A Night for Henry Kissinger

No matter your politics, or your views of American leadership in the late 1960s and ‘70s, one man was bigger than life, traversing the globe to negotiate the precarious balance between peace and conflict. Henry Kissinger remains a polarizing figure to many. But make no mistake, in less than a decade, this diplomat who served as U.S. Secretary of State under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford helped orchestrate a series of paradigm shifts in foreign policy that are still influencing global affairs today. He pioneered the policy of detente with the Soviet Union, opened relations with the People’s Republic of China, engaged in what became known as shuttle diplomacy with the Middle East and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords ending the Vietnam War. Last night, before a sold out crowd, many in black tie and gowns, this Nobel Peace Prize winner was honored again in the White House East Room of the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. He received the Architect of Peace Award presented by Charlie Zhang, founder of Pick Up Stix restaurants. At 99, physically slowed and helped by attendants, the gravelly-voiced Kissinger saluted the assembled as they stood and cheered. For this former working journalist, who was learning his trade as a college student when Kissinger was at his zenith changing the world’s political landscape, it was memorable to witness in-person a profound piece of American history.