The most controversial policies that he was associated with involved the war in Vietnam. Critics of the war blame Kissinger for prolonging it, and for expanding it into Cambodia, at a time when many judged it to be both unwinnable and not worth fighting. But he also drew fire from supporters of the war, owing to his role in negotiating an end to it. The terms of the “peace” allowed North Vietnam to achieve its victory over the South within two years.
Kissinger also played a controversial role in the events of 1971, when he stood by Pakistan (a US ally that had helped midwife the breakthrough with China) despite reports that its government was carrying out a massive campaign of repression, or what many judged to be a genocide, in what is now Bangladesh. Finally, Kissinger still draws intense criticism for his role in trying to topple Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government in Chile, owing to its ideological leanings.
Kissinger would occasionally try to rebut these and other complaints about his policies. But his efforts were not totally convincing, because some of the main critiques did have merit. The larger point, though, is that his accomplishments were great, and far greater than his failures.
The result is a lasting, worthy legacy of seriousness about the world and about the danger of a US foreign policy defined by either under-reach (isolationism) or overreach (trying to transform situations or regimes that can be only managed, at best). It is a legacy Americans would be wise to heed as they once again face a world marked by great-power politics and growing disarray.
Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior counselor at Centerview Partners, previously served as director of policy planning for the U.S. State Department (2001-03), and was President George W. Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland and coordinator for the future of Afghanistan. He is the author of "The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens" (Penguin Press, 2023) and the weekly Substack newsletter Home & Away.