Henry Kissinger: The Declassified Obituary and Other Resources

December 12th, 2023

Awake Goy

Henry Kissinger’s death renews global attention to the paper trail of secret documents recording his policy deliberations. Famous for initiatives including détente with the USSR, the opening to China, and Middle East shuttle diplomacy, the historical record also documents the darker side of Kissinger’s controversial tenure in power.

The National Security Archive has published a selection of declassified Henry Kissinger records – including memos, memcons, and “telcons” – to contribute to a balanced evaluation of his legacy at the White House and Department of State.

Documents included in the Archive’s latest posting shed light on Kissigner’s role in the overthrow of democracy and the rise of dictatorship in Chile; disdain for human rights and support for dirty, and even genocidal, wars abroad; secret bombing campaigns in Southeast Asia; and involvement in the Nixon administration’s criminal abuses, among them the secret wiretaps of his own top aides.

“Henry Kissinger’s insistence on recording practically every word he said, either to the presidents he served (without their knowledge that they were being taped) or the diplomats he cajoled, remains the gift that keeps on giving to diplomatic historians,” remarked Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive. “Kissinger’s aides later commented that he needed to keep track of which lie he told to whom. Kissinger tried to keep those documents under his own control. His deed of gift to the Library of Congress would have kept them closed until five years from now, but the Archive brought legal action and forced the opening of secret documents that show a decidedly mixed picture of Kissinger’s legacy, and enormous catastrophic costs to the peoples of Southeast Asia and Latin America.”

*Chile’s ruler Augusto Pinochet meeting U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Santiago, June 8, 1976 (Wikimedia Commons)*

The Declassified Obituary is the latest in dozens of postings by Archive analysts examining Kissinger’s career. Other notable postings available on the National Security Archive website include:

Archive analysts have also written and contributed to numerous books on Kissinger, including: