“The tragedy of America is that it entered all the wars with a consensus in favor of them, but within a defined period, the legitimacy of the war became a major domestic issue, with some people arguing that withdrawal was the only legitimate objective.”

American diplomat, political scientist, and politician

Henry Kissinger was an American diplomat, political scientist, and politician. Born in 1923 and active in the Republican Party, he served in senior U.S. foreign policy posts under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He was national security advisor from 1969 to 1975 and secretary of state from 1973 to 1977. His public life is tied to American diplomacy and strategy, and to the debates those roles continue to provoke.