Bio: Henry Kissinger

Published January 16, 2003


Henry Kissinger was the 56th Secretary of State of the United States from 1973 to 1977, continuing to hold the position of Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, which he first assumed in 1969, until 1975. After leaving government service, he founded Kissinger Associates, an international consulting firm, of which he is chairman.

Kissinger was born in Fürth, Germany, on May 27, 1923, came to the United States in 1938, and became a United States citizen on June 19, 1943. He received a B.A. Summa Cum Laude at Harvard College in 1950 and an M.A. and a Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1952 and 1954 respectively.


He shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize with Le Duc Tho of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam for their efforts to negotiate a peaceful end to the war in Vietnam.  Le Duc Tho declined the prize.




From 1943 to 1946 Kissinger served in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps and from 1946 to 1949 was a captain in the Military Intelligence Reserve.


Source: The Nobel Foundation.