Henry Kissinger Autobiography

Henry Kissinger Autobiography

Full Name: Mr. Henry Alfred Kissinger
Date of Birth: May 27, 1923
Place of Birth: Fürth, Germany
Died: N/A
Place of Death: N/A
Classification: Leaders & Revolutionaries


Although he had been a professor of Government at Harvard, Henry Kissinger would become internationally recognized for his efforts in multifarious international plans that most often led to open communication and peace between the United States and other countries. His career spanned several presidential elects and his goals, no matter the conflict, all had the thread of careful reaction and interaction that would allow a compromise and not war to be the new end goal.

Young Henry came to the United States from Germany as a teenager when his family feared they would be persecuted under the Nazi regime. Within a few years, he became a citizen and studied business and accounting at the City College of New York. In World War II, he served in the U.S. Army and helped put together the post-war military government in Germany. He returned to the United States to attend Harvard where he received his Ph.D. and thereafter became an instructor.

While at Harvard, he worked with the Defense Studies Program and served as a consultant with several U.S. Agencies. In 1957, his Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy won him recognition because through academics he proved why Secretary of State John Dulles and his proposal of a strong nuclear attack on the Soviet Union was not a tactical or sound idea. He believed in weapons development, but that it should be limited with other requirements. His 1960 book entitled The Necessity of Choice talked of a missile gap between the two super powers if it wasn’t carefully controlled.

Under President Nixon, Henry Kissinger was put as the head of the National Security Council and was later made the Secretary of State in 1973. Through the Nixon administration and others that followed, he was directly involved in associations with China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and the Middle East. He helped to establish an agreement between Pakistan and India, and would play a key role in the settling of Vietnam. Kissinger helped negotiate a cease-fire between the two sides, in which he was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the Vietnamese negotiator, who declined the honor. Kissinger went on to serve under President Ford and later became a consultant and writer. His latter books are American Foreign Policy and For the Record, both bestsellers in their own right