Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis to Detente
Henry Kissinger in Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis to Detente
Henry Kissinger (1923- ) was the powerful National Security Advisor to president Richard Nixon and then became Secretary of State during Nixon's second term. Kissinger was among the most powerful presidential advisers in American history, shaping nearly all foreign policy decisions made under Nixon's tenure.
Kissinger's strategy for policymaking tended to rely on setting up meetings through back channels, thus fitting with Nixon's preference for secrecy. A crafty and even Machiavellian master of diplomacy, Kissinger paved the way for Nixon to visit China by making an earlier trip there himself. He also helped to negotiate peace in the Middle East following the Yom Kippur War.