Why Anthony Bourdain wanted to beat Henry Kissinger 'to death with his bare hands'
KENT, CONNECTICUT: Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, has died at the age of 100.
On Wednesday, November 29, 2023, his consulting firm, Kissinger Associates announced in a statement that “Henry Kissinger, a respected American scholar and statesman, died today at his home in Connecticut.”
Despite his Nobel Peace Prize win in 1973, the firebrand Republican diplomat and geopolitical strategist drew the ire of many individuals on the Left.
This includes the late chef and television host Anthony Bourdain, who once famously said in his 2001 book ‘A Cook’s Tour’, “Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands.”
Why Henry Kissinger was deemed a divisive politician by Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain, a celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian, was featured in television shows focusing on exploring international culture, cuisine, and the human condition.
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On his expeditions in Southeast Asia, including in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, Bourdain highlighted the legacy of the US-Vietnam War which lasted roughly 40 years and involved multiple countries.
Bourdain expounded in his 2001 book on the effects of the bombing of Cambodia that was facilitated by Kissinger, saying, “Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking.”
He continued, “Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milosevic.”
Bourdain stood by the passage in his book clarifying in a tweet from 2018, “Frequently, I’ve come to regret things I’ve said. This, from 2001, is not one of those times.”
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In an article on Bourdain by The New Yorker magazine in 2017 it was reported how he went on a rant about how it sickens him, having traveled in Southeast Asia, to see Kissinger embraced by the power-lunch crowd.
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“Any journalist who has ever been polite to Henry Kissinger, you know, f**k that person,” he told the outlet.
“I’m a big believer in moral gray areas, but, when it comes to that guy, in my view he should not be able to eat at a restaurant in New York,” he said.
Furthermore, Kissinger has been charged with war crimes in Vietnam, East Timor, and other places; possibly the most well-known accusation of this comes from the scathing 2001 book ‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger’ by the late Christopher Hitchens.
Kissinger’s influential yet conflict-ridden tenure in US politics
Despite his frail physical condition and turning 100 years old on May 27, this year, Kissinger still attended meetings at the White House, gave interviews with various national and international news outlets, published a book, and testified before a Senate committee about the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.
He unexpectedly traveled to Beijing in July 2023 to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The former Secretary of State under Republican Richard Nixon, played a significant role in many global events of the 1970s.
His diplomatic efforts led to the opening of China, and US-Soviet arms control talks, expanded ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and the Paris Peace Accords with North Vietnam.
Even though his political influence waned with Nixon's resignation, Kissinger continued to be a diplomatic force under President Gerald Ford and remained active in politics up to his last living days.
Kissinger's last tenure in a presidential administration ended in 1977, but he remained close to George W Bush.
Kissinger was appointed by the then-president to lead a panel looking into the events of September 11, 2001, but he resigned because he did not want to disclose the identities of his consulting clients.
Kissinger was born in May 1923 as Heinz Alfred Kissinger and he and his family moved to the United States in 1938 to escape the Nazi campaign to exterminate European Jews.
After becoming a naturalized US citizen in 1943, he changed his name to Henry.
The Kissingers settled in Washington Heights on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where he attended the local public high school.
Henry served in the Army in Europe during World War II and then received a scholarship to attend Harvard University where he earned his Master's degree in 1952 and his Doctorate in 1954, and he remained on Harvard's faculty for the next 17 years.
Henry divorced his first wife, Ann Fleischer, in 1964, before marrying Nancy Maginnes, an aide to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, in 1974. He had two children with his first wife.