Henry Kissinger

Henry Alfred Kissinger (/ˈkɪsɪndʒər/;[1]  German:  [ˈkɪsɪŋɐ]; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger; May 27, 1923) is an American elder statesman, political scientist, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.[2] A Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germanywith his family in 1938, he became National Security Advisor in 1969 and U.S. Secretary of State in 1973. For his actions negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam, Kissinger received the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize under controversial circumstances, with two members of the committee resigning in protest.[3] Kissinger later sought, unsuccessfully, to return the prize after the ceasefire failed.[4][5]

A practitioner of Realpolitik,[6] Kissinger played a prominent role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, orchestrated the opening of relations with the People's Republic of China, engaged in what became known as shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East to end the Yom Kippur War, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War. Kissinger has also been associated with such controversial policies as U.S. involvement in the 1973 Chilean military coup, a "green light" to Argentina's military junta for their Dirty War, and U.S. support for Pakistan during the Bangladesh War despite the genocide being perpetrated by his allies.[7] After leaving government, he formed Kissinger Associates, an international geopolitical consulting firm. Kissinger has written over one dozen books on diplomatic history and international relations.

Kissinger remains widely regarded as a controversial figure in American politics, and has been condemned as a war criminal by journalists, political activists, and human rights lawyers.[6][8][9][10] According to a 2014 survey by Foreign Policy magazine 32.21% of "America's top International Relations scholars" considered Henry Kissinger the most effective U.S. Secretary of State since 1965