Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser died on November 29 at the age of 100.
Key points
- As a diplomat, he helped shape American foreign policy in the 1970s, advising Republican President Richard Nixon and his successor Gerald Ford.
- He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973 for helping reach a deal during the Vietnam War.
- Amid the Cold War (1945 to 1991) between the US and the USSR, he advocated a policy of less hostile relations – what is called ‘detente’.
- Kissinger and Nixon were advocates of realism or realpolitik, the ideology that says the strategic concerns of a country trump any other considerations – public opinion, morality, and so on.
- The secret meetings and communications helped Kissinger and Nixon lay the groundwork for the US to establish full diplomatic relations with China.
- The US lent support to Pakistan in the war for Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971. India, whereas, was seen as having a pro-USSR tilt.
- President Nixon also expressed contempt towards then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and Kissinger was often party to these expressions.
