Henry Alfred Wolfgang Kissinger (born Heinz Alfred Wolfgang Kissinger on May 27, 1923), ˈkɪsɪndʒər, is a German-born American political scientist, diplomat, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the Nixon Administration.A proponent of Realpolitik, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente. He negotiated a settlement ending the Vietnam War, but the cease-fire proved unstable and no lasting peace resulted beyond the pullout of the US troops.In the Nixon and Ford administrations he was a flamboyant figure. He described himself as perhaps the only National Security Advisor to have a fan club. His foreign policy record made him a villain to the anti-war left (see the Operation Condor section below). Kissinger was the "most frequent visitor" to the George W. Bush White House as an unofficial political advis... more