Henry Kissinger one of the most influential, controversial and polarizing diplomats of the 20th century, is 100 this week. With his own philosophical take on history, he insisted on portraying himself as a realist, while burnishing his celebrity as a world figure. Seymour Hersh portrayed him as an unhinged paranoiac; Christopher Hitchens thought he should be prosecuted as a war criminal.
He was National Security Advisor and Secretary of State to two American presidents in an era when great powers were masters. He was prominent in US foreign policy between 1969 and 1977, pioneering the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, opening relations with China, engaging in shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East to end the Yom Kippur War; and negotiating the end of US involvement in the Vietnam War.
He won the Nobel Prize in 1973 four years after he and Nixon began a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia, dropping more bombs on Cambodia than it had in the entire Pacific theatre during the Second World War, killing an estimated hundred thousand civilians. It hastened the rise of Pol Pot, and irrevocably ravaged large tracts of countryside.
He was also associated with U.S. involvement in the 1973 Chilean military coup, a “green light” to Argentina’s military junta for their Dirty War and offered U.S. support for Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War despite a genocide being perpetrated by Pakistan. All under the banner of realpolitik.
He was born 27 May 1923 5.30am Furth, Germany and escaped Nazi Germany with his family in 1938. What is surprising about his chart is firstly a 12th house Sun Mercury in Gemini – the Gemini is understandable and I suppose the 12th house power-behind-the-throne works, but he gives an impression of being attention-seeking. Mind you so does Tony Blair, another 12th house Sun. In Kissinger’s case his Sun, Mercury are not well integrated with his other planets giving him an independent bent with considerable self-pride.
The other is a prominent Uranus in his career 10th. He certainly trod an unconventional path in his working life but he lacks the revolutionary, radical zeal of a true Uranian. His Uranus is in a Water Grand Trine to Pluto trine Jupiter in Scorpio – which can be healing and creative but tends also to wrap the individual within his own bubble of reality which can be divorced from what is going on outside. His Uranus is also on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Saturn sextile Neptune which would make him rebellious, wilful, disruptive and a catalyst for change, for good or for ill.
His 10th house Uranus is also conjunct his South Node, which might suggest an unhealthy need to become an authority figure, achieve great things and put on a display, rather than attend to what is going on inside him emotionally.
His Mars in Gemini is also not heavily aspected bar a trine to his Libra Moon and a wide square to Uranus – it would make him uncompromising and constantly on the go.
An interesting chart even if his legacy is more than questionable.
His global-influencer 22nd harmonic reflects the brutality of his involvements with a Saturn opposition Mars square Pluto. His leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H is also marked by violence/military leanings.