifist