The Many Lives and Loves of Henry Kissinger: Late American SoS was married twice and had a passionate affair with a poet
KENT, CONNECTICUT: Henry Kissinger, the singular US diplomat who shaped Cold War diplomacy, died at the age of 100 on November 29 at his residence in Kent, Connecticut, according to a statement from his geopolitical consulting firm Kissinger Associates Inc.
Born in 1923, the foreign policy behemoth moved to the US with his family in 1938 before the Jewish termination by the Nazis began.
Serving as the National Security advisor from 1969 to 1975 and Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977 under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, the Nobel Peace Prize winner was famous not only for his controversial diplomatic tactics but also for his romantic life. He was married twice and had a passionate encounter with an Austrian poet.
Henry Kissinger and Anneliese 'Ann' Fleischer
The diplomat was first married to Anneliese "Ann" Fleischer, a native of Furth, Germany, on February 6, 1949. The couple remained together for 15 years and divorced in 1964. They had two children, Elizabeth and David Kissinger.
According to a Times Now report, she later married Dr Saul G Cohen. Fleischer, however, fell from public view after her divorce and has not made any recent headlines. Information regarding her present life is also unavailable.
Henry Kissinger's romance with Ingeborg Bachmann
While he was married to Fleischer, Kissinger met Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann in 1955 at a seminar organized by the former at Harvard University. He was the director of the Harvard International Seminar at the time. They met each other on a couple of occasions when he visited Germany.
German writer Ina Hartwig's biography of Bachmann delved deep into the poet's relationship with Kissinger. For the biography titled 'Wer war Ingeborg Bachmann? – Eine Biographie in Bruchstücken', Hartwig was granted access to the diplomat's archived letters at Yale University, and it was understood that Bachmann's letter to Kissinger was short and formal and any romantic feelings among them had cooled off by 1965.
While she was a vocal critic of the Vietnam War that lasted from 1955 to 1975, Kissinger continued favoring the US support to South Vietnam until the collapse of South Vietnam.
Henry Kissinger's marriage to Nancy Maginnes
Kissinger, aged 50, tied the knot with Nancy Maginnes on March 30, 1974, in Arlinton, Virginia.
The two met at Harvard, where she was a student and Kissinger was a professor. Maginnes worked for then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller at the time of marriage. She began her career as a researcher for Kissinger's Rockefeller task force.
They lived in Kent, Connecticut, and in New York City. They remained married until Kissinger's death at 100.
Diplomacy was Henry Kissinger's favorite game
Age was never a barrier for Kissinger to be a game-changing diplomat. At the prime of his diplomatic life, he shaped many of the "epoch-changing global events" of the time.
Even after retirement, Kissinger continued to attend meetings in the White House, published several books on foreign policy and diplomacy, and even testified before a Senate Committee about the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. His latest diplomatic endeavor was his surprise visit to Beijing in July, meeting President Xi Jinping to find ways to normalize the US-China diplomatic relations.