What was the cause of Henry Kissinger’s death? Henry Kissinger, a Holocaust survivor who became the US’s most influential – and divisive – diplomat, has died at the age of 100. Kissinger leaves behind a complex legacy, remembered as a master of global politics by some and an alleged war criminal by others. Born in Bavaria, his family fled to New York City to escape the Holocaust – an experience that would go on to shape his future foreign policy work. As President Richard Nixon’s National Security Advisor, Kissinger was responsible for negotiating the US’s exit from the unpopular Vietnam War. He won a Nobel Peach Prize for his diplomatic work – but his legacy was then tainted when it emerged he had authorised the secret carpet-bombing of neutral Cambodia, which killed at least 150,000 civilians. Beyond his diplomacy work, Kissinger briefly enjoyed a reputation as an unlikely ladies’ man and social butterfly in Washington DC, dating several stars of the time before marrying his second wife Nancy – who survives him. Reactions from political and diplomatic allies and foes poured in after his death on Wednesday, with former president George W Bush remembering “his wisdom, his charm, and his humour”. Who was Henry Kissinger married to? Henry Kissinger was married twice during his lifetime. In 1949, Kissinger married his first wife, Ann Fleischer. The couple had two children, Elizabeth, born in 1959 and David, born in 1961. Kissinger and Ann divorced in 1964. In 1974, Kissinger married Nancy Maginnes, whom he met while working for former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Nancy was a longtime aide to Rockefeller – someone whom Kissinger was close to as both a friend and colleague. VOICES: We should look back on Kissinger not just as a ‘war criminal’ – but as a man who sought peace “Henry Kissinger ought to be most remembered for a quip about the long, merciless and futile war between the Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the ayatollahs running Iran in the 1980s: “It’s a pity both sides can’t lose”. Kissinger should be celebrated for that remark because it epitomises everything that made Kissinger the force and influence on the world that he was for most of his life. Cynical, direct, sophisticated in thought but plain in presentation, his upsum of the Iran-Iraq war was completely correct – the world would have been better off without either of those nasty regimes. Yet the sentiment was tinged with realism – the regret that such an ideal state of affairs wasn’t going to transpire. Kissinger was always a man to approach the world as it was, not as we would wish it to be. The remark thus showcased his finest of attributes – a rare gift for analysis and a clarity of thought that is glimpsed rarely in those in power. He was the greatest of strategic thinkers, a man who could understand and reframe “the big picture”, and secure some benefit for his country and for mankind. We should look back on Kissinger not just as a “war criminal” – a charge with some merit that does need to be confronted – but as a man who sought and secured peace.” How Kissinger’s influence was felt over 11 administrations It was 1968 when President-elect Richard Nixon tapped Kissinger to be his National Security Advisor – paving the way for him to influence 11 presidential administrations over several decades in and out of foreign policy. When he and Nixon took office in January 1969, the most immediately pressing problem they faced was the Vietnam War – the failures of which ultimately became synonymous with Kissinger. After Nixon secured a second term in 1972, he took the unprecedented step of making Kissinger his secretary of state (the first foreign-born American to hold that office) while retaining him as national security adviser. During his tenure, Kissinger made a series of controversial decisions. He supported a failed covert operation to kidnap Chilean General René Schneider in the hopes of preventing President Salvador Allende’s inauguration. During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War (also known as the Yom Kippur War) Kissinger acted quickly to secure American aid to Israel – a pivotal intervention in the conflict but one that inspired the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to boycott trade with the US in retaliation, creating an economic crisis at home. Though the Watergate scandal forced Nixon’s resignation in 1974, Kissinger remained secretary of state under Gerald Ford.U.S. President Richard Nixon and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger stand on Air Force On The duo continued to pursue a detente with the USSR and China and the period brought the Helsinki Accord of August 1975. When Kissinger left the White House in November 1976, he found himself surplus to requirements at the young age of 54, albeit with a Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck. But he continued to make himself available to every succeeding president. Under the Reagan administration, he was appointed to the head a national commission on Central America in 1983 and served on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy. During George W Bush’s presidency, Kissinger advised him on the aftermath of 9/11 and the Iraq War, supporting the 2003 invasion. He offered advice to Donald Trump and George W Bush and helped maintain a relationship between China and the Biden administration.