Henry A. Kissinger*

Born in 1923 in Fürth, Germany, a small city in Bavaria, Henry Kissinger was the son of a high school teacher. As the Nazi movement engulfed Germany in the 1930s, Kissinger's father was expelled from his teaching post. In 1938, the Kissinger family fled to the United States, where they settled in Manhattan. Kissinger was 15 and spoke no English.

Following his high school graduation, Kissinger attended the tuition-free City College of New York's night school, hoping to become an accountant. To help his family, he worked during the day in a shaving brush factory.

When the United States entered World War II, Kissinger enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a U.S. citizen in 1943. He served in Germany with the occupation army. His skill at restoring basic services to a devastated village attracted the attention of a superior officer, who recognized his abilities and encouraged him to broaden his horizons.

When Kissinger returned home, he used the GI bill to attend Harvard University, where he earned his undergraduate, master's, and doctorate degrees, all with the highest honors. He remained at Harvard until 1969 as a faculty member in the department of government at Harvard's Center for International Affairs and as director of the Harvard International Seminar.

From 1969 to 1975, Kissinger served as national security adviser, and from 1973 to 1977, he was secretary of state under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan chose Kissinger to head the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America. He was a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1984 to 1990.

Kissinger was a Nobel Prize winner and the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. In May 2016, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter gave Kissinger the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest award the Pentagon has for private citizens.

Upon leaving government in 1977, Kissinger devoted himself to writing, lecturing, and consulting. In 1982, he founded Kissinger Associates, the international consulting firm of which he was chairman. He has published many books and articles on U.S. foreign policy, international affairs, and diplomatic history. He has also written a syndicated column that appears in major newspapers in the United States and in more than 40 countries.

Known for his boundless curiosity, Kissinger once said that one of his greatest pleasures is to "learn something I did not know before." A strong supporter of the Horatio Alger Association and its work to help with the educational goals of deserving youth, Kissinger says, "Education is the first step toward a positive future."