Henry Kissinger and the Détente

1/4 Personal data

By Peter van der Maas

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Henry Kissinger is a great American success story. As a youth, he emigrated with his family to the United States, fleeing Nazi tyranny. Kissinger was born in Fürth, Germany, on May 27, 1923, came to the United States in 1938, and was naturalized a United States citizen on June 19, 1943. He served in the Army during World War II, then went to Harvard University and received his doctorate in political science. Henry Kissinger came to the fore in the 1960s for his academic writings, and was subsequently hiked into positions of great political power--first as national security advisor and then as secretary of state--by President Nixon, and later on by President Ford.

Among the awards Dr. Kissinger has received have been the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973; the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation's highest civilian award) in 1977; and the Medal of Liberty in 1986.

Dr. Kissinger is the author of:

• A world Restored: Castlereagh, Metternich and the Restoration of Peace, 1812-1822 (1957);
• Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy (1957);
• The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy (1961);
• The Troubled Partnership: A Reappraisal of the Atlantic Alliance (1965);
• Problems of National Strategy: A Book of Readings (ed.) (1965);
• American Foreign Policy, Three Essays (1969);
• White House Years (1979);
• For the Record: Selected Statements, 1977-1980 (1981);
• Years of Upheaval (1982);
• Observations: Selected Speeches and Essays, 1982- 1984 (1985);
• Diplomacy (1994)

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