Kissinger by Walter Isaacson
Walter Isaacson is one of my favorite authors ever. He has written biographies about Benjamin Franklin (2003), Einstein (2007), Steve Jobs (2011), Jennifer Doudna (2021), Elon Musk (2023) and of course Henry Kissinger (1992).
As you can notice this book was one of his earlier works and it focuses on the life of Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. National Security Advisor under the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations.
Kissinger is a complicated historical figure to say the least. He was a Jew born in Bavaria, Germany in 1923 and his family fled to the United States in 1938 to avoid Nazi persecution. He later served in the U.S. Army during WWII and afterwards went to Harvard (x3). He then proceeded to gain a foothold in intellectual circles through working with Nelson Rockefeller and rose the ranks as an expert in nuclear arms and foreign policy before being recruited by the Nixon campaign as National Security Advisor (1969-1975). He would eventually become Secretary of State under both the Nixon and Ford administrations (1973-1977).
I
The Diplomat
Kissinger is widely considered to be one of the most prominent and influential statesmen history has ever seen. In 1971, he secretly visited Beijing and paved the way for the historic 1972 visit by Nixon to China which ended a quarter century of no diplomatic ties between the two nations.
He aggressively pursued a policy of détente (a French word meaning "relaxation" used for the easing of hostility between countries) with the Soviet Union during the Cold War leading to Nixon visiting Moscow to discuss nuclear arms control with Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev just a few months after meeting Mao.
During this time, Kissinger secretly commuted back and forth to Paris to meet with North Vietnamese Leader Lê Đức Thọ to broker peace during the Vietnam War. In 1973, these two would be jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the Paris Peace Accords which was intended to bring an end to the Vietnam War. Lê Đức Thọ would refuse the award saying that “peace had not yet been established in South Vietnam” and Kissinger would 'reluctantly' accept it and donate the cash prize to scholarships for children of servicemen killed in Vietnam. Although it is suggested that he had been gunning for the award to feed his insatiable desire for fame and gain recognition for his efforts.
II
War Crimes
When Kissinger is mentioned these days, the first thing that comes up is his direct involvement in various U.S. military decisions that are widely regarded as war crimes. This book was written in 1992 and while it does mention in detail the thought process (and more often than not the lack of rational thinking) behind certain key decisions leading to civilian deaths, it's not the main focus on of the book.
For example, the Cambodian and Laos bombings during the Vietnam War leading to hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths were orchestrated by Nixon and Kissinger to bring an end to the Vietnam War. During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 , it is said that Nixon and Kissinger ignored the atrocities committed by the Pakistan military against Bangladesh civilians due to US-Pakistan ties which were critical for their trip to China. It also helped that Nixon had personal biases against India’s President Indira Gandhi.
“Because he was anxious not to disrupt this crucial channel or seem ungrateful to President Yahya Khan, the distortion of American policy toward Pakistan became yet another hidden cost of Kissinger’s fetish for secrecy ... The conflict thus illustrated two of the basic themes of his diplomacy: the primacy of realism over moral concerns, and the tendency to see disputes through the prism of the Soviet-American competition.”
The book quickly glosses over Kissinger's involvement in Chile with his support for the 1973 military coup that overthrew a democratically elected President leading to widespread human rights abuse. It also doesn't go into detail about Kissinger and Ford's approval of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975 leading to widespread civilian deaths.
III
Watergate
Although the Watergate scandal is an event that would forever tarnish the legacy of the Nixon administration, it remained in the backdrops of this book. Isaacson focused on the events of Watergate through Kissinger's eyes. During the peak of the controversy, Kissinger would fly (often unnecessarily) around the world on his diplomatic tours to avoid the controversy and questioning back at the White House. He would also not consult the President when making decisions as Nixon was too busy dealing with Watergate.
Kissinger's part in the Watergate scandal would be in the form of promoting an aura of secrecy within the administration. Throughout the book, there are countless examples of Kissinger spying on other departments within the government and going to great lengths to avoid getting different departments and people involved in foreign policy decisions.
As National Security Advisor, he would often use backchannels for communication to his team and even foreign officials. Through this, he kept the State Department and other agencies uninformed about key events. He basically took over the role of Secretary of State from William Rogers who made little to no major policy decisions and was kept in the dark while Kissinger ran the show.
IV
The Media
Another theme present throughout the book was Kissinger's love for attention. Whenever Kissinger's name comes up on social media or traditional media these days, it's filled with comments calling him evil and a war criminal. So it was a quite a shock when I was reading this book and learned that he was actually famous and quite celebrated during his time in power. He often outshined Nixon and Ford at events (to their dismay) and painstakingly crafted his image by talking to the press at every possible moment.
One hilarious story was about a journalist lamenting about how didn’t get any attention by Kissinger when part of his press entourage during the Middle East Shuttle diplomacy even after writing positive articles about Kissinger. Other more Kissinger-attuned journalists told him to write a negative column about Kissinger to get his attention and it finally got his attention. Kissinger called the journalist and gave him his spiel to make sure that his points were not misunderstood.
He was also famous for portraying an image of a playboy by arranging dates with Hollywood stars because he loved to get attention even when not brokering international peace during the Cold War. His whole dating Hollywood stars thing was also a facade as he would often just go on one date in public restaurants to get public attention and later ignore the actresses.
Kissinger's secret with women was not all that different from his one with men whom he wanted to charm: he flattered them, he listened to them, he nodded a lot, and he made eye contact. But unlike the way he was with most men, Kissinger was exceedingly patient with women who wanted to talk. "Very few men in the 1970s actually listened to women," according to Bette Lord. "Henry talked to you seriously and probed for what you knew or thought." He was someone who could, and would, make a Jill St. John feel intelligent or a Shirley MacLaine feel politically savvy. "Next to Ingmar Bergman, he is the most interesting man I have ever met," said Liv Ullmann. "He is surrounded by a fascinating aura, a strange field of light, and he catches you in some kind of invisible net."
V
Influence
After politics, Kissinger was relentless in his pursuits to remain relevant and also maintain his opulent lifestyle. While Harvard was more than welcome to receive him back as a tenured professor, it obviously wouldn't come with the twenty-person secret service detail, luxury hotels and private planes to whisk him around the world at a moments notice that he had been accustomed to.
However, for about five years after Gerald Ford lost the Presidency to Jimmy Carter, he focused on writing various books but soon realised that he was probably not going to be summoned back as Secretary of State. Thus, he turned to the world of consulting to sustain his lifestyle. He started Kissinger Associates and used his fame and connections to help businesses and was paid tens of millions of dollars per year for it. Kissinger was one call away from any President of any country and used this to help his clients.
Throughout the book, Kissinger is said to have looked up to Klemens von Metternich who was an Austrian statesman and one of the most important diplomats of the 19th century. He was Foreign Minister of Austria from 1809 to 1848 and played a leading role in European diplomacy. Kissinger saw him as a role model to base his own approach to diplomacy. His staunch belief in the balance of powers and the need for stability came from observing Metternich's role in Europe during and after the Napoleonic Wars.
Even until right before his death at the age of 100 in 2023, Kissinger met with people such as China's Xi Jinping and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky. He was also called 'a wise and talented statesmen' by Russian President Vladimir Putin after his passing. His sphere of influence nearly half a century after his exit from office is simply unheard of.
This book was overall a really interesting read. Although it was released over three decades ago, it remains an important source in learning about who Henry Kissinger really was. Isaacson's style of writing and storytelling makes this information dense book a rivetting read.