New Delhi: Controversial Nobel Peace Prize winner and diplomatic powerhouse, Henry Kissinger, whose service under two presidents left an indelible mark on U.S. foreign policy, died on Wednesday, according to Kissinger Associates Inc.
The German-born Jewish refugee died at his home in Connecticut, Kissinger Associates said, according to Reuters.
Kissinger had been active past his centenary, attending meetings in the White House, publishing a book on leadership styles, and testifying before a Senate committee about the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. Earlier, in July this year, he made a surprise visit to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In July 2005, the US Department of State declassified taped conversations between former US President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger shortly before the India-Pakistan war in 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh.
In the tapes, the two are heard talking about former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi shortly after a meeting with her. During the heated conversation, Nixon refers to Mrs Gandhi as an “old witch”. Kissinger calls her a “b***c” and says the “Indians are bastards anyway”. The tapes also brought to light Nixon’s derogatory remarks against Indian women and his description of Indians as “most sexless” and “pathetic.”
Soon after the remarks became public, Kissinger said he regretted his remarks and that he respected Mrs Gandhi. “[The foul language has] to be seen in the context of a cold war atmosphere 35 years ago, when I had paid a secret visit to China when President Nixon had not yet been there and India had made a kind of an alliance with the Soviet Union,” he told NDTV in an interview.
Despite the damage-control attempt, the tapes became an indelible part of Kissinger’s legacy, as his disregard for human rights abuses in then East Pakistan.
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