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Kissenger, Henry A.
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286186019
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Kissenger, Henry A.
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These records pertain to Henry A. Kissenger.
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Records of the White House Office of Policy Development (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Roger Porter Subject Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
2006-0668-F[1]
2006-0668-F[1]
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Policy Development, White House Office of
Series:
Porter, Roger, Files
Subseries:
OA/ID Number:
08861
Folder ID Number:
08861-058
Folder Title:
Kissinger, Henry A.
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G
18
13
3
3
HENRY KISSINGER
FINANCIAL TIMES THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17 1992
BOOK REVIEW
The contradictory Dr K
n the annals of modern Ameri-
foreign policy debates. This could
I
can statecraft, no one occupies
KISSINGER: A BIOGRAPHY
lead to misjudgments: Kissinger's
a more prominent place than
By Walter Isaacson
tendency to view all regional con-
Henry A Kissinger. For eight
Faber & Faber. £25, 893 pages
flicts through the prism of the cold
years under Presidents Nixon and
war, for example, even when there
Ford he dominated the conception,
was no evidence of Moscow's hand,
formation and execution of US for-
extensive access to his subject with-
and his disregard for home-grown
eign policy, at times appearing to
out conceding any editorial control.
political forces in countries he per-
act with an authority more solid
This is no hatchet job. The author
ceived as friends or foes.
than that of the president himself.
has weighed the merits and the mis-
What Kissinger felt most strongly
With Nixon, he extended, then ter-
takes of Kissinger's career. Never-
of all, however, was his urge both to
minated, America's disastrous
theless, the portrait that emerges is
command the stage and to direct
entanglement in Indochina, and as
of a deeply complex, even bizarre,
the performance. His style was devi-
the Nixon administration crumbled,
personality: a mixture of preening
ous; he preferred "back channels"
he represented one of Washington's
arrogance and foot-stamping para-
to formal diplomatic communica-
only anchors of stable government.
noia; of irresistible charm, vindic-
tion, stealth to openness. On occa-
He initiated détente with Moscow
tiveness and an almost pathetic
sion this paid dividends by enabling
and made the historic opening to
desire to be liked; of strong, but
Kissinger to cut through the con-
Beijing. Like some other-worldly
highly changeable, convictions.
ventional wisdom. As Isaacson
chess player, he manipulated and
Isaacson plausibly attributes
argues, the stunning China initia-
managed foreign crises more single-
many of these traits to Kissinger's
tive would not have been possible
handedly than any US government
early life as a Jew in Nazi Germany,
had it been conducted through reg-
officer before or since.
where 12 of his relatives perished.
ular state department channels. But
Yet Kissinger's reputation
But in his case the refugee's desire
at other times, Kissinger seemed to
remains as hotly contested today as
for recognition was a mania. As a
choose the cloak and dagger for
it was when he departed office in
young academic at Harvard, he
their own sake. To quote Napoleon
1976. Still admired for his dazzling
spent much time seeking to ingrati-
on Metternich, he tended to "con-
intellect and sought after for his
ate himself with the powerful and
fuse policy with intrigue". As often
international expertise, he is also
famous, and from his army days he
as not, the intrigue was directed at
blamed for much unnecessary
attached himself to a series of influ-
rivals within the administration.
slaughter in far-flung places and
ential patrons who - recognising
Kissinger might respond to these
held responsible for a lasting ten-
his brilliance - secured him
charges by saying that the means
dency towards duplicity in the US
advancement. Having been adopted
were justified by the end, which
executive branch's handling of for-
by the most important patron of all,
was to steer the US out of its Viet-
eign affairs. To his many critics, he
he craved celebrity, becoming the
nam débâcle and establish a new
is enduringly tainted with the bad
darling of the Georgetown dinner
balance of global power. In that he
smell that stifled the Nixon presi-
circuit, of TV talk shows, and of the
succeeded, for a time. He was cer-
dency - the wire-taps, the petty
Hollywood starlets whom he con-
tainly more alive than most of his
in-fighting, the lies.
spicuously but celibately dated.
peers to the limits on American
Walter Isaacson's book is an
These personality issues are cen-
power in the 1970s, and that
attempt to pin down this contradic-
tral to an understanding of Kissing-
remains an important legacy at a
tory and elusive figure once and for
er's statesmanship. Partly as a
time when the US may be on the
all. It is, of course, not the first - if
result of his background, his world
brink of electing its first Vietnam-
anything the task is complicated by
view was dark. He was heavily
generation president. Where Kis-
the existence of Kissinger's own
influenced by gloomy European
singer erred most substantially, per-
voluminous, highly readable but
thinkers such as Spengler, and
haps, was in failing to understand
subjective memoirs, not to mention
more or less consciously modelled
that Americans need a more com-
the large corpus of sycophantic and
himself on Metternich, of whose
pelling justification for an active
bitterly hostile literature that has
aptitude for intrigue and manipula-
involvement in the outside world
appeared in the past 16 years. But it
tion he wrote approvingly while at
than his calculating realpolitik.
is undoubtedly the most successful.
university. He felt strongly the need
Isaacson, an editor with Time maga-
for international order, and dis-
zine, writes with wit and insight; he
missed the moralistic or idealistic
is also greatly helped by having had
arguments that often prevail in US
Andrew Gowers