Kissinger : Philosophy and Policy

Abstract

My interest in Henry Kissinger was sparked by comments made by Dr. William Pruitt in the spring of my sophomore year. This interest was heightened during my experience overseas as I began to see Kissinger’s foreign policy from a different perspective. In researching this paper I have moved from my original belief that Kissinger was a modern day Bismarck to a position that Kissinger was a modern Metternich through a phase of viewing Kissinger as a nineteenth century diplomat i.e. a combination of Metternich, Bismarck, Castlereagh and Disraeli, to my final position which is represented in the following pages -- that Henry Kissinger is a philosophic historian who attempts to apply his philosophy to the problems facing the modern World.