Henry Kissinger, secretary of state to Richard Nixon, dies at 100

The 100-year-old Henry Kissinger was a well-known and contentious figure in US foreign policy. Harvard professor Kissinger served as Richard Nixon’s national security adviser and was heavily involved in the Vietnam War, which included the covert bombing of Cambodia in 1969 and 1970. He aided the CIA in toppling Chile’s democratically elected president and backed the military dictatorship in Indonesia during its invasion of East Timor. He also supported the apartheid government in South Africa during its invasion of Angola.

Prior to serving as Nixon’s national security adviser after his election to the presidency in 1968, Kissinger was a Harvard professor. He served under Gerald Ford after Nixon was overthrown by the Watergate scandal, and he left government following Jimmy Carter’s victory in the 1976 election. There was no chance of a 1980s comeback because of his non-confrontational approach to the Soviet Union under the Reagan administration.

Kissinger’s legacy varies among the political and intellectual right and left. He is viewed as a great statesman and diplomat on the right, but his record on Cyprus, East Timor, the Middle East, Pakistan, Chile, and other countries incites animosity on the left.

Kissinger wrote several books on international affairs and founded his geopolitical consulting business in 1982, which helped him maintain his influence until the end of his life. Kissinger backed George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s, and his 1973 peace prize was one of the most divisive Nobel prizes ever given.