Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger died on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut at the age of 100.
अमेरिका: पूर्व विदेश मंत्री हेनरी किसिंजर का 100 साल की उम्र में निधन
Henry Kissinger, the 56th US Secretary of State, considered one of the most influential foreign policy figures in American history, has died at the age of 100.
His consulting firm Kissinger Associates said he died on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut, CNN reports.
Born in Germany in 1923, Kissinger is survived by his wife, Nancy Magness Kissinger, two children from his first marriage, David and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren. Kissinger became a US citizen in 1943, before serving in World War II.
Before his government service, he worked at Harvard University, where he ran international seminars from 1952 to 1969.
Kissinger worked with the State Department and the Pentagon on national security matters before serving as former President Richard Nixon’s National Security Advisor (January 1969–November 1975) and then Secretary of State (September 1973–January 1977). Henry Kissinger was synonymous with American foreign policy in the 1970s.
He received the Nobel Peace Prize for helping arrange an end to American military involvement in the Vietnam War and is credited with secret diplomacy that helped then-President Nixon open Communist China to the United States and the West, which Highlighted by his visit to the country in 1972.
But he was also condemned by many for the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, which led to the rise of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, and for his support of a coup against the democratic government in Chile.
In the Middle East, Kissinger performed what is known as “shuttle diplomacy” to separate Israeli and Arab forces following the outcome of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
His “detente” approach towards American-Soviet relations, which helped reduce tensions and led to several arms control agreements. He largely guided American attitudes until the Reagan era.
Although his era as a high-powered architect of American foreign policy ended with the fall of Nixon amid the Watergate scandal, Kissinger remained an independent mover and shaker whose musings on diplomacy were always heeded.
Nixon’s successor Gerald Ford retained Kissinger as Secretary of State until he ultimately left the post in 1977.
After 9/11, President George W. Bush asked him to chair the investigation into the attacks on New York and Washington, but he was forced to step down after disclosing his consultancy’s client list and refusing to answer questions about the conflicts .
He held meetings with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to advise on policy in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
Kissinger also briefed Donald Trump on foreign affairs after his election in 2017. Among other things, Ukraine had suggested accepting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea. When he turned 100 in 2023, he changed his view about Ukraine.
Following the Russian invasion in February 2022, Kissinger argued that Ukraine should join NATO once peace was ensured. Throughout his lifetime, Kissinger received numerous awards and recognitions.
In 1945, he was awarded the Bronze Star from the US Army for meritorious service.
He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the same year a Gallup poll of Americans listed him as the most admired person in the world.
Kissinger was also awarded the country’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1977 and the Medal of Liberty in 1986, given to 10 foreign-born American leaders.
Congress general secretary Ramesh said in a post on Twitter: “Henry Kissinger has passed away. He was extremely controversial. He was both praised and condemned in a long and eventful life. But no one knows about his intellectual brilliance and amazing charisma.” There is no doubt.”
The Congress leader said, “For the last three decades, he positioned himself as a great friend and supporter of India and indeed he was. But it was not always so and especially in 1971, President Nixon and he Created a big headache for India and thought they had us surrounded.”
He said, “However, Indira Gandhi and P.N. Haksar proved to be much more than that. I described the Kissinger-Haksar and Nixon-Indira Gandhi encounters in archival detail in my book ‘Intertwined Lives: P.N. Haksar and Indira Gandhi’ Is.”
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