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Kissinger

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Dr. Kissinger stands as a premier Secretary of State in the

previous century. The work begins with his early years at Harvard; wherein, he was denied tenure initially. Dr. Kissinger

worked for 4 Administrations. He argued very strenuously with

the Vietnamese, Chinese and the Soviets. After a short period

in government, he emerged as an interesting diplomatic figure.

He quickly rose to be Secretary of State, although he was

anti-Nixon originally. The former President sought to hire him

immediately and to bring him to the center of power as soon as

possible. The Kissinger diplomacy required high intellect,

strategy and patience in its implementation. His performance

was a virtuoso balancing act. Occasionally, he would sacrifice

form in order to gain substance in a negotiation. Initially,

Harvard denied him tenure because they believed that he had

greater designs in the area of government service. By late 1957,

Dr. Kissinger returned to Harvard to secure a tenured position.

The Kissinger technique was to pose a "spectrum of possibilities"

in order to confound the Soviets in the foreign policy arena.

His approach to the NSC was to combind the best of the departments of State and Defense. The Secretary disliked too

many small details in favor of studying the "big picture".

Conceptually, he envisioned strategies more in the Kennedy

style than the Eisenhower paper trail. Dr. Kissinger concerned

himself with the important details of "verification" in the

SALT treaties. He found in President Nixon- a willingness to

accept re-unification of Vietnam in exchange for a verifiable

peace. In the later part of 1971, he visited Peking to pave the

way for a visit by President Nixon in May of 1972. The famous

visit accomplished a normalization of relations with China.By

January of 1974, Dr. Kissinger bartered a disengagement of

Egyptian and Israeli forces from the Suez Canal. He continued

to influence public policy long after his tenure as the

Secretary of State. This work attests to a solid career in

public service with many diplomatic achievements and honoraria

to attest to his many accomplishments.