Michigan Politicians React to Death of Controversial U.S. Statesman Henry Kissinger

Nov. 30, 2023 ~ Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger died at the age of 100 Wednesday evening, a man well respected by some as a strong diplomat, but reviled by others as a mastermind of a bloody legacy.

Kissinger rose to prominence as national security advisor to President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, then as secretary of state under both Nixon and President Gerald Ford after the Watergate scandal forced Nixon’s resignation. However, his critics have long accused Kissinger of committing war crimes, human rights abuses, and supporting dictators around the world related to his military and foreign policy decisions during his time as a prominent statesman.

He has been credited with opening diplomatic talks between the U.S. and China in the 1970s, along with formulating the end of the Vietnam War. His work as Secretary of State has garnered Kissinger admirers in political circles like GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga (MI-4) and current Michigan Senate candidate Peter Meijer, who made memorial posts on social media.

“No one had more influence on American foreign policy in the 20th Century than Dr. Henry Kissinger,” Huizenga said. “My prayers go out to his family as well as those who had the privilege of calling him a friend.“

In contrast, people in the U.S. and around the world have lambasted Kissinger’s decision to perform a secret carpet bombing campaign of Cambodia in the late 1960s and early 1970s that is estimated to have killed at least 150,000 civilians. Other accusations include being connected to coups that installed brutal dictators in Argentina and Chile who killed tens of thousands of political dissidents in the 1970s and armed Indonesia‘s government ahead of its 1975 invasion of East Timor that killed over 200,000 civilians.

Yale University historian Greg Grandin, author of the book “Kissinger’s Shadow,” estimates that Kissinger’s actions may be responsible for over 3-4 million deaths worldwide.