Happy Birthday to Henry Kissinger

Henry Alfred Kissinger was born at Fuerth, Germany on this day in 1923. He came to the US in 1938 and became a citizen
in 1943. He spent a fair stretch at Harvard, getting his BA, MA, and PhD degrees before joining the faculty. He studied
international affairs for many years before shaping them as Nixon's Secretary of State. Try to imagine these quotes with
his thick but somehow charming accent.

Some of his more notable quotes are:

No foreign policy – no matter how ingenious – has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in
the hearts of none.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.

While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.

If peace is equated simply with the absence of war, it can become abject pacifism that turns the world over to the most
ruthless.

People are generally amazed that I would take an interest in any forum that would require me to stop talking for three hours.

     All from Henry Alfred Kissinger

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4 Responses to Happy Birthday to Henry Kissinger

  1. EagleWatch says:

    Sit down Libby … I agree with you. Nixon’s trip to China was the right thing to do, at the right time, by the right person. This far removed, not many remember what a stroke it was for Richard Nixon, the nation’s most effective anti-communist spokesman to go to China. The sight of Air Force One rolling to a stop in the midst of Chinese military honor guards was an incredible sight. And you’re right, without Dr Kissinger’s rapport with Cho En Lai, it probably wouldn’t have happened.

  2. Libby says:

    I have always admired Henry Kissinger and to this day don’t think the U.S. ever in my lifetime had a more brilliant and effective Sec. of State. The things he accomplished during the Nixon Admin. were remarkable. The most impressive of these IMO was his arranging the Nixon visit to China. Although at the time it was considered a very unpopular and risky move by most everyone. I think it was a stroke of genious. I’m glad he’s still alive and to this day when he speaks, I listen.

  3. TVNews says:

    I have more quote material. Too cool.

  4. EagleWatch says:

    Many who met Dr Kissinger socially were surprised at his biting wit. During a flight to Europe with then Secretary of State Alexander Haig (whom Dr Kissinger didn’t like), the general mentioned the irony that “should the Soviets take over the plane, they have the President’s National Security Advisor and Secretary of State in one place.” Without looking up from his briefing papers, Dr Kissinger replied, “Don’t worry Mr Secretary, we’d never them take you alive.”