Henry Kissinger was best known for being the former Secretary of State who exerted his domineering influence over Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
His death at the age of 100 was announced today and he had the unique status of being hailed as a Nobel Peace Prize winner while also being condemned by some as a war criminal.
But away from his diplomatic work with countries like Vietnam and China, he was an old school ladies man who dated Hollywood's most alluring celebs and was pals with Hugh Hefner.
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He was even once branded as “Washington’s greatest swinger” – and here we look at his bonkers life away from his desk.
How it started
It would be remiss not to mention his start in life because the top American diplomat was actually born in Germany in 1923 – before his family was forced to flee Nazi rule as Jewish refugees in 1938.
He became a US citizen five years later and he served three years in the army before getting his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Harvard University where he taught international relations for almost 20 years.
But his monumental break came in 1969 where President Nixon made him National Security Advisor while he also worked as Secretary of State.
In short, his negotiations helped end America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, the end of the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East and he also helped to open barriers with China. However, others blame him for a horrendous number of deaths when the US bombed Cambodia.
Ladies Man
Away from politics, he had a penchant for beautiful women while he served under Nixon. And according to The Associated Press, he called women a “diversion, a hobby”.
Among social circles, he was called the ‘West Wing playboy’ and one of his racy flings was with Hungarian actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor.
An unlikely match, they met during a state dinner at the White House before Kissinger drove her back to her Beverly Hills home in 1970.
She later wrote about the encounter in her biography called One Lifetime is Not Enough and said his beeper went off just as he was leaning in for a smooch.
Nixon had interrupted the moment of passion and the National Security Advisor dented the car in her electronic gates on his panicked way out. And retelling the story to David Letterman in 1987, she said: “He screwed up that one kiss.”
But Kissinger was not short of kisses – and he even became pals with Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner. According to the Washington Post, the print tycoon gifted him a subscription to the raunchy magazine. Hef even later printed a poll that named Kissinger as the most desired bloke with his Playboy playmates.
Kissinger himself acknowledged that he was “Washington’s greatest swinger” before his second marriage, a phrase that suggested he was a serial dater.
The New York Post also once referred to him as the “swinging bachelor of the Nixon administration” and in 1972 Kissinger spoke to Time magazine about his off duty affairs.
He said: “I go out with actresses because I’m not very apt to marry one.” Kissinger also once said: “It’s astonishing, you know. These starlets I go out with aren’t even sexy.”
But it wasn’t just actresses he had an eye for, because in 1969, his first year as National Security Adviser for Nixon, he approached the Washington Post reporter Sally Quinn who asked him if he was a swinger.
Kissinger, also romantically linked to the first American Bond girl, Jill St. John, replied: “I told her, ‘I can’t admit that I’m a swinger without getting into trouble. I can’t admit that I’m not a swinger, so why don't we say I’m a secret swinger?’”
But despite dating gorgeous socialites while holding one of the most pressurised job in the world, he rarely let the two clash with each other.
One former actress he dated, Marsha Metrinko, said in 1974: “There always seemed to be a crisis. In San Clemente, he’d always get called away from the table a lot.”
Kissinger reportedly left his wild hedonistic days behind after marrying his second wife, Nancy Maginnes, in 1974, and he is survived by her, his two children and five grandchildren.
And Nancy was once asked about her husband’s kinky past but laughing it off, she simply replied: “Henry’s so square. He’s always been square.”
And Carl Friedrich, a former Harvard professor and his old buddy, also said: “That swinger stuff is bunk. He never was a good mixer.”
Death
Kissinger, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, died at his home in Connecticut at the age of 100.
And reaching such a grand age was something his family was proud of and back in May his son, David, told the Washington Post: “Not only has he outlived most of his peers, eminent detractors, and students, but he has also remained indefatigably active throughout his 90s.
“My father’s longevity is especially miraculous when one considers the health regimen he has followed throughout his adult life, which includes a diet heavy on bratwurst and Wiener schnitzel, a career of relentlessly stressful decision-making, and a love of sports purely as a spectator, never a participant.”
Paying tribute, President George W. Bush wrote: “America has lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs with the passing of Henry Kissinger.
“I have long admired the man who fled the Nazis as a young boy from a Jewish family, then fought them in the United States Army.
“When he later became Secretary of State, his appointment as a former refugee said as much about his greatness as it did America’s greatness. He worked in the Administrations of two Presidents and counseled many more.
“I am grateful for that service and advice, but I am most grateful for his friendship. Laura and I will miss his wisdom, his charm, and his humor. And we will always be thankful for the contributions of Henry Kissinger.”
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