It’s a bit murky, but in any case, not sure he’d have survived the coup.
I’ve read a number of the things he wrote and attended an event where he basically answered questions for 2 hours. He was brilliant and was rare in having an extraordinarily comprehensive and nuanced view of world order that combined history and current understanding. I’ve been around a lot of really smart people (Nobel Prize winners, faculty at HYPSM, etc.) and he had an extraordinary kind of intelligence and very impressive and subtle interpersonal skills.
One other positive thing for @prezbucky’s list: he negotiated the peaceful transfer of power from whites to blacks in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe in part by persuading the South Africans (who were still in full apartheid mode) to withdraw their support and pressure the white Rhodesian government. The South African government did this even though they had to know it was setting a precedent for a similar transfer of power in South Africa.
None of this negates the sometimes immoral and sometimes morally questionable choices he made. At the same time, the negative should not negate the positives. He was a highly complex man.
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“As a result, Blanton said, “Kissinger uniquely held this one complete, massive collection of the core, top-secret documents of his eight years in power, first at the White House, then as Secretary of State, and he hauled them away for his own unique advantage.”
Kissinger used the documents to write a series of best-selling memoirs, complete with often-lengthy verbatim quotations.“
And now we lost Sandra Day O’Connor. So sad.
Much sadder. Glad she has her own thread.
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Don’t be sad. I am marveling at people living beyond 90. 90 used to be eternity.
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