Foreign thinker
Henry Kissinger
Henry KissingerInternational relations and foreign policyAmerican1923–2023
A great power can never know with complete certainty how smaller powers will react.
Life and Thought
Henry Kissinger was an American diplomat, political scientist, and foreign policy thinker who served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State of the United States. He was one of the central figures in American foreign policy during the Cold War and played a major role in détente with the Soviet Union and the opening of relations with China.
Henry Kissinger was an American diplomat, political scientist, and statesman born on 27 May 1923 in Fürth, Germany. He immigrated to the United States with his family as a teenager and later studied and taught at Harvard University, where he became a prominent scholar of international relations.
Kissinger served in the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford as National Security Advisor and later as Secretary of State. He was one of the main architects of American détente policy toward the Soviet Union in the 1970s and played an important role in establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
Among his major works are Diplomacy, World Order, and The White House Years. His political thought emphasized balance of power, national interest, political realism, and the role of diplomacy in managing competition among major powers.