Henry Kissinger

Who is Henry Kissinger?

Henry Alfred Kissinger is a German-born American statesman and political scientist. A recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. After his term, his opinion was still sought by some subsequent US presidents and other world leaders.

A proponent of Realpolitik, 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, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War.

Kissinger is still considered an influential public figure. He is the founder and chairman of Kissinger Associates, an international consulting firm.

Famous Quotes:

• The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
• Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
• It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.
• We are all the President's men.
• The essence of this man -- Richard M. Nixon is loneliness.
• Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.
• If we do what is necessary, all the odds are in our favor.
• The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the other, whom he assumes to have perfect vision.
• The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it's their fault.
• For other nations, utopia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for Americans it is just beyond the horizon.