Henry Kissinger’s Real Legacy
This story seems to be about:
- American ★
- Argentina ★
- Atlantic ★
- Bangladesh ★
- Bismarck Goes ★★★★
- Cambodia ★★
- Chile ★
- Country ★★
- Craft ★★★
- Craftiness ★★★★
- Cyprus ★★
- Daniel Huttenlocher ★★★★
- David Samuels ★★★★
- Defense ★★
- East Timor ★★★
- Enlightenment Ends ★★★★
- Eric Schmidt ★★★
- Flaw ★★★
- Ford ★★
- Gary J Bass ★
- George W Ball ★
- Graciela Mochkofsky ★★★★
- Grand Strategy ★★★★
- Henry ★★★
- Henry Kissinger ★★★
- Husain Haqqani ★★★★
- James Warren ★★★★
- Jeffrey Goldberg ★★
- Job ★★
- Joe Biden Could Learn ★★★★
- Joseph Kraft ★★★★
- Kathryn Stoner ★★★★
- Kissinger ★★★★
- Kissinger Transcripts ★★★★
- Laos ★★
- Legacy ★★★
- Lessons ★★
- Martin Indyk ★★★★
- Metamorphosis ★★★
- Metternich ★★★★
- Middle East ★
- Nixon ★★
- Nora Beloff ★★★★
- Paper ★★
- Philip Geyelin ★★★★
- Power ★★
- Realism ★★★
- Robert D Kaplan ★
- Russia ★
- Seymour Hersh ★★★★
- Thomas Griffith ★★★★
- Viet Thanh Nguyen ★★★
- Vietnam ★★
- Washington ★
- White House ★
- Who ★
- World ★
This story seems to be about:
- American ★
- Argentina ★
- Atlantic ★
- Bangladesh ★
- Bismarck Goes ★★★★
- Cambodia ★★
- Chile ★
- Country ★★
- Craft ★★★
- Craftiness ★★★★
- Cyprus ★★
- Daniel Huttenlocher ★★★★
- David Samuels ★★★★
- Defense ★★
- East Timor ★★★
- Enlightenment Ends ★★★★
- Eric Schmidt ★★★
- Flaw ★★★
- Ford ★★
- Gary J Bass ★
- George W Ball ★
- Graciela Mochkofsky ★★★★
- Grand Strategy ★★★★
- Henry ★★★
- Henry Kissinger ★★★
- Husain Haqqani ★★★★
- James Warren ★★★★
- Jeffrey Goldberg ★★
- Job ★★
- Joe Biden Could Learn ★★★★
- Joseph Kraft ★★★★
- Kathryn Stoner ★★★★
- Kissinger ★★★★
- Kissinger Transcripts ★★★★
- Laos ★★
- Legacy ★★★
- Lessons ★★
- Martin Indyk ★★★★
- Metamorphosis ★★★
- Metternich ★★★★
- Middle East ★
- Nixon ★★
- Nora Beloff ★★★★
- Paper ★★
- Philip Geyelin ★★★★
- Power ★★
- Realism ★★★
- Robert D Kaplan ★
- Russia ★
- Seymour Hersh ★★★★
- Thomas Griffith ★★★★
- Viet Thanh Nguyen ★★★
- Vietnam ★★
- Washington ★
- White House ★
- Who ★
- World ★
This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present, surface delightful treasures, and examine the American idea. (Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here.)
To read about Henry Kissinger’s legacy is to confront the place of an undeniably influential figure in a difficult—and bloody—global history.
“How many of his eulogists will grapple with his full record in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Chile, Argentina, East Timor, Cyprus, and elsewhere?” Gary J. Bass wrote in The Atlantic yesterday upon the news of Kissinger’s death at 100. “The uncomfortable question is why much of American polite society was so willing to dote on him, rather than honestly confronting what he did.”
The following is a guide to our writing about Kissinger, from 1969, when he first joined the Nixon administration, to the present day, including two pieces by Kissinger himself on the rise of artificial intelligence.
In His Own Words:
Conversations with, and writing by, Kissinger
1969–1976: Our Reporting on Kissinger
From the Nixon administration to the Ford administration
Assessing Kissinger’s Legacy
Party of One: Judging Kissinger, by Thomas Griffith (July 1976) The Craft and Craftiness of Henry Kissinger, by Philip Geyelin (February 1980) Kissinger, Metternich, and Realism, by Robert D. Kaplan (June 1999) Living With a Nuclear Iran, by Robert D. Kaplan (September 2010) In Defense of Henry Kissinger, by Robert D. Kaplan (May 2013) The Flaw in Kissinger’s Grand Strategy, by Husain Haqqani (November 14, 2016) Henry Kissinger Will Not Apologize, by Graciela Mochkofsky (November 15, 2016) Kissinger: The View From Vietnam, by Viet Thanh Nguyen (November 27, 2016) Cooperation With Russia Is Possible, by Kathryn Stoner (November 22, 2016) What Joe Biden Could Learn From Henry Kissinger, by Martin Indyk (October 22, 2021)