The Two Political Figures Of Henry Kissinger And Madeleine Albright

There are two political figures who have played important roles in U.S. international politics; they are Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright. They both seem to have similar backgrounds and they both went through equivalent circumstances.

One important and controversial political figure that has been the author of many political and international relations books is Henry Kissinger. He was born in Germany in 1923. He was a Jewish child who lived fifteen years of his life in his home town; however, during the 1930s, a growing Nazi Germany became an unsafe place for him and his family. Therefore, he had to fly to London and then New York City. He continued his studies in the United States, but when the U.S. entered World War II, he “was drafted

The national interest thus replaced the medieval notion of a universal morality that guided all men and nations. The second key concept is the balance of power an international order in which no nation is dominant. Each nation maintains its independence by aligning itself, or opposing, other nations according to its calculation of the imperatives of power. (“Kissingers…” 1)

That is why when Kissinger came into office and “faced significant challenges on both the domestic and international affairs” (Cadwell 633). He “thought that American foreign policy should be determined by American national interests rather than ideals or ideology” (Cadwell

During the 1970s, Kissinger along with President Nixon sought to improve relations with two of the United States communist opponents China and the Soviet Union. “In 1971, Kissinger made two secret trips to the People’s Republic of China” (“Henry…” 1). These trips were done with the final objective to ease President Nixon’s visit in 1972. These were not the first attempts to reestablish the political relationship with China. However, those earlier attempts were a total failure. Besides, the invasion of Cambodia made it difficult to sustain a dialogue with China. The main objectives were to “open up another front in the Cold War against the Soviet Union” and contain a potential nuclear threat (Burr 1). Kissinger tried to approach China through Pakistan’s ruler, Yahya Khan’s, through the Romanian government, and an old friend in Paris’ Chinese embassy. The moment finally came when Zhou Enlai expressed through a third connection his interest in meeting with President Nixon. However, U.S. acknowledgement of Taiwan complicated the reestablishment of U.S.-China relationships. Kissinger tried his best to stay neutral in that matter, which made Zhou declared that he felt “optimistic about Sino-American rapprochement” (Burr 1). Nonetheless, the relationships stayed standby until General Form became president. It was not until 1979 that Kissinger “completed