2023-11-30 02:22:00
Henry Kissinger, one of the most influential figures in international politics of the 20th century, He died this Wednesday, November 29 at the age of 100. His legacy as a statesman, diplomat and staunch defender of the geopolitical interests of the United States was the subject of debate both locally and internationally, a controversy that will endure over time as will the analysis of his works.
From Reagan to Trump and from Clinton to Obama, all governments sought his advice. Admired and hated, Kissinger, a historic figure in American politics, was noted for his pragmatism. The successful Secretary of State of the former Republican president Richard Nixon He left his mark and devised methods of action that are still in force today.
He was the architect of American foreign policy during the Cold War, a turbulent international moment, and the numerous subsidiary conflicts that confronted the country that welcomed him with the Soviet Union. After his time in the White House, Kissinger remained a leading actor worldwide and the most influential voice in North American diplomacy.
However, the controversy surrounding his figure is consistent with his vast legacy. Especially because of the ambiguity that the Nobel Peace Prize winner showed regarding human rightsconsidering their aggressive military interventions in other countries and complicity with the plans of forced disappearances perpetrated by Latin American dictatorships revealed in the declassification of subsequent files.
From Heinz to Henry: his first steps in the United States
Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in Fürth, Germany, on May 27, 1923 into a working family consisting of his parents, a teacher and a housewife, and Walter, his younger brother. Escaping the Nazi regime, in 1938 the family emigrated to New York, United States. Young Henry, who adapted his name into English, attended high school at a school in the Jewish immigrant community located in upper Manhattan.
While retaining his German accent, Kissinger quickly learned the local language and assimilated into American culture, something he honed while studying at night and working during the day in a shaving brush factory. He later enrolled at the prestigious Harvard University, where he graduated with honors with a degree in Political Science (in 1950) and then served as professor and director of the defense studies program between 1958 and 1971.
In those years Kissinger began to show his inclination for realism in international relations theory that marked American foreign policy in the middle of the century. In one of his thesis he argued that the world order should not be “just” but “legitimate“, that is to say, “accepted by the great powers“and to allow them “fight once morest “revolutionary” attempts that threaten that system.
His academic life was interrupted in 1943, when he was called up for military service as the United States entered World War II. In this context, Kissinger caught the attention of Fritz Kraemer, a German officer and countryman. He was the first to highlight his intelligence and introduced him to the Army’s organizational chart, where he wove connections that supported his political career.
Kissinger’s political rise
After dedicating himself to business, Kissinger began his rise into national politics as an advisor to President John F. Kennedy on national security matters. However, it was during his time as an advisor to Republican President Richard Nixon that Kissinger became one of the most influential figures in international politics. The moment was more than challenging: his boss had just been assassinated and the American public was enraged by the failed campaign in Vietnam.
Kissinger and the politically incorrect
In the new government, Kissinger was an international security advisor and in Nixon’s second term he was rewarded with the position of Secretary of State. As head of American diplomacy, Kissinger became the architect of Nixon’s foreign policy during the Cold War and laid the foundations for the world order that would come in the era that followed bipolarity.
Among its most notable policies are the opening in China, an emerging power that was still “asleep”, and the policy of nuclear detente with the Soviet Union. He also played a key role in de-escalating the Cuban missile crisis and in negotiating the Paris peace agreement that ended the Vietnam War and earned him a Nobel Peace Prize (in 1973) which he shared with the Vietnamese Le Duc tho.
Kissinger’s controversial foreign policy and legacy
Kissinger’s legacy generates controversy internationally considering that many North American intellectuals consider him a ““war criminal” due to its decisive role in US military campaigns abroad. “Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in history of this country,” defined the American politician Bernie Sanders in 2016.
For example, for the massacre of 40 thousand civilians in a bombing in Cambodia during the failed Vietnam War or the coup d’état once morest Salvador Allende in Chile. In that sense, Kissinger has been questioned for his policy of supporting his ideal of a (liberal) global order at all costs, regardless of the illegality of the media or the human factor, as long as he does not give up a step in the ideological fight once morest the communism. ““I don’t see why we should wait and allow a country to become communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.”says one of his most remembered phrases.
He is also questioned for his policy towards Latin America. He indirectly supported (through military assistance or simply indifference) the systematic plans for the disappearance of people carried out by dictatorships in their “fight once morest subversion”, among them the Argentina by Jorge Rafael Videla, within the framework of the ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, some consider it as the ideologue of Operation Condor, among them the journalist and researcher Cristopher Hitchens.
For this reason, he was accused of human rights violations and several international NGOs pressured the Norwegian organization to They will withdraw the Nobel Peace Prize from him. Likewise, there were numerous initiatives to achieve their prosecution ante international judicial bodiesamong them that of Baltazar Garzón, the Spanish judge who managed to bring the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to the dock but failed in his attempt when bringing the case to the US government.
Despite his advanced age, Kissinger maintained the lucidity that his experience and influence on international politics gave him until the end of his days. He demonstrated this when referring to current international issues such as war in ukraine the largest military conflict Europe faced since World War II.
At the time, Kissinger toned down Russia by stating that it “has made decisive contributions to the global balance and the balance of power for more than half a millennium,” so the international community “should not downgrade” its historic role. However, he urged Ukraine “not to give up any territory” but warned once morest the possibility of the US entering a war with China and Russia.
Beyond the controversies, the legendary Henry Kissinger will go down in history as one of the architects of the order that governed international relations in the second half of the 20th century, with practical consequences in the 21st. His rich political thinking was captured in the books he wrote in pursuit of the stability of the “global order” from the American perspective that he always defended.
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