Biography of henry kissinger

American diplomat and scholar (–)

"Kissinger" redirects here. For other uses, see Kissinger (disambiguation).

Henry Alfred Kissinger (born Heinz Alfred Kissinger; May 27, &#;&#; November 29, ) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from to and the 7th national security advisor from to , serving in the presidential administrations of both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Born in Germany, Kissinger emigrated to the United States in as a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi persecution. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he attended Harvard University, where he excelled academically. He later became a professor of government at the university and earned an international reputation as an expert on nuclear weapons and foreign policy. He acted as a consultant to government agencies, think tanks, and the presidential campaigns of Nelson Rockefeller and Nixon before being appointed as national security adviso

Henry Kissinger Today: Nobel Peace Prize–Winning Diplomat Dies at Age

Influential diplomat Henry Kissinger died November 29 at his Connecticut home, according to a statement from his consulting firm. The centenarian served as the 56 U.S. secretary of state, from to , under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. “Secretary Kissinger really set the standard for everyone who followed in this job,” current Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday. “I was very privileged to get his counsel many times, including as recently as about a month ago.”

Who Was Henry Kissinger?

Henry Kissinger was one of the most influential American diplomats of the 20 century and served as U.S. secretary of state from to With his family, the German teenager immigrated to the United States and eventually became a Harvard University professor before assuming leadership in the foreign policy of his adopted country. He advised six U.S. presidents, from John F. Kennedy to George H.W. Bush, with Richard Nixon appointing him to secretary of state in Kissinger won that year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the Vietnam War’s Paris accords. The diplomat was later critiqued for some of his covert actions at home and abroad. A prolific author of more than 20 books, Kissinger died in November at age

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Heinz Alfred Kissinger
BORN: May 27,
DIED: November 29,
BIRTHPLACE: Fürth, Germany
SPOUSES: Ann Fleischer (c. ) and Nancy Maginnes Kissinger ()
CHILDREN: David and Elizabeth
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Gemini

Early Life

Henry Kissinger was born Heinz Alfred Kissinger on May 27, , in Fürth, a city in the Bavaria region of Germany. Kissinger’s mother, Paula Stern, came from a relatively wealthy and prominent family, and his father, Louis Kissinger, was a teacher. Kissinger grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household, and during his youth, he spent two hours each day diligently studying the Bible and the Talmud.

Henry Kissinger, c  ©Kissinger is an American academic and politician who played a dominant role in US foreign policy in the late s and s and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in negotiating an end to US involvement in Vietnam.

Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born on 27 May in Fuerth, Germany into a Jewish family who emigrated to the US in to escape Nazism. Kissinger became a US citizen in After wartime service in the army Kissinger went to Harvard University. He stayed on to teach at Harvard and began to serve as an occasional foreign policy adviser to the US government.

In , US President Richard Nixon appointed Kissinger as national security advisor. His guiding philosophy was that foreign policy should serve the national interest - a pragmatic outlook dubbed 'realpolitik'. Kissinger arranged Nixon's two famous summit visits, to China and the Soviet Union, in These visits introduced the policy of detente by which the US sought to defuse tensions with the communist powers.

In , Kissinger became secretary of state, thus becoming the first person born outside the US to hold this position. He continued to serve as secretary of state when Gerald Ford replaced Nixon as president. Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam, for negotiating an end to the United States' role in the Vietnam War. In , he was credited with the 'shuttle diplomacy' that eased tensions in the Middle East following the Yom Kippur War of between Israel and Egypt, and that led to the Sinai Accord, in which both sides agreed to renounce war as a means of settling their differences. In , he left office and went to work at Georgetown University. He returned to government service in , on his selection to President Ronald Reagan's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

In , President George W Bush appointed Kissinger to chair the independent inquiry into the intelligence failures that contributed to the terrorist attacks on the US