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Face the Facts: Reflecting on the life and legacy of Henry Kissinger

Quinnipiac political science professor Sean Duffy reflects on the life and legacy of Henry Kissinger.

Henry Kissinger speaks during a 2007 interview in Washington.
Brooks Kraft | Corbis Historical | Getty Images

During his eight years of service in Washington, he was one of the most powerful people on the world stage.

During the Nixon and Ford administrations, Henry Kissinger was both Secretary of State and a national security adviser at the same time. The diplomat, author and scholar died this week at his home in Kent, Connecticut. He was 100 years old.

So what is his legacy? How will Henry Kissinger be remembered?

NBC Connecticut's Mike Hydeck spoke with Quinnipiac University professor Sean Duffy about it. He is also the executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute.

Mike Hydeck: So what do you think will be the first thought about Henry Kissinger when they look back at his life in a service?

Sean Duffy: The first thought I think is going to have to be gosh, you know, like how influential a person he was always there, it seems in the lifetimes of most of us who were born in the middle or late 20th century. He really defined the end of the Cold War, defined American sort of realpolitik and strategy, and had that presence, not just for the eight years that he was officially in the office of National Security Adviser or Secretary of State, but in the years leading up to that period, and certainly the eras following that period.

Mike Hydeck: And we know he was, as you read about him, he was a regular on the cocktail circuit, both in Washington and in New York City. He was on cable shows. He gave his advice to many heads of state over the years after he had left the federal government, but he was a polarizing figure to many. As recently as 2015, people were protesting Kissinger, holding up signs saying he was a war criminal, meaning when he tried to broker some of these deals to create peace, they believe a lot of lives were not spared in the process. Is that part of his legacy?

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Sean Duffy: Absolutely. And I think the protests are for good reason, really. And I think they really indicate a sort of schism or a divide in the American role and persona in the post World War II era, really. We have ideals and values that we want to uphold, and that we want to stand for around the world. And often, those ideals, whether they be the sanctity of human life, human rights, those kinds of things, often those ideals took sort of backseat for Kissinger, for whom, you know, sort of, the ends really sort of justified the means. And so what he was looking for was creating a stable world with the United States at the helm. And in order to get there often it meant sanctioning or actually actively doing some things that that had some pretty horrible consequences.

Mike Hydeck: So all these years ago, he was instrumental in normalizing relations with China during the Nixon administration. He helped find an end to the Yom Kippur War too in Israel when it was getting attacked in the 1970s. Amazingly, 50 years later we're here with some of those same issues again. Can Secretary of State Antony Blinken take any lessons from the way he dealt with those situations back in the 1970s?

Sean Duffy: Well, I understand that Secretary of State Blinken has actually consulted with Kissinger and in recent months, so I think it's on his mind trying to think, you know, how do we position ourselves with respect to a continually growing China? A China that is becoming more influential, certainly more powerful in military and economic terms. And, you know, if we kind of think about our relationship with China, we really do have to go back to Kissinger's time as Secretary of State and the move that he and Nixon made to open up relations with China. It was a brilliant, strategic move at the time for trying to break out of the bipolar sort of constellation of power and struggle that defined the Cold War. And it was a recognition of the increasing importance of China, that stays with us today. So thinking in both of those contexts, you know, in terms of how do we balance China's power, how do we think about our positioning vis a vis, China, all the same questions come up. Is China our ally? Do we need to cooperate with China? Do we see China as a strategic rival? To what extent is China a strategic rival? And then what do we do about it, are all things that went into that initial decision to reach out to China back in 1972.

Mike Hydeck: During those years, that helped to bring China into our economy more. That is something we are now struggling with. Their economy is struggling. So that's a decision that's different moving forward. Also, the pressure of saving lives in the conflict between Hamas and Israel is much more intense right now on the stage of Antony Blinken's decision-making, so it's gonna be a different set of circumstances for him moving forward decades later, don't you think?

Sean Duffy: I think so. But I also think that this is not outside the realm of the example of Kissinger either. You know, when we think about Kissinger's strategic moves to try to set up that meeting between Nixon and China, along the way, he sacrificed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Bengali lives in Bangladesh, what was then East Pakistan. We were wrapping up the Vietnam War at that time, which also meant the sort of collateral damage of again tens of thousands of Cambodians in the illegal carpet bombing that he sanctioned and advised. So, you know, when we look at the challenges facing Antony Blinken today, trying to think about what's happening in Ukraine, what's happening in Israel and the Gaza Strip, and also keeping, you know, the bigger picture, the bigger strategic picture in his sights, it's a balancing act. It's a difficult thing to keep in mind.

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