Henry Kissinger, known for his key role in America’s foreign policy of 1960s, celebrates his 100th birthday

Former diplomat and presidential adviser Henry Kissinger celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, May 27. Outlasting most of his political colleagues who are known to have paved the way for the United States through one of the most rocky periods in country’s history, Kissinger was part of the American political scene during the presidency of Richard Nixon and even during the Vietnam War.

Henry Kissinger was born on May 27, 1923 in Germany and is known nationwide for his crucial role in US foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s such as numerous attempts to pull America out of the Vietnam War.

He will be celebrating his birthday this week with visits to New York, London, his hometown of Furth in Germany, according to his son David Kissinger who wrote about his father in The Washington Post on Thursday.


Despite holding a key position in the early years of his political career, Henry Kissinger has continued to carry on his influence. In recent years, he has continued to hold sway over power brokers in Washington as an elder statesman. As per ABC News report, Kissinger is also known to have provided consultations to both Republican and Democratic presidents including White House during the administration of former US President Donald Trump.

Moreover, Kissinger has also put together an international consulting business through which he addresses audiences in a German accent which he has retained since he fled the Mazi regime along with his family. Remarkably, as recently as this month, Kissinger expressed his opinions on the ongoing war in the Ukraine, which according to him is reaching a turning point with China entering the peace talks. He told CBS News that the negotiations are expected to come to head by the end of this year. In 2021, he co-authored a book ‘The Age of AI: And Our Human Future’.

Henry Kissinger served eight years as the national security adviser and secretary of state. At the time, he was involved in major events in foreign policy of the country. However, it is to mention that Kissinger along with Nixon faced backlash from American allies when North Vietnamese communist forces conquered Saigon in 1975. Kissinger was also accused being behind the expansion of conflict into Laos and Cambodia which enabled the rise of the Khmer Rouge regime which reportedly killed around 2 million Cambodians.

FAQs:

1. How old is Henry Kissinger?
   100 years
2. How old is Joe Biden?
   80 years