Henry Kissinger, the Tallyrand of the Twentieth Century

By Rich Kozlovich

Henry Kissinger, really was the Tallyrand of the twentieth century.  First, I think it wise to review who exactly was Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.

Talleyrand polarises opinion. Some regard him as one of the most versatile, skilled and influential diplomats in European history, while some believe that he was a traitor, betraying in turn the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution, Napoleon, as well as the Restoration.  

Was he the great diplomat, or was he the traitor?  What's the correct answer? Yes.

During the last years of his life Talleyrand began planning his reconciliation with the Catholic Church. On 16 May 1838, he signed a retraction of his errors towards the church and a letter of submission to Pope Gregory XVI. He died the following day at 3:55 p.m., at Saint-Florentin.

Near the end of his life, Talleyrand became interested in Catholicism again while teaching his young granddaughter simple prayers. The Abbé Félix Dupanloup came to Talleyrand in his last hours, and according to his account Talleyrand made confession and received extreme unction. When the abbé tried to anoint Talleyrand's palms, as prescribed by the rite, he turned his hands over to make the priest anoint him on the back of the hands, since he was a bishop. He also signed, in the abbé's presence, a solemn declaration in which he openly disavowed "the great errors which . . . had troubled and afflicted the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, and in which he himself had had the misfortune to fall."  He died on 17 May 1838 and was buried in the Notre-Dame Chapel, near his Château de Valençay.

Today, when speaking of the art of diplomacy, the phrase "he is a Talleyrand" is variously used to describe a statesman of great resourcefulness and craft, or a cynical and conscienceless self-serving politician.

In 1817 Talleyrand decided Napoleon had lost it, and wanted to get rid of him but needed a co-conspirator, so he approached "Joseph Fouche the head of the secret police, his most hated enemy, an man who had even tried to have him assassinated."  A totally self serving amoral man who managed to shift sides over and over again throughout his life and end up in the ruling class each time.

After Napoleon was defeated and exiled to the Island of Elba, it was Tallyrand who conspired to bring him back, but not to truly restore his power, but to have him ultimately defeated an exiled so far away he could never return to France.  Tallyrand was totally corrupt, and had the ability to draw others into his corrupt web, and if necessary, turn against them to save himself.    

In France's July Revolution of 1830, after three days of riots, the statesman Talleyrand, now elderly, sat by his Paris window, listening to the pealing bells that signaled the riots were over.  Turnin to an assistant, he said "Ah the Bells!  We're winning: "Who's we mon prince" the assistant asked.  Gesturing for the man to keep quiet, Tallyrand replied, "not a word!"  "I'll tell you who we are tomorrow."

That brings me to Henry Kissinger.  According to Robert Greene in his book the 48 Law of Power:

In the midst of the 1968 U.S. Presidential election, Henry Kissinger made a phone call to Richard Nixon's team.  Kissinger had been allied with Nelson Rockefeller, who had unsuccessfully sough the Republican nomination. Now Kissinger offered to supply  the Nixon camp with valuable inside information on the negotiations for peace in Vietnam that were then going on in Paris.  He had a man on the negotiating team keeping him informed of the latest developments.  The Nixon team gladly accepted his offer.

At the same time Kissinger also approached the Democratic nominee, Herbert Humphrey, and offered his aid.  The Humphrey people asked him for inside information on Nixon and he supplied it.  Look, Kissinger told Humphrey's people.  Look, "I've hated Nixon for years" and in fact he had no interest in either side.  What he really wanted was what he got.  The promise of a high level cabinet post from both Nixon and Humphrey, which ever man won the election, Kissinger's career was secure.  and he was the only Nixon man to survive the Watergate mess, and went to work for Gerald Ford.  

Christopher Chantrill notes:

A couple of weeks ago I did a Kissinger piece on China and realism in foreign policy.   In Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy, published in 2022, Kissinger reviews the lives and careers of six nation-state leaders personally known to him. Each of these leaders, somehow, rose above the ruck of mindless politics-as-usual to deliver just what their peoples desperately needed at the time............Finally, at the end of the book, we get Kissinger's real Last Word: that in our modern online world we have lost the tradition of "deep literacy." I am sure he was not -- repeat, NOT -- referring to the you-go girls presidenting at the Ivy League.

Well, I recently published a Kissinger article, Henry Kissinger: Time is The Great Leveler of Truth, outlining what a disaster Henry Kissinger was for the world.  At the end he proclaimed it was a grave mistake for Europe to listen to him on immigration.  Kissinger's life was a grave mistake!   His positions and actions have imperiled the world for decades and all that's coming to fruition.  Henry Kissinger, who was unendingly self serving, and I truly think totally untrustworthy, died at 100 years old. 

I believe he embraced this new tact in an attempt to ameliorate the disaster of his legacy, and his life.  But I'm betting history will not be kind to Kissinger, his legacy, or his character.  All of which I consider a disgrace.  While I did not applaud his passing, I am not saddened by it either.

The natural function of the human brain is to see patterns, and as we read more, and hopefully read more deeply, and we age, we see patterns more quickly and more easily.  

The patterns I saw regarding Kissinger?

1. Intelligent, but not smart. 
2. Highly educated but not wise. 
3. Over catered to.
4. Filled with bad advise. 
5. An arrogant egomaniac.
6.  More concerned with being "someone" rather than doing something. 

He, like so many others of that ilk he failed to understand the one thing that's needed to be truly smart and wise. Everything is the basics.

My grandfather was one of the world's great economists. He said if you spend more than you make you go broke. And he was a coal miner and a farmer. The basics ultimately rule, and Kissinger and his ilk are oblivious to that because ideology really does make smart people stupid.

I didn't dance the jig when he died as the left is wont to do, but in no way am I saddened by his passing, and truthfully, I think the world is better off without him.