Henry Alfred Kissinger was a German-born Jewish refugee who fled the Nazi regime with his family as a teen in 1938, eventually settling in New York City. He went on to serve as national security adviser, secretary of state or as a special adviser in five US presidential administrations, becoming a pivotal – and controversial – figure in the geopolitics of the ’60s and ’70s. He remained an influential political consultant and elder statesmen throughout his life, publishing his 19th book in 2022.
There were few personalities in modern-day diplomacy as divisive as Henry Kissinger, who served in some capacity under five US presidents and had a hand in shaping US foreign policy for decades. His critics accuse him of having been the architect of US policies that led to thousands of deaths abroad or of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses committed by American allies. Others view him as a consummate and skilled pragmatist who guided the United States through the dangerous days of the Cold War while avoiding conflict with China into an era of relative peace.
