“I could never forget what an inspiration it had been to the victims of persecution, to my family, and to me during cruel and degrading years. I always remembered the thrill when I first walked the streets of New York City. Seeing a group of boys, I began to cross the other side to avoid being beaten up. And then I remembered where I was.” -Henry Kissinger.
Henry Kissinger, who fled Nazi Germany at age 15, proved the American dream true. He started with nothing and gained everything throughout a life that impacted others around the world. Henry Kissinger has achieved many roles throughout his life. Three of his main accomplishments are serving as a National Security Adviser for President Richard Nixon (1968), acting as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Nixon and Gerald Ford and winning the Nobel Peace Prize (1973).
Background
Map of the occupation zones of Germany in 1945, modified to show the inner German border and the zone from which Allied forces withdrew in July 1945. From Earl F. Ziemke, The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1975. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-619027
Henry Kissinger was born in Fuerth, Germany, on May 27, 1923.
He was born into an Orthodox Jewish family. The Kissinger family was one step ahead of the Nazi persecution and came to New York in 1938 because of the Holocaust. When he came to New York he was 15 years old and had to learn a new language and new customs. He worked during the day at a shaving brush company and he attended high school at night. Once he graduated high school he attended the city college of New York to get a degree in Accounting. His father was also an Accountant. Kissinger was drafted into the army in 1943 as a German interpreter. After being in the Army for so long, he wasn’t sure whether or not to go to college or not. His pal, Mr. Kraemer, that he met in the army convinced him that only Harvard was good enough for him. With that, he went to Harvard and received a doctorate in International Relations in 1954. While studying for his doctorate he also edited a quarterly magazine of foreign affairs. After getting his doctorate, he went on to teach international policy and nuclear arm studies.
Accomplishments
Henry Kissinger was on a secret mission to China facilitated by the Government of Pakistan, a fact known to very few people including Ambassador Hilaly
Henry Kissinger accomplished a lot in his life. Kissinger served as a part time consultant to Nelson Rockfeller. Rockfeller became governor of New York in 1959. In 1964 and 1968, Rockfeller ran for presidency on the republican side with Kissinger as his advisor. Richard Nixon became president in 1968 and made Kissinger the National Security advisor, which was his first major accomplishment. He accomplished this goal because he was smart with the media and always knew how to advertise himself.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for getting “peace talks started on Vietnam, he was also a point main for the opening to China, and he guided the effort to forge new arms agreements with soviet union. The media loved him” (Hart). “Kissinger kept American foreign policy together at a time when America had never been more vulnerable”(Hart). The media loved him because powerful people would ask Kissinger for advice.
His third major accomplishment was that he became the Secretary of State in 1973. After working with President Nixon during his first term, he decided to do something that no one has ever done before. He made Kissinger his new Secretary of State while keeping him as National Security advisor. Because no one has ever done this before, he was seen as very special and thats a main reason why the media loved him.
Leadership Lessons
Henry Kissinger is a very successful leader and his leadership skills are very crucial. His famous quote is “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” He believed in specific skills while leading the country with Richard Nixon. Kissinger also states “A journey is almost never a non stop flight from A to B; it has points A1, A2, A3… all along the way. And B itself should never be the end, it is a stop along the way to C, and to D, and to E…” Kissinger was a very confident and determined leader and never gave up at what he was doing. The media loved him and he always kept the press around. People wanted to do him favors and were always willing to do stuff for him, he was very good at networking.
Criticisms
Colleagues acknowledged his talents but did not like his personality. They said he was arrogant and abrasive. Larry David Nachman said “he has been despised by the political right for having weakened American power by questionable accommodations to the principal Communist states. He has been no less savagely attacked by the left who see in him the architect of aggressive and immoral foreign interventions.” In fact, many of his critics accuse him of war crimes. Kissinger got criticism from across party lines, partly because his past secrecy towards the public and he refused to provide financial disclosures. This caused him step down as chairman in December 2002, citing a conflict of interest with his clients.
About the Authors and Relevance
Jessica Mouradian and Diana Saber are Freshmen at Wagner College. They Play on the Soccer team and Jessica will be majoring in Accounting and Diana will be majoring in Arts Administration. They picked Henry Kissinger because they thought it was interesting having him come from Germany with nothing and gaining everything through his American Dream. They also wanted to find out more about how he earned his Nobel Peace Prize and learn more about his accomplishments. Henry Kissinger relates to the leadership course because his demonstration of living the American Dream, his leadership skills and his determination to make the United States a better country.
The link above is Henry Kissinger Acceptance Speech when he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. This speech is significant because he talks about what it took to win the noble peace prize. He says “More than the achievement of peace, it symbolises the quest for peace.” This is very important because it shows how he didn’t just do what the average person thought he did, he did way more than that. An interesting quote was when he says “A sense of responsibility and accommodation must guide the behavior of all nations. Some common notion of justice can and must be found, for failure to do so will only bring more “just” wars.”
Bibliography
Draper, Theodore. Little Heinz and Big Henry. NY Times, 1992.
Hart, Peter. Asking What Kissinger Thinks- but Not what He Did. Fair Blog, 2013.
Henry, Kissinger, The Nobel Peace Prize 1973. Nobel Media AB, 2013.
Larry David, Nachman. The Intellectual in Power. Skidmore College, 1986.
Leicester, Graham. From dominance to leadership: America’s place in the world. Blackwell, 1995.
Suri, Jermi. Kissinger: The Inside-Outsider. Belknap, 2007.