Henry Kissinger, a former US secretary of state and national security adviser who escaped Nazi Germany in his youth to become one of the most influential and controversial foreign policy figures in American history, has died. He was 100. Kissinger died Wednesday (Nov 29) at his home in Connecticut, according to a statement from his consulting firm, Kissinger Associates. The firm did not provide a cause of death.
Born in Germany in 1923, the school teacher's son first came to the US in 1938 when his family fled the Nazis. He never quite lost his native Bavarian accent.
He became a US citizen in 1943 and went on to serve three years in the U.S. Army and later in the Counter Intelligence Corps.
After earning bachelor's and master's degrees and a PhD, he taught international relations at Harvard.
In 1969, then-President Nixon appointed him national security adviser, a position that gave him enormous sway over U.S. foreign policy.
(Compiled)
