Left an indelible mark on US foreign policy: Henry Kissinger dies

(Patria) - American diplomat and scholar Henry Kissinger, who left an indelible mark on US foreign policy, died on Wednesday at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut, announced the consulting firm Kissinger Associates.

Kissinger was a diplomat, political scientist, geopolitical consultant and politician who served as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor in the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

For his contribution to the Vietnam ceasefire negotiations in 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a decision considered controversial.

Calling Kissinger a diplomatic powerhouse, Reuters writes that in the 1970s, while holding the aforementioned high diplomatic posts, he was involved in many important global events, and besides the Paris Peace Accords with North Vietnam, his efforts led to the diplomatic opening of China, significant US-Soviet arms control negotiations, and the expansion of ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

"Kissinger's reign as the chief architect of US foreign policy weakened with Nixon's resignation in 1974. Nevertheless, he continued to be a diplomatic force under President Gerald Ford and offered his opinions until the end of his life," Reuters wrote.

He was a controversial figure, so while many praised him for his brilliance and vast experience, others considered him a war criminal for his support of anti-communist dictatorships, especially in Latin America, including efforts to overthrow the Marxist, but democratically elected, Chilean President Salvador Allende.

Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in Fürth, Germany on May 27, 1923, into a Jewish family, with whom he moved to the United States in 1938, before the Nazi campaign to exterminate European Jews. He changed his name to Henry, served in the army in Europe during World War II, and earned his PhD from Harvard in 1954, where he worked for many years.

After nearly a decade in high-level American diplomacy, Kissinger founded the consulting firm Kissinger Associates in New York in 1982, which offered advice to the world's corporate elite.