Henry Kissinger, the most influential American diplomat of the Cold War era, died Wednesday at the age of 100, leaving behind a polarizing legacy as both a geopolitical mastermind and, according to some, a bit of a grinch. Kissinger, who served as secretary of state and national security adviser under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, has been heralded by many as a peacemaker. Others, however, are quick to point out that he could also be something of a rascal, like the time he spent years secretly expanding the Vietnam War into Cambodia and Laos, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths—an act many critics of U.S. foreign policy have described as downright ornery. In addition to fostering relations with China, advocating a policy of détente with the Soviet Union, and writing numerous bestselling books, Kissinger’s legacy includes many episodes in which he was, quite frankly, a killjoy: He bumbled around in Cambodia, East Timor, and Bangladesh until he stirred up genocides there, he was a real Negative Nancy all over Latin America, and he once cantankerously referred to Jews as self-serving bastards.
For his contributions to American history, The Onion remembers Kissinger today as a titan of foreign relations, even if, sometimes, he could be quite the curmudgeonly ol’ fellow!
