He is remembered for his advocacy of realpolitik, a staunchly pragmatic approach to politics prizing national over humanitarian interests, and for his involvement in bridging relations between China and the Western world.
The Republician politician was instrumental in securing the détente between the US and the Soviet Union as well as encouraging both the escalation and conclusion of the Vietnam War. He won his controversial Nobel Prize for the 1973 peace negotiations to end the war, an award which members of the Nobel Committee protested.
Former US president George W Bush said he had "long admired" Kissinger and was grateful for his "service and advice" but mostly for his friendship, and that both he and his wife Laura would miss "wisdom, his charm and his humour".
China's President Xi Jinping (R) speaks with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger during a meeting in Beijing in July 2023 (Photo: Getty)CNS/AFP via Getty Images
"America has lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs with the passing of Henry Kissinger," Bush said in a statement issued through his foundation.
Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair said he was "in awe" of Mr Kissinger. "There is no-one like Henry Kissinger," he said.
"From the first time I met him as a new Labour Party opposition leader in 1994, struggling to form views on foreign policy, to the last occasion when I visited him in New York and, later, he spoke at my institute's annual gathering, I was in awe of him.”
Boris Johnson described Kissinger as "a giant of diplomacy and strategy - and peacemaking". "If ever there was an author of peace and lover of concord that man was Henry Kissinger," he said.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat said Kissinger was "incredibly generous" and a "really good friend".
US Secretary of State Dr Henry Kissinger with British Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Photo: Getty Images)Getty Images
Born in Fürth, Germany in 1923, Kissinger was raised in a Jewish household and narrowly escaped persecution in the Holocaust by fleeing with his family to New York at the age of 15.
He joined the US Army at 20, an experience which he said made him feel “like an American.” He studied political science at Harvard University, where he remained as a member of faculty until the start of his political career.
Kissinger expressed controversial views about his own Jewishness. He attempted to distance himself from his heritage, saying: “If it were not for the accident of my birth, I would be antisemitic,” and showing little regard for the plight of Jews persecuted in the Soviet Union when considering their mass emigration to the US.
His views on Israel were equally unmoored to his own background; in response to presidential adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s pro-Israel stance, Kissinger said: “We are conducting foreign policy. … This is not a synagogue.”
Up until his death, Kissinger continually visited Washington DC and remained involved in advising US national security strategy. He married twice and is survived by two children.
