The Legacy of Henry Kissinger

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NPR

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 16.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2023

⏱️ 49 minutes

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Summary

Depending on where you stand, Henry Kissinger is either a foreign policy mastermind or a war criminal. Some see him as a brilliant strategist who made tough but necessary decisions to advance American interests in a complex world; others point to his infamous order that American warplanes should "bomb anything that flies, on anything that moves" as evidence that he bears responsibility for the loss of countless civilian lives. But one thing both sides agree on is that few figures in the 20th century have had a more profound influence on how the U.S. conducts foreign policy.Kissinger grew up in an orthodox Jewish household in Germany, under the shadow of the Nazis' rise to power; he and his family fled to the U.S. when he was a teenager. Professor Jeremi Suri, author of "Henry Kissinger and the American Century," argues that Kissinger's experiences during the Holocaust have informed his approach to global politics throughout his career, as well as his relationship with democracy, war, and power. Today on the show, how Henry Kissinger shaped, and was shaped by, the 20th century.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	He's still really the most influential foreign policy thinker in America in a lot of ways.
0:09.0	What is required here is a completely new order of thinking.
0:12.0	Many would argue he used American power to overthrow governments in Chile, crimes that he supported
0:18.1	and helped perpetrate.
0:19.6	Secret war in Cambodia reveal unreported mass killings.
0:23.2	He becomes this powerful figure in the United States who never in his life runs for office.
0:27.6	A man who's been described as arguably the most famous and controversial diplomat of the 20th century.
0:32.6	For the first time in history foreign policy has become truly global and therefore truly complicated.
0:38.6	He's on the cover of Time Magazine more than any non-president of the 20th century.
0:43.6	A man who was one of the lead actors in a time that was nothing less than to mulch us.
0:50.6	There are two very strongly held polarise views.
0:56.6	These positions are about as strong and conflictual as those between Democrats and Republicans.
1:02.6	There is one school that sees Henry Kissinger as a strategic genius as the great statesman
1:13.6	of the 20th century with a model for the 21st century.
1:18.6	Henry Kissinger has been a friend of mine.
1:20.6	Henry's been a very good friend.
1:24.6	The other side of the story.
1:29.6	Are those who see him as a war criminal as a proponent and defender of the misuse of American power
1:36.6	and many would argue a trend toward breaking down our democracy?
1:41.6	Because of his support for brutal dictators, brutal regimes, brutal wars and war crimes.
1:47.6	Human rights advocates consider Kissinger a war criminal who is escaped accountability.
1:52.6	Everyone I would talk to you, someone who sits next to me in an airplane.
	...

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