ms912017 Henry, Act l= ProQuest Moree tis > Henry, Act III ‘Mebouga Walter A The Natlnalntrest Washington 56 (Surimer 1995) 121-125 Fuller Flltent-Pe AbstraeDetate Abstract tansate Full Text transite Hesdnote ey Ae Water A. Mebougall Henry Kissinger, Years of Renewal New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), 1119 pp. $36, [ACCORDING TO Walter eaaeso's Kissinger Biography the consulting fim of Kissinger Associates became ative in 1982. when the fis chi retired he dnt fel ke wting atid volume f memoirs ae that Ronalé Reagan was never oing to make him secretary of state” Perhaps, bu that doesnot explain why wehad to wai ‘seventeen years fo the rae of th ogy tht began with White House Years (1979) and Years of Upheaval (192). More tothe point ae the facta that Kissinger Assocites proved mote successful hence time-consuming than expected that Kissinger wanted to devote what spa ime he had to mate interesting projets (above al his magiteval Diplomacy, 1994) snd thatthe meme themselves had tbe revisited a gt of he endo the Ca Wag the death of Naon and each ae elation about ‘Thus, eventhough the author must have begun Yeas of Renewal years ago the fil poductconaine subtle eps to Willa Bundy A Tangled Web: The Making of Forlgn Poy nthe Neon Preisency (1998), lam Sut The Ksinget Transcript: The Top-Seetet Talks With Bejing and Moscow (1958), The Haldeman Das Inside ‘he Non White House (1994), sacs biography (192) andthe selective release ofNxon apes the National Archives, One ecu i that although Kissinger’ the ‘volume covers is service inthe Ford administration the fist 16 pages consist are ofrebwtale and clarifications mace necessary by allthe above For instance, Kissinger burt eputee Bundy eaiatureofplcymaingin th Nikon administration ae obeecsivly ecret. deceptve and thus el-cefesting, No recent president, he argues, tieharde than Neon to explain tothe Congress, media and public what he was doing and why. The audences just hated the message, o messengec and ‘elused io listen. Moreover Kissinger adds, by 1972 he heel! was often calle the microphone to explain and persuade, nd whl he grants that domestic pelts were ‘ne may ad that charge of wilful hypocrite tobe hued about the veterans of he Kennedy and Johnson administrations whe designed, then deserted the Vietnam \nho woul profit fam them, Kisnge warns tha they are "team and ets of ite historieal use because tis impossible to gauge the moods, tives and contexts of remarks made in privte. Nan in particular was aoneo venting his deepest insecurities about people not preset while tthe same was obsessivalyincpasl’ of ‘agreing wth people who were present. Kissinger grant that Nori language wae a times inexcusable, ut denies ever esinghimintocated rng werking hours, and stands ty the eulogy he delete at Yorba Lindainpaie ofa lwed but courageous and near teat maker of tough decisions. ENTER Gerald A. Ford, who, by contrast, was gullless:"With For what ane saH was what one go" And given that ba was an unelected president taking office in an era of polarization and paranoia “rovcence smiled on Americans whenseeminly by happenstancet brought foward President who embodied our nation's deepest ana ‘simpletvlue" In an unspoken comparison Lo Clston, Kennedy and perhaps Reagan Kisinger mediates an how television and the computer have replaced te wen ‘The mode pelican es interested in being a hero than a superstar Heroes walk ale; stars derive thei statu rom approbation. Heroes ae defined by inner values, stars by consensus, When a candidates views at forged in focus groups sd afd by television anchor peeonsinescuy and superficiality become congental Radicalism replaces leralsm, ad populism masqueades as conservatism Contrary ahi bumbling mediaimage, Ford wae ust such het a Kasnge’'s ayes. He tok fice ata mamen! when mos ofthe ol estabshment otto mention the antiwar movement andthe" MeGovernte Congress had tumedizolationistin te bel hat anticommonism hascorupte Amerie, and that American Cold Wa exertions had polted the world, At the same time, conservatives and neoconservatives ware metamorphosing into Wilsonian crusaders and damning the administration for not being anticommunist enough, Vet Ford never waveres fom hie mission ta heal the nation's wounds, Kissinger confesses that at times he thought Fords equanimity ‘ercetsive bt he now appreciates how hie esraint laced the poison fiom tne American body pote and hastened it convalscance, Kissinger probably right about ‘that Just a Nxo'e Southern svategy and appealteblecliar Democrats helped make possible the ater"Reagan coat’ sod Forde wllngness to abso the angry darts of the Left nd Right site the passions aroused by Vietnam ane Watergate unt (wth ast ram his successors "malaige andthe Ayatolah) the nation was ready to get back'nt the ring wth is geopoiical opponent ut the anticipatory question many of us had bout Kissinger! volume of merci was whether he would pu new spinon the ea of detentein ight ofthe ease ‘ofthe Soviet bl, Would he deny the charge that he was a pessmstic ect, and init that 10, had been working tow an even vitry nthe Cole Wa rather ‘hana loter accommedation wth Moscow? The answer is es, though his cis are modest and his arguments subtle Thus he and Non di ot dscount he Soviet ideology. but id conclude hps:iisearch-proquest-com proxy tau a:ldocviow/2 184001939, idsinfoXkSAnriM2Fsid%k@ADrimo 1ms912017 Henry, Act l= ProQuest ‘hat the Soviet ideological reach was collapsing... Once au opening to China was completed the Soviet Union faced cation of lhe indus nations inthe wold in tacit alliance withthe most popolous nation, Scone one this equation woul work in fav of the democracies, provided they cous contain Soviet avenues by Aeterance and give the Soviets a chance to reduce contonttion by opportunites fer cooperation ‘Tobe sur, Vietnam had severly wounded American prestige and sefonfdence, but Niton and Kisingerbeleve that whereas detente would buy tne for America to recover Brezinev’s emrace of detente was 2"gambl that's these polices gater momentum and longevity. their effect willnot undermine the very system fom wich Brezhnev draws his power and legitimacy. Ou geal onthe ther hand so achieve precisely such effects ovr the ong run” Kissinger cameo know the Soviet rls intimately an judge thet ther obsession wah polticalsuvivalin the 8yzantine nomerkstra gave tem ite incentive to exercise tatgic imagination. Hence, the Sevlet Union nthe 19702 accumulated miltary ara gepoleal power less as an expressin of longrange geopalial ems tan as a substitute or them: He diet doubt hat ime was onthe side ofthe West, and say he stil unable to enily any af the loge "gueawaye" that his rites sid made detente one-way set” kei, he 1975 Helen Accords denounced bythe Ametican Right a 2 eprieofYattahave come"ta be appreciated aes pote! and moa landmark that conmbuted Soviets themselves were worried enough about the human rights quarantees in “Basket Three that they lobbied (unsuccessful fora preamble f-beting their use 353 pretext to interfer inthe domestic affars of states. Inded the East Europeans were avid supporters ofthe Final Act because (rin site ofthe fact thet it amounted to 8 repeal ofthe Bezhney Doctrine under which the Sovite has invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Sut when tcsmeto seling Helin at home, President Ford was tapped. He could hardy brag publicly thst Helsinki was realy a secret poy to encourage essen in the Soviet blo, but he could not win conservative suppor at home unlesshe did recilytht. was this Cateh-22 that engandered Ford's "Poland gaffen the 1976 debate wth Catt and pthaps i lus ofthe White House LUkewis, the Vadvostok agreement on nuclear arms was elected bythe American Right fo allegedly ring Soviet stateic parity nat supetoy andy the Left for ing cleat asenas. ut the only way the United Sates could have leveraged Moscow its aweslevele of arms was by increasing otatenng to ineease, the American arsenal Thus, helena faced by Ford wa tha he senators supporting Vladivostok were general infor af euting the defense budget, wie those who that was a tepan option HISTORIANS gaining acess to new documentation especialy rom the communis se, and pundits pursuing her domestic pois! agendas wil debate whether o rot ‘he Ford administration did thebest it could under the cumstances, but nae can deny its energy Kissinger issue tobe ribbed for penning another 1119 pages covering the uncsted Ford presidency. ut the ruth thatthe Ford yeas were packed with rises and contingencies that might have spawned disaster had Ford and Kissinger bowed tthe Come Home, America’ mood, Describing the stuation nthe alo 1974, Kissinger alludes "the sates by which anor-dects President, saddled with Mecoverte Congress, tying to rebuild a decreed presidency. and dealing with atv conte on Cyprus and the threat of wari the Md Eas, sought to pursue the ‘verte nex eighteen months came the congessional asaut on covert action andthe evieeaton of he CA; a ste af exhausting shuts to persuade Anwar Sedat North wetnamese offensive of 1975 andthe futile ightin Congress for material help othe South the fina evacuation from Saigon and the Cambeelan seizure ofthe Mayaguez: he crushing of Krish autonomy and éanger of another genocidal conlct: and efforts orally Europeans to sumount the ongoing energy crisis and forestall the Eut-commnies id for powerin several NATO goverment Then acto al that he decolonization of Portuguese fc; Soviet and Cuban intervention in Angola and he subsequest danger of radcalzation and even face warn souther Afra th clase of Lebanon to el war and foreign cccupaton, the Paname Canal eat, and coming negtatione wth the Seviet Union and China Whatis more given thatthe Ford administration was constantly Twhipsawed at home bythe post Vienam and pest Wetergate Left and the neoconservative ight is remarkable tat ite setbacks wee 0 few and achievements so many. In one see, of couse the mid1970s wee years of lotus ustrated by Kissinger excruciating ‘secounts of former Cambodian Prime Minster Sik Maak pleading vainly fr hepa the Khmer Rouge approsched then ding in agony n Pham Pent or US. leaders begging in vain for he United States not to desert the Angolan esstance lst he Sovitarmed"boy wth the guns" be emboldened al over Aa, oggdly explored the Syan and Jordanian dead ends une siscavered the high rad to iterl Epyptian rac agreement. Ke and Ford ale theo ensuring instal states to coordinate their response tothe energy criss nstitutionaizing what would become the"G- summits. Kissinger and the British worked to prevent GreeicTurkin war over Cyprus, thus sharing up NATO® soutarn lank forte duration ofthe Cold War And wha Congrse undercut CIA effete prevent a Marset takeover in Angola Klsiogr andthe Brith again, shutled among & dozen ican capital to win white andblack aeane alike t a plan for majory rule in Southern hodesa(Zimbabne) nd Nambia, thereby frosting Soviet and Cuban plans to expla racial Tensions onthe catinent. ial of eure, the much maligned Helin tem 9 s00n, ‘THE BIGGEST coup ofthe Kissinger eats was the "ac alias" with ia, Anon Non cous have pul it of not only because of hie anttcommunit credential but because Mao Tse-ung and Zhou Ena moralistic Americans of all prsuasionsthought primarily in geopolitical terms, the only terms under wich the United ‘States and Chins coul make common cause, Ae wel thao be Nixon because he remaine determines to fuerte Hans campaign to unity Vietnam, arto keep US, ower in Southeast Asa shouldbe obvous by now tht while Chins supperted North Vietnam fr ideological reasons, id not want he Vietnamese (who hate he Chines) to unite under tough pro-Sovie ragime on Chin’ southern lnk An American president who went ta Bling with apoogie an promises to abandon South Vietnam wouldve been shown the doo. Te be bundnafaigrthal excelent German werd meaning “worthy of beng courted as an al-the Unted States had ta be of stiateg¢ use to China which meant balancing Sov influence Asie whl tring Soviet use a snuck arsenal. As Kisinge noes, “Though Brezev secaionlly Implied rot very forceful that Americas conduct ofthe war in Vietam might impair Soviet-American relations Zhou never een hinted at such a prospect What cooled Sine Amatican relation in 197676 was precisly U.S acaviescence inthe all of Saigon Soviet nuclear pany and what Chinese Ambacsador Huang Zhen called "Munich thinking in Westar Europe” 1n1972 Mao to Nico," ike rightist" Wil the Areican Right ever come to adie Kissinger? Iisa conservative principe that poplecugh tobe judged not by what they accomplish bby what the accomalich with wha hey are given Ford and Kissinger were deck very wea hands end deserve ere for wining ae many tricks ‘hey did. Butfhe tne and content ofthese Iter thougtfel memos wn tudgng appreian in some quartets, the book may annoy neoconservatives aver agin. ‘As refugee fom tlaltaianism, Kiesnger tales that he could ony age wth the neaconservalives values and lima goal, ut he blames the tact blindness and hps:iisearch-proquest-com proxy tau a:ldocviow/2 184001939, idsinfoXkSAnriM2Fsid%k@ADrimo 23ms912017 Henry, Act l= ProQuest raises bythe Yor Kippur War andthe excesses ofthe New Let, but they sl despised Non and promoted 3 mite, muscular Wilkonansan aa time when domestic and geopltzal constraints made t impossible “Thus, where the azminstatin had made quiet and significant progres on emigration of Jews fom the Soviet Union, Senator Henry Jackson's loud ukimatum tthe Soviets onthe fsue only provoked a predictable yet And wren the administration was fighting t prevent communist victories in Southeast Asia and Ati, was ‘Senator Jackson who said net. Neoconservaivs might rebut these complaints with refetences to wheat deals and guaranteed loans that ely cubscized the Soviet ‘yetem technological partnerships that amounted to giveaways repeated Soviet violations ofthe spirit of datente especially inthe Middle Eat Kissinger obsession ity Ths World compleatione when the rea font ines ofthe Cold War remained Europe and the nuclear balance and het own ae m preparing the pch for Reagan. Stil ‘ASKED ONCE by Barbara Waters a deseribe hineelfn a word, Kissinger cleared hi toa and ep hie sonarus accent, "Complicated" By my count the Warde “complicated” and "compe appar over seventy times inthis book not te meron vriations of ambiguoue’ nuanced’. peplenng’, "convoluted, ‘aborts and “intrcat” And by impressing vpon us the complet of international lations Kissinger wams us against ll who would simplify His chosen rope in such cases isto «employ disparaping tems drawn rom religion, 25 when the North Vietnamese employ sacramental phraseology’ witing about Cambedils genocide has 2near urges quay’ the Bureaucracy celvers "homilies" ants stander tan" on Aca, the CIA mouth "erthedoxy” en the arms contol community “theslogy on nuclear weapons and liberals ques fr"anevana combining principe andlow isk” During the Carer aéminsaton Zbigniew Brzezinski granted hat world plies not a kindergarten. "Neite Kissinger would ad eta Sunday school But he laments the end that the very autcess of Ford and Reagen (would add Sus) in healing the nation and as apeanent sae or apocalyptic outcomes against alleges that offend ou sensbities” Ish, therefore te amoral reapoliies afterall lays prefring exer to usice? The question i famed Kissinger el us, and replies that his true commitments to eveltion over revolution” realy about his fathers charity and Jewish pietyboth of which hs biographers say Henry abandoned ery in fe But the meseage ofthe" personal notes clear is that Henry cis father proud ands pro ot having made his ater proud. An that sor of pride sno sn ‘Atoratiation Water Mebougalis pressor of history and intematonalrelstion atthe Unversity of Pennsynaria, and ets of Orbs. He won aPulzer Prize for The Heavens andthe Earth: Poltical History of he Space age (1997) Wore court: 9065, Copyright National Aas, ne. Summer 1999 More like this x ‘Search Proauest Download POF mete Senall save Add to Selected tems Related items Search with indexing terme ‘Subject Autobiographies Publ offal Diplomacy International elatonssS Lecation ope Kissinger Henry A Non iehard M =) hps:iisearch-proquest-com proxy tau a:ldocviow/2 184001939, idsinfoXkSAnriM2Fsid%k@ADrimo a