[NYPOST] Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the last surviving member of former President Richard Nixon’s Cabinet, died on Wednesday. He was 100 years old.The German-born scholar, statesman and US military veteran died at his home Connecticut, according to a statement from his geopolitical consulting firm, Kissinger Associates. No cause of death was given.
Kissinger, the only presidential appointee to serve contemporaneously as national security adviser and secretary of state, was one of Nixon’s most trusted Cabinet members and secured lasting changes to US foreign policy in the 20th century through an emphasis on realism and de-escalation of tensions between great world powers.
While serving under Nixon and former President Gerald Ford from 1969 and 1977, he negotiated a rapprochement with China that began a new strategic alliance and initiated a policy of détente to engage with the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for helping to end US involvement in the Vietnam War and led peace talks the same year between Israel and Arab states that brought the Yom Kippur War to an end.
Ford also awarded Kissinger, who served as his national security adviser, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, for having "wielded America’s great power with wisdom and compassion in the service of peace."