According to a statement released by the company, Kissinger died at his home in Connecticut. No further details were provided.
This German-born statesman is one of the most influential but controversial public figures in the United States. He became famous primarily as an advisor to President Richard Nixon and the author of the opening of relations between Washington and communist China in 1972.
Kissinger, born Heinz Alfred Kissinger in 1923 to German Jewish parents from Bavaria, came to the United States in 1938 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. He began his studies in the US, and at the age of 20, after obtaining American citizenship, he fought in World War II, taking part in the Battle of the Bulge.
After the war, he began his academic career as a political scientist at Harvard, earning a doctorate, and in the 1960s he began to become actively involved in politics, and after Richard Nixon won the presidential election in 1968, he became his advisor. for national security, and later became secretary of state in the administration of him and his successor, Gerald Ford.
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He came to be considered the principal architect of US foreign policy and a practitioner of “realpolitik”, and he referred to himself as a “self-made cowboy”.
At the turn of 1971 and 1972, he played a major role in opening diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, ending the communist regime's policy of isolation, wishing to exploit the split between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. . A year later, thanks to talks with communist North Vietnam, he led the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which ended America's involvement in the Vietnam War. For this, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, along with North Vietnamese general Le Duc Tho, which no other North Vietnamese general received. He also played a role in ending the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East and sought a thawing of relations with the Soviet Union.
After Ford lost the election, Kissinger, despite losing influence, Until the end of his life, he was an influential figure in international politics, informally advising subsequent presidents.
“America has lost one of its most solid and distinctive voices in foreign affairs,” former President George W. Bush said in a statement, saying he valued the diplomat's advice and friendship.
The only president who has not invited him to the White House is Joe Bidenalthough his 100th birthday at the New York Public Library was attended, among others, by the current Secretary of State Antony Blinken and many other representatives of the political and cultural elite. Kissinger also advised and met with foreign leaders, including Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on numerous occasions. He last met the latter in July this year. in Beijing.
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Despite his significant influence and reputation as an effective diplomat, he was also a controversial figure. He was accused of war crimes: devastating bombing campaigns in Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War, supporting a coup in Chile, or encouraging the Argentine military junta to carry out bloody repression as part of the so-called dirty war.
Kissinger's funeral will be held privately, according to a Kissinger Associates release. A memorial service will be held in New York later to honor the deceased.
“Reader. Future teen idol. Falls down a lot. Amateur communicator. Incurable student.”
