Dr. Henry A. Kissinger
AN EVENING HONORING
W elcome to the N ixon Librar
y
In 1969, President Nixon chose Henry Kissinger to be his National Security Adviser. The result was a meeting of great minds and a fruitful division of labor that, over the next six years, transformed the world stage and realized President Nixon’s vision and goal of a “generation of peace.”
In Dr. Kissinger’s latest book, Leadership, he writes, “A Nixonian flexibility, at once realistic and creative, is needed for American Aspolicy.”alongtime
friend of the Richard Nixon Foundation, it is an honor to welcome Dr. Kissinger back to the Nixon Library to share his historical perspective, unparalleled experience, and expert insights.
Jim Byron President & CEO Richard Nixon Foundation
President Nixon and Dr. Kissinger implemented a foreign policy grand strategy rooted in realism that offers many lessons for today.
enry Alfred Kissinger was born on May 27, 1923 in the Bavarian city of Furth. In 1938, as the Nazi persecution of Jews became unrelenting, his family was able to escape to London, and then to the Bronx, where he enrolled at the George Washington High School. In 1943 he was drafted and found himself back in Germany in the United States Army, fighting the Nazis as a rifleman in France and a translator and G-2 intelligence officer.
The Vietnam War was honorably ended and the POWs brought home; the People’s Republic of China was opened to the world after almost a quarter century of angry isolation; the first major nuclear arms control treaty (SALT) was signed with the Soviet Union; Israel was saved from defeat during the Yom Kippur War; and Dr. Kissinger’s “shuttle diplomacy” played a vital part in the President’s vision of bringing peace to the Middle East.
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hortly after Richard Nixon was elected President in 1968, he selected Dr. Henry Kissinger as his Assistant for National Security Affairs. “The combination was unlikely,” the 37th President later recalled, “but our differences made the partnership work.”
In 1947 he matriculated to Harvard, graduating summa cum laude in 1950. He stayed in Cambridge pursuing his Master’s and Ph.D. In 1954 he joined the faculty and remained there until joining the Nixon White House.
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Indeed, over the next six years, the Nixon-Kissinger team would make history and change the world. Working together to realize President Nixon’s vision of a generation of peace, Dr. Kissinger helped create and implement a Grand Strategy for American foreign policy.
In 1957 his thoughtful and provocative book Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy was a crossover bestseller, and he became a sought after adviser for politicians and presidents beginning with President Eisenhower. He was a special advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and served as New York Governor (and presidential candidate) Nelson Rockefeller’s principal foreign policy adviser.
Dr. Kissinger’s latest book—published in July—is Leadership, a fascinating analysis of the lives of six extraordinary leaders as seen through the distinctive aspects of statecraft he believes they embodied. Because he knew each of the six subjects and participated in many of the events he describes, he adds the unique element of his personal knowledge and insight. Leadership concludes with his sobering reflections on world order and the indispensability of leadership today.
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Among his many awards and honors are a Bronze Star from the U.S. Army in 1945, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, and the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.
As President Nixon’s Assistant for National Security Affairs, and then Secretary of State, Dr. Kissinger became a prominent, colorful, and enduring figure on the national and international stage.
Hailed as soldier, statesman, academician, author, and peacemaker, Henry Kissinger’s breadth and depth of knowledge — from the ways Metternich shaped the postNapoleonic world to the ways Artificial Intelligence will shape our 21st Century—are unparalleled. For those in the Nixon Library’s East Room tonight, it is a privilege and an honor to hear at first hand about history from a man who has made so much of it.
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n 2011, the Financial Times observed that “No one can lay claim to so much influence on the shaping of foreign policy over the past 50 years as Henry Kissinger. In and out of office, he has been intelligently ubiquitous.”
As of printing
CO-CHAIRS
W ednesday, S eptember 14, 2022
DIPLOMATS
Steven L. Craig Song & Simon Guo Doy Henley
The Elmer and Mamdouha Bobst Foundation Margo & John Catsimatidis Chapman University Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder Ling & Charlie Zhang Dr. Jane Zhang
PEACEMAKERS
Lisa Argyros Ling & Charlie Zhang
D inner L eadership
Julia & George Argyros Lisa Argyros
The White House East Room Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum H
Ninetta & Gavin S. Herbert, Sr. Dee & Larry Higby Pat & Bill Podlich
Roundtable Chinese American Organizations Southern California All Chinese American Federation
STATESMEN
Esther & James H. Cavanaugh Eva & Ming Hsieh Jing Guo Committee Yasith Weerasuriya ENVOYS
With thanks to the generationstheliveshaveDr.PresidentextraordinaryNixonandKissingerwhobetteredtheofpeoplearoundglobefortocome. — Ling and Charlie Zhang
The Nixon Foundation continues to promote peace through the exchange of culture and tourism.
The greatest honor
history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.
– RICHARD NIXON
– Dr. Jane Zhang
Dr.Congratulations,Kissinger,on the release of your newest book, Leadership. A grateful nation thanks you for your years of devoted service to our country and your continued brilliance in the strategic world of foreign policy.
Chapman University is committed to modes of discovery that transcend the strict confines of disciplines, transforming how we understand the world around us.
Reaching higher. Achieving more. Driving forward to shape our future.
Chapman.edu
—Ronald S. Lauder
LEADERSHIP VISION.
Our best wishes to Dr. Henry A. Kissinger — Jing Guo Committee
— Ming & Eva Hsieh
Dear Dr. Kissinger: Please accept our heartfelt gratitude for your efforts on behalf of our country.
“Whatever their personal characteristics or modes of action, leaders inevitably confront an unrelenting challenge: preventing the demands of the present from overwhelming the future. Ordinary leaders seek to manage the immediate; great ones attempt to raise their society to their visions.”
––from Leadership by Dr. Henry A. Kissinger
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