Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died at the age of 100, Kissinger Associates confirmed in a statement.
The former secretary of state passed away at his home in Connecticut.
Henry Kissinger has died at his home in Connecticut. He was 100 years old pic.twitter.com/8p8xWcPsKX
— BNO News (@BNONews) November 30, 2023
Kissinger was the 56th Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the Nixon and Ford administrations. He notably helped create the “post-World War II world order,” leading the United States through significant foreign policy challenges, according to Kissinger’s website.
Fleeing from Nazi Germany in 1938, Kissinger became an American citizen in 1943, according to Kissinger Associates. He served in the 84th Army Division before earning his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard University. (RELATED: Henry Kissinger Blankly Stares At Reporter Confronting Him In The Street About ‘Alleged War Crimes’)
Kissinger spent almost 20 years at the Ivy League teaching international relations before jumping into politics. In 1969 Kissinger was appointed National Security Advisor by former President Richard Nixon, ultimately serving under two administrations until he left office in 1977, according to the statement.
Kissinger’s notable career highlights include helping Nixon create relations between the U.S. and China, negotiating a ceasefire with North Vietnam in 1973, easing Cold War tensions while conducting arms agreements with the Soviet Union, as well as conducting negotiations to ease Middle East tensions, his website states.
Critics, including the late Christopher Hitchens, have accused Kissinger of playing a role in the fall of Chile’s Marxist President Salvador Allende, and delaying the end of the Vietnam war, according to USA Today. He has also been criticized for the expansion of the conflict into Cambodia, The Washington Post reported.
The former secretary of state’s “influence stayed with him after he left office, while that of all the others — with the possible exception of James Baker — dissipated,” former president of the Council on Foreign Relations Leslie Gelb stated, according to USA Today.
Kissinger is survived by his wife, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, his two children from his first marriage, and five grandchildren.