Former diplomat and presidential adviser Henry Kissinger has died at the age of 100, his consulting firm announced on Wednesday.
Kissinger, known for an extensive career in national security and foreign policy, passed away on Wednesday while at his home in Connecticut.
Kissinger’s influence on global policy was far-reaching and continued to play an advisory role even after leaving the White House.
He rose to the national stage in 1969 after becoming former President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser. In this role, he conducted negotiations to settle the war in Vietnam, as seen in the Paris Peace Accords, which he later received a Nobel Peace Prize for.
While serving as Nixon’s national security adviser in 1973, Nixon appointed Kissinger as the 56th secretary of state. He was the first person to ever serve as both the secretary of state and a national security adviser simultaneously. In this time, he helped normalize relations between the U.S. and China and conducted negotiations between Egypt and Israel amid the October War of 1973, which broke out just weeks after he entered the State Department.
Kissinger remained secretary of state during the Ford administration until 1977 at the end of former President Ford’s term. That same year, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
Kissinger, born in 1923 as Heinz Alfred Kissinger, spent the beginning of his life in Germany before his family, who is Jewish, immigrated to the U.S. after the Nazis seized power. Once in the U.S., Kissinger changed his name to Henry.
He served in the U.S. army as a German interpreter during World War II. Following the war, Kissinger attended Harvard University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1950 and a PhD in 1954. He stayed at Harvard as a faculty member and eventually became the associate director of Harvard’s Department of Government and Center for International Affairs.
His career transitioned to government work by the 1960s, when he served as a consultant for several government agencies before serving in the Nixon administration.
Nixon’s daughters, Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower, said Wednesday that Kissinger will be remembered for his “many achievements in advancing the cause of peace.”
“But it was his character that we will never forget,” Cox and Eisenhower wrote in a statement, pointing to his immigration from Germany and service in the U.S. army.
“He stood by our father’s military decisions to end the war,” they added. “And he never wavered from our father’s commitment to liberate every American Prisoner of War from the cruel captivity in which they were held by the North Vietnamese.”
After stepping down as secretary of state, Kissinger remained a highly influential voice for national affairs and founded international consulting firm Kissinger Associates in 1982.
He was appointed by former President Reagan in 1982 to chair the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America, and later served on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Reagan and former President George H.W. Bush.
Kissinger published several books in his lifetime, with his most recent, “Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy,” having been released in 2022.
Several lawmakers paid tribute to the statesman on Wednesday night, remembering him for his wide impact on foreign policy.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Kissinger “served his nation well” and “had an amazing intellect.
“What an incredible life – born in Germany and emigrating to the U.S., serving in the U.S. military during WWII, playing a major role on the world stage for decades, and earning respect and admiration from a wide array of people and nations,” Graham wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said Kissinger leaves behind an “undeniable legacy in American foreign policy.”
New York Rep. Marc Molinaro (R) pointed to Kissinger’s Bronze Star award for his service in World War II, and said he “dedicated his life to his nation.”
Kissinger is survived by his wife, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, and his two children, Elizabeth and David, from his first marriage
Updated 10:17 p.m. ET
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