E-Book Overview
Kissinger is a German-born origin, now American Politician. There were countless attacks from left, right and center on the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Perhaps his German background prompted a writer in the ""Nation"" to draw a resemblance between Kissinger and Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Nazi foreign minister. (Couldn't they ever forget?) In his memoirs, Kissinger alludes to the years he served as National Security adviser and one can fathom a touch of boasting on how much, in the eyes of many observers, his initiatives and allure was the main rescuing feature of an otherwise disastrous administration (Watergate!!). His appointment as Secretary of State aroused not only favorable editorials; there was a great deal of unfriendly comments as well. Some reflected envy and grudging ill-will; there must have been many political gurus firmly convinced that they would have been able to do as good, and even a much effective, job than Kissinger. During his time in the Nixon and Ford administrations he cut a showy personality like brightly colored movie stars, appearing at social occasions with many celebrities and in his pictures he appeared very much in joy at such gatherings; at times his name was transfused to "'Henry the Kiss"" something like a sex reference, didn't he say "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac?"" Very few photos show him frowning; otherwise his face has always been smiley. His foreign policy record made him the feared goddess of vengeance to the anti-war groups as well as to the anti-communists. His memoirs portrays him as the devout advocate of ""Realpolitik"", and tell us how far the man played a dominant role in USA foreign policies between 1969 and 1977. In less than ten years, he `taught' the world the policy of `'détente" that led to a significant relaxation in U.S.-Soviet tensions and played a crucial role in 1971 talks with China's Premier Zhou Enlai that concluded with a