Henry Kissinger

Few figures in the history of diplomacy have had as large an impact on world history as Dr. Henry Kissinger. As National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, Dr. Kissinger is generally credited with crafting the policy of detente with the Soviet Union and effecting the historic opening to China. He was awarded the Nobel Prize, along with Le Due Tho of North Vietnam, for negotiating an end to the Vietnam War. Henry Alfred Kissinger was born in Fuerth, Germany. Fleeing the rise of the Nazis, the Kissinger family came to the United Stares in 1938. Henry Kissinger became a United States citizen in 1943 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. From 1954 until 1969, he was a member of the faculty of Harvard University. President Richard Nixon selected Henry Kissinger as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in 1969. Dr. Kissinger retained this position throughout the Nixon administration, even after being appointed Secretary of State in 1973, a position he retained in the subsequent administration of President Gerald Ford. Under President Reagan he chaired the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America, and served as a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1984 to 1990. Today, Dr. Kissinger is Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm. In this podcast, recorded at the 2002 International Achievement Summit in Dublin, Ireland he recalls his career in foreign policy, and contrasts the qualities of idealism and realism in international affairs. He urges the Academy's student delegates to become participants in life, not just observers.