The Kalbs’ Kissinger is a little too like Kissinger’s Kissinger

President Nixon’s final official act was full of cruel symbolism: he was required to submit his formal, one-sentence resignation to Secretary of State Kissinger. The servant had survived the doomed master. But Henry Alfred Kissinger is much more than a survivor. He is a superstar, uniquely esteemed by heads of government, ordinary Americans, and the editors of Time, who in judging him probably “the world’s indispensable man” reflect the prevailing consensus. Naturally, President Ford hastened to announce that the Secretary of the World would stay on the job. (Long before Nixon’s downfall, of course, Kissinger had assured the successor that his services would be available.)

The Kissinger phenomenon may easily be misunderstood. Without taking anything away from his obvious qualities of intellect, ambition, and energy, it is appropriate to regard him as the beneficiary of luck and circumstance. The peculiarly reclusive and secretive Nixon wanted to deal with the world at arm’s length, through one man only, and Kissinger was the chosen human instrument. Another President would have arranged matters quite differently. When Kissinger at last writes his own multimillion-dollar memoirs, it will be interesting to see how he treats his disgraced benefactor, and whether he acknowledges his debt. If he does not, to be sure, he will merely be running true to the form that Nixon taught him.

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Richard J. Whalen

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Henry Kissinger

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President Nixon’s final official act was full of cruel symbolism: he was required to submit his formal, one-sentence resignation to Secretary of State Kissinger. The servant had survived the doomed master. But Henry Alfred Kissinger is much more than a survivor. He is a superstar, uniquely esteemed by heads of government, ordinary Americans, and the editors of Time, who in judging him probably “the world’s indispensable man” reflect the prevailing consensus. Naturally, President Ford hastened to announce that the Secretary of the World would stay on the job. (Long before Nixon’s downfall, of course, Kissinger had assured the successor that his services would be available.)

The Kissinger phenomenon may easily be misunderstood. Without taking anything away from his obvious qualities of intellect, ambition, and energy, it is appropriate to regard him as the beneficiary of luck and circumstance. The peculiarly reclusive and secretive Nixon wanted to deal with the world at arm’s length, through one man only, and Kissinger was the chosen human instrument. Another President would have arranged matters quite differently. When Kissinger at last writes his own multimillion-dollar memoirs, it will be interesting to see how he treats his disgraced benefactor, and whether he acknowledges his debt. If he does not, to be sure, he will merely be running true to the form that Nixon taught him.