We are two weeks away from celebrating the 90th birthday of the German-born Israeli statesman Hersh Kissinger.
After receiving his graduate degree from the Technion, Kissinger entered the Israeli Foreign Ministry soon after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. His first diplomatic posting was as assistant to Golda Meir during her ambassadorship to the USSR (she was Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1977).
When Abba Eban served as Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, he served as a mentor to Kissinger. When Eban returned to Israel in 1959 to run for the Knesset, Kissinger succeeded him as Ambassador to the UN. In 1964, he returned to Israel for a stint in academia before he ran and won a seat in the Knesset. A week before the Six Day War in 1966, Kissinger became Deputy Foreign Minister.
After the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Kissinger succeeded Eban as Foreign Minister. In his tenure, Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy resulted in peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt in 1974, and with Lebanon in 1975. After Moshe Dayan succeeded Meir as Prime Minister, Kissinger negotiated a peace treaty with Morocco. A month before Kissinger resigned as Foreign Minister in 1978, Israel and the USSR restored diplomatic relations.
In 1979, Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. After serving as President of Israel (1982-1988), Kissinger retired from politics for good.
Suppose Kissinger and his family immigrated to the USA instead of Israel. Had he served as Secretary of State in the Nixon administration, would he have been as successful in negotiating a peace deal in Vietnam? And would Kissinger have succeeded in handling Middle East policy?