Henry Kissinger: Peace Maker or War Monger?

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Recommended: Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement in the US during 1960-1970

The Nobel Peace Prize is a prestigious grant awarded to those who exemplify the pursuit of peace and coexistence of all races and cultures. The prize was created after the death of multi-millionaire and inventor Alfred Nobel who amassed a great fortune through the creation and manufacturing of dynamite for use in transportation, farming and building (Kushner p. 444 – 45). Alfred was criticized, however, for his invention due to its application in war. He must have taken these criticisms harshly for on his deathbed Alfred asked those around him to use his great wealth to create five individual prizes to be awarded to those who have promoted great progress in the fields of science, literature and peace (Kushner p. 444 – 45). Previous winners of the prize have been: the Doctors without Borders organization in 1999 for their charity medical treatment in impoverished countries and for speaking out at times when medical relief is not enough to end suffering or save lives, and, individual winner, Martin Luther King Jr. in 1974 for his work in ending oppression in America and elsewhere through public speaking (Kushner p. 444 – 45).

Secretary of State and National Security Advisor of the Nixon administration, Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho were given this prestigious award one year earlier than Dr. King for the ceasefire they negotiated between the U.S. and South Vietnam and Communist North Vietnam ("The Trials of Henry Kissinger"). The Vietnam War of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s remains the longest declared conflict, foreign or domestic, that the United States (U.S.) military has ever taken part in, and in the final years of the Johnson Administration’s second term, support for both the War and the Pres...

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... detriment of thousands of innocent lives both here and afar. If U.S. officials were held to the same standards that the government holds to the officials of other countries, then there is no question that Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney, and George Bush Sr. would be investigated and perhaps even convicted of atrocious maladies that the American people have not even been made aware of.

Works Cited

Chinyelu, Mamadou. "Kissinger’s Saddam Factor" New York Amsterdam News Vol. 94, Issue 51(2003): p.4.

Delaney, Jimmy. Personal interview. 6 May 2005.

Kushner, Sheril. "Nobel Peace Prize." Faces Vol. 21,Issue 7(2005): p. 444 - 45.

Slattery, Luke. "Kissinger Deserves to be haunted by His Past." The Australian (2001): 13.

Suri, Jeremy. Henry Kissinger and the American Century. Belknap Press, 2007.

The Trials of Henry Kissinger. Dir. Eugene Jarecki. DVD. 2002.

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