Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is no more

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is no more. He died Wednesday at the age of 100, in his home in Connecticut. A key player in diplomacy during the Cold War, the main person concerned was also an “extremely controversial” figure, recalls a specialist in American politics.

One observation is immediately obvious: no one has had such an impact on American foreign policy in the second half of the 20th century.^e century as this formidable negotiator, as touchy as he is authoritarian.

Valérie Beaudoin, associate researcher at the United States Observatory of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair in Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, recalls that Henry Kissinger was an “extremely controversial” character. “There are people who speak of him as a genius of international relations, and others even today describe him as a war criminal, like the magazine Rolling Stone », Explains the expert.

If Mr. Kissinger implemented rapprochement with Moscow and Beijing, his image remains closely linked to sulfurous episodes, such as the 1973 coup d’état in Chile, she recalls.

“In Latin America and Cambodia in particular, many accuse him of being indirectly responsible for millions of deaths. Even in his role in Vietnam, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize, some say that he profited from the war, that he was an immoral opportunist,” continues M^me Beaudoin. Afterwards, among his notable achievements, people associate him a lot with the opening with China and the détente with the USSR. »

Until his death, Henry Kissinger continued to write and advise some American politicians. In short, whatever one thinks of him, he “shaped American politics in a fairly crucial period of the Cold War, with two presidents, Nixon and Ford,” notes the political scientist.

With his death, “America has lost one of its surest and most listened to voices in foreign policy,” welcomed former American President George W. Bush, a Republican like him, in a press release.

Recently, Mr. Kissinger traveled to Beijing in July to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, who hailed a “legendary diplomat” for enabling rapprochement between China and the United States in the early 1970s.

“He remained a sort of gray eminence in the public space,” he told The Press Rafael Jacob, also an associate researcher at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair, on the occasion of the 100^e Kissinger’s birthday last May. “It is difficult to find a single other diplomat who, in the last 30 or 40 years, has been given so much platform and credibility, particularly by the major American media and by the establishment, in both major parties” , Mr. Jacob had underlined.

“Ultimately, he is one of the most famous diplomats in history. He was nevertheless simultaneously Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, which is unheard of. On the one hand, he was the chief diplomat and, on the other hand, he advised the president on national security. Her influence was therefore even greater,” adds M.^me Beaudoin.

It will also be interesting, according to her, to see how American elected officials will react to his death. “There will surely be tributes, but perhaps some will want to be careful and show restraint, as he is someone who attracted more than just sympathy among the population. »

Pragmatic and hawkish

Both a pragmatic actor at the origin of an “American Realpolitik” and a true “hawk”, Henry Kissinger is one of those complex characters who arouse admiration and hatred.

Nazism had a profound impact on the young German Jew Heinz Alfred Kissinger, born May 27, 1923 in Fürth, Bavaria, who had to take refuge at the age of 15 in the United States with his family. Naturalized American at the age of 20, this son of a schoolteacher joined military counter-espionage and the American army, which he followed to Europe as an interpreter with a command of German.

After the Second World War, eager to resume his studies, he entered Harvard, where he graduated with a degree in international relations, before teaching there and becoming one of its directors. It was at this time that Democratic Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson began to seek the advice of this brilliant and ambitious professor.

But the man with thick-rimmed glasses established himself as the face of world diplomacy when Republican Richard Nixon called him to the White House in 1969 as national security advisor, then as secretary of state – he would combine both positions from 1973 to 1975 and would remain in Foreign Affairs under Gerald R. Ford until 1977.

It was then that he established an American “Realpolitik”, launching détente with the Soviet Union and the thaw of relations with Mao’s China, during secret trips to organize Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing in 1972. He also led, always in the greatest secrecy and in parallel with the bombings of Hanoi, negotiations with Lê ​​Đức Thọ to end the Vietnam War.

Controversial Nobel Prize

The signing of a ceasefire earned him the Nobel Peace Prize with North Vietnam in 1973. But Lê Đức Thọ refused the prize, the award of which was one of the most controversial in the history of the Nobel. To the point that Kissinger’s detractors have long called for his trial for war crimes.

They denounce the sulphurous and hidden side of his foreign policy, in particular his involvement in the massive bombings in Cambodia or his support for Indonesian President Suharto, whose invasion of East Timor left 200,000 dead in 1975.

But it is above all the role of the CIA in Latin America, often under its direct leadership, which tarnishes its image, starting with the 1973 coup d’état in Chile which brought Augusto Pinochet to power after the death of Salvador Allende. Over the years, the archives will make it possible to measure the contours and extent of the “Condor Plan” for the elimination of opponents of the South American dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s.

Despite these episodes, the author of The order of the world in 2014, father of two children and married since 1974 in his second marriage to the philanthropist Nancy Maginnes, has always remained influential. In January 2023, he pleaded for continued support for Ukraine, which he believed should join NATO.

With André Duchesne, The Press

Henry Kissinger, in five key moments

Thaw with China

Henry Kissinger secretly traveled to Beijing in July 1971 to establish ties with communist China, paving the way for President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing in 1972. This extended hand to China ended the giant’s isolation Asian and contributed to the rise of Beijing, initially economically, on the world stage.

Vietnam and Nobel

Henry Kissinger led, in the greatest secrecy and in parallel with the bombings of Hanoi, negotiations with Lê ​​Đức Thọ to end the Vietnam War. The signing of a ceasefire earned him the Nobel Peace Prize with the North Vietnamese in 1973, but the latter refused it, believing that the negotiated truce was not respected. Kissinger, for his part, did not dare to go to Oslo, for fear of encountering demonstrations, and was replaced by the United States ambassador.

Support for dictatorships

Kissinger’s detractors point to his support for coups in Latin America, in the name of the fight against communism, and particularly in Chile where the United States helped bring dictator Augusto Pinochet to power after the suicide of Salvador Allende , in 1973.

The invasions

The defense of the United States also led it to support, more or less tacitly, several invasions at the time. Thus his support for Indonesian President Suharto whose invasion of East Timor led to 200,000 deaths in 1975. This is also the case for Turkey which seized a third of the territory of Cyprus in 1974 and the conduct of operations of destabilization during the civil war in Angola.

The Middle East

Henry Kissinger devoted much of his time to the Middle East, notably organizing a massive airlift, Operation Nickel Grass, to supply ally Israel with weapons after the surprise attack on Arab countries during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in 1973. There he then inaugurated “shuttle diplomacy” negotiating with Israel, Syria and Egypt, which would become a key ally outside Moscow’s sphere of influence.