1jroger1
Whatever you might have thought about Henry Kissinger as a diplomat, he was certainly a friend to Easton Press. I know of no other author who signed so many of EP’s books, several of them first editions.
White House Years (Winner-National Book Award for history)
Years of Renewal (first edition)
Crisis
Ending the Vietnam War
On China
Does America Need a Foreign Policy? (first edition)
World Order
Diplomacy (first edition)
Leadership (first edition)
Years of Upheaval (unsigned, issued as part of a set with White House Years)
Kissinger passed away on November 29 at the age of 100.
White House Years (Winner-National Book Award for history)
Years of Renewal (first edition)
Crisis
Ending the Vietnam War
On China
Does America Need a Foreign Policy? (first edition)
World Order
Diplomacy (first edition)
Leadership (first edition)
Years of Upheaval (unsigned, issued as part of a set with White House Years)
Kissinger passed away on November 29 at the age of 100.
2bacchus.
It’s hard to think of a person more despised outside the US. I believe many people simply cannot grasp the suffering he was responsible for. History will judge him accordingly.
3robbieac
He was a very intelligent and gifted person.
Thank you Mr Kissinger for the good things that you did for our world.
I hope that you knew the Truth in this life, and that the Truth will set you free in the next.
Thank you Mr Kissinger for the good things that you did for our world.
I hope that you knew the Truth in this life, and that the Truth will set you free in the next.
4astropi
I think Henry Kissinger was indeed a very intelligent and gifted person. He was complex, and lived in a complex time. Here are some things --
1)He used secret negotiations to restore ties between the United States and China.
2)He initiated the Paris Peace Accords which got the USA out of Vietnam and ostensibly ended the war.
3)He pursued détente with the Soviet Union that resulted in an arms-control accords to help keep Cold War tensions from running amok.
4)He authorized telephone wiretaps of reporters and his own National Security Council staff to plug news leaks.
5)He supported terrible regimes in Latin America.
6)Cambodia -- a total disaster.
Supposedly, Kissinger told a colleague at the White House that he kept "that drunken lunatic" from doing things that would "blow up the world". Huge ego? Assuredly. Exaggeration? Impossible to tell, but he definitely did greatly help diffuse tensions with the USSR. At the same time, most historians agree that the horror in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge was likely made possible due to Kissinger's support of carpet-bombing. As I said, I view him as a "complex" person who lived at a time when one small mistake could trigger World War III. I think he did much to alleviate that -- again the arms-control as well as negotiations with China. That said, his hands are also bloodied.
1)He used secret negotiations to restore ties between the United States and China.
2)He initiated the Paris Peace Accords which got the USA out of Vietnam and ostensibly ended the war.
3)He pursued détente with the Soviet Union that resulted in an arms-control accords to help keep Cold War tensions from running amok.
4)He authorized telephone wiretaps of reporters and his own National Security Council staff to plug news leaks.
5)He supported terrible regimes in Latin America.
6)Cambodia -- a total disaster.
Supposedly, Kissinger told a colleague at the White House that he kept "that drunken lunatic" from doing things that would "blow up the world". Huge ego? Assuredly. Exaggeration? Impossible to tell, but he definitely did greatly help diffuse tensions with the USSR. At the same time, most historians agree that the horror in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge was likely made possible due to Kissinger's support of carpet-bombing. As I said, I view him as a "complex" person who lived at a time when one small mistake could trigger World War III. I think he did much to alleviate that -- again the arms-control as well as negotiations with China. That said, his hands are also bloodied.
5jroger1
>4 astropi:
There is a museum here in Tulsa called the Thomas Gilcrease Museum of Art that specializes in art of the American west. Among its collection are three wall-size landscapes by Thomas Moran.
According to the museum’s director at the time, Kissinger on several occasions boarded a plane in D.C. and flew here. He went to the museum and sat in front of these paintings for an hour or so, then left, boarded a plane, and flew back to his office in D.C. feeling renewed and ready to go back to work.
I cannot imagine the pressures he must have been under during the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Middle East, and an emerging China, not to mention “that drunken lunatic” for a boss. He made mistakes certainly, including some very serious ones, but he didn’t shirk his responsibilities, choosing instead to face them head on.
As you said, he was a complex man serving at a complex time. Is it possible to both admire and despise a person at the same time? Those are the feelings many of us had and still have who lived through those dangerous times.
Now about his books — he was no Dickens or Twain — but he was a very good historian. Of course, events in which he was personally involved are told from his perspective, for how could it be otherwise? I understand that his book “Diplomacy” is often required reading for political science students.
There is a museum here in Tulsa called the Thomas Gilcrease Museum of Art that specializes in art of the American west. Among its collection are three wall-size landscapes by Thomas Moran.
According to the museum’s director at the time, Kissinger on several occasions boarded a plane in D.C. and flew here. He went to the museum and sat in front of these paintings for an hour or so, then left, boarded a plane, and flew back to his office in D.C. feeling renewed and ready to go back to work.
I cannot imagine the pressures he must have been under during the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Middle East, and an emerging China, not to mention “that drunken lunatic” for a boss. He made mistakes certainly, including some very serious ones, but he didn’t shirk his responsibilities, choosing instead to face them head on.
As you said, he was a complex man serving at a complex time. Is it possible to both admire and despise a person at the same time? Those are the feelings many of us had and still have who lived through those dangerous times.
Now about his books — he was no Dickens or Twain — but he was a very good historian. Of course, events in which he was personally involved are told from his perspective, for how could it be otherwise? I understand that his book “Diplomacy” is often required reading for political science students.
6HugoDumas
>1 jroger1: in line with his legacy I can see many people on eBay attempting to “make a killing” on his signed EP editions.
7jroger1
>6 HugoDumas:
If his death had been a surprise, their strategy might have worked, but at 100 I don’t think so!
If his death had been a surprise, their strategy might have worked, but at 100 I don’t think so!
8astropi
>5 jroger1: Thank you for that. That's very lovely, and I hope to visit the museum someday, it looks wonderful and I hope that story is part of the museum now :)
9jroger1
>8 astropi:
It’s closed for renovations and expansion now, so don’t come for the next couple of years. :)
It’s closed for renovations and expansion now, so don’t come for the next couple of years. :)
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