ON THE ROAD WITH KISSINGER:
# THE DIPLOMATIC DERVISH

After more than eight years out of high public office, Henry Kissinger is still one of the most sought-after men in the world: Heads of state and captains of industry seek his counsel, while virtually every organizer at the highest levels of the benefit circuit seeks his box-office power. Recently, M spent a few days with the frenetic and peripatetic Doctor, on the road in Texas.

It's Wednesday in Dallas and everything seems to be in order. At the Mansion on Turtle Creek the attendant calm of a midweek twilight has taken hold and activity in the hotel's elegant lobby has dwindled to 10 or 12 people. In deference to the time of day, they talk in tones that can barely be described as whispers. Suddenly, however, the tranquility is broken by the sound of strong, purposeful footsteps that echo off the marble floors. A moment later, several men in dark suits appear and circle the lobby, eyes darting. Trailing several steps behind is the cause of the disruption—61-year-old Henry Kissinger. Looking tan and trim in a navy suit and crisp white shirt, Kissinger walks casually through the lobby and out to a car waiting with its engine running. As quickly as he appeared, he is gone, headed for a speaking engagement.

The cars that carry Kissinger and his entourage—two personal security men, several plainclothes Dallas policemen and a couple of local businessmen—move at a steady pace through the streets of Highland Park past the homes of such Texas titans as Trammel Crow and the Hunts. The destination is the Dallas Country Club, where Kissinger goes in a side entrance that takes him through the kitchen (a favorite path) and into a small room where he will wait for several minutes. Though this route

is designed to keep him away from the crowd—about 500 people who have paid $100 each for cocktails and a Kissinger speech—he does have to traverse a short hallway where he is spotted by several people who spark a headturning chain reaction that spreads word of his arrival with remarkable haste. A few minutes later, precisely 20 minutes after his departure from the hotel and only an hour and a half after his arrival in Texas from New York, Kissinger is being introduced to speak. This takes almost 10 minutes, during which time he is compared to men like Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and George Marshall, and called “the leading statesman of our time.” When the buildup finally ends, Kissinger steps up to the podium and says, “If my mother were here, she would consider that introduction a classic case of Anglo-Saxon understatement.” Welcome to the Henry Kissinger road show.

Historian and businessman, strategist and writer, educator and diplomat, Dr. Henry Alfred Kissinger has also become an entertainer of sorts—satisfying audiences all over the world with a routine that includes not only genuine wit, but analysis of East-West relations, nuclear strategy, Central America and almost every other issue critical to American foreign policy. And while he

HARRY BENSON

BY CRAIG HOROWITZ

IN TEXAS:

Getting made up for a cable TV appearance

Arriving in Austin

Getting thoughtful at the Library

is not available for county fairs and ribbon cuttings, he will do large fund raisers, small fund raisers and breakfasts, lunches and dinners, as long as the inducement is right: enough money, an issue he strongly believes in or an appearance that will help a friend.

To further loosen up his Dallas audience, Kissinger offers his standard bit about the Constitution barring a foreign-born citizen from becoming president. The joke is beautifully timed and the anticipated laughs come when expected. He feigns dismay at his feckless efforts to rally support in Washington to change this law. "However, there is nothing in the Constitution that prevents a foreign-born citizen from becoming emperor . . . and I'm working on it," he says with a devilish smile.

Though it is more than eight years since he has held a cabinet post, Kissinger remains a celebrity of nearly unequalled proportions. When he travels it seems that there is no face more recognizable and no voice more distinctive. "We've never seen anything like this," says one of the Dallas businessmen who has sponsored Kissinger's fund-raising appearance on behalf of the Davidson College alumni association. "We've had former President Ford, Alexander Haig and a number of other notable personalities, but none of them created even a ripple. Our worry now is what we can do for an encore. About the only other person we could think of who would create this kind of excitement is Michael Jackson."

Kissinger speaks to the Dallas audience for about 45 minutes, striking several points that he will cover again and again during his three days in Texas. They are the same themes that mark his private conversations about the issues. He cannot emphasize either too often or too strongly the necessity for a bipartisan approach to America's foreign policy. When questioned in private about the realism of this insistence in a two-party system, Kissinger is firm that it must be attempted. "A measure of partisanship is built into the system, but for 20 years after World War II we had a pretty substantial bipartisan policy," he says. "There were differences between the various contenders-after all, the 1952 campaign had nasty aspects-but at the end of the day, Dulles' foreign policy was in the main line very similar to Acheson's, and Rusk's was very similar to Dulles'. It was during Vietnam that the consensus disintegrated."

He also tells his Dallas audience that the other critical factor is continuity;

America, he says, must not only be strong ("It's nice to be liked, but it's more important to be successful") but steady and reliable as well. He predicts that the Russians will be back at the negotiating table, depending on who is leading at the polls, either just prior to or just after the presidential election. If Reagan appears assured of victory, negotiations will begin just prior to the election; if the Democrat is ahead or the race is too close to call, the Russians will wait until after the election. "We owe it to ourselves not to make negotiations an election issue."

Kissinger's speech is well received and as he is making his way out of the ballroom he is repeatedly stopped for autographs. He treats these people warmly, asking for names and also inquiring if there is a particular inscription desired. His next stop is another room at the country club, where as part of the package he will answer questions from 20 business executives. They are seated around a large conference table when Kissinger walks in and the atmosphere is casual, friendly. They ask about the Iran-Iraq war (Iran will wear its opponent down over time); threats to close the Straits of Hormuz (very unlikely; however, Iranian intimidation of OPEC's moderate members, resulting in oil production cuts, is possible); Lebanon ("I was against putting the troops in, but I was also against pulling them out, so you can see how difficult I am to please"); Israel, Jordan and the problems in Central America.

While the businessmen appear to be concerned citizens interested in the opinions of an expert, one can't help but get the feeling that there is something else at work here. They are, after all, getting to discuss foreign policy with its most celebrated and controversial practitioner; the man whose career has encompassed the Christmas bombings in Vietnam, the overthrow of Allende in Chile, the opening of the door to China, detente with the Russians and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. It seems to be as much an exercise in star worship as it is an exchange of ideas.

For Kissinger, it is another matter entirely. This is the man whose opinions still count; the man who receives foreign heads of state when they visit this country, and the man who still seems to be only temporarily without a cabinet post. While a third of his speaking engagements are done without a fee, this particular kind of work bears a striking resemblance to that of an athlete who hires himself out to a hotel to play golf with the preferred guests.

THE KISSINGER TWO-STEP

Getting on the CBS news

On the party circuit in Highland Park

Getting around Dallas

Huddling with a Dallas sponsor

At the Dallas Country Club

A private lounge at the LBJ Library

Dinner with Lady Bird Johnson at the Library

Departure from the Dallas Country Club goes smoothly enough and the mini-motorcade once again snakes through Highland Park, now headed for dinner at the home of one of his Dallas sponsors. The house is a lovely center hall colonial that provides a nice setting for a side of Kissinger that only comes out at night. As cerebral as he is during the day, after sundown he undergoes a transformation, and the Kissinger that emerges has bright blue eyes and a mischievous smile. Though the cocktail party is already in progress, it seems to start all over again when Kissinger walks in. Immediately, wherever he stands is ground zero and all activity emanates from that point. It appears that the 75 guests are occupied solely with trying to get near him. With piano music as background, Kissinger nurses one drink (standard procedure) as he jokes, shakes hands and charms the ladies in an all-out effort to make the people around him feel comfortable. Actually, it appears to be no effort at all.

One favorite technique is a mild self-mocking humor that always puts those around him at ease. "Dr. Kissinger, wherever did you get that wonderful tan?" coos a Texas belle with frosted hair. "I've been in Acapulco and Vail," he says in his best Cambridge accent. "Do you ski?" she asks. "No," he admits. "I went once in Europe at the end of World War II when most places had no lifts and I fell so many times trying to get up the hill that that was enough."

Dinner is in the backyard under a star-filled Texas sky. Rather than numbers, each table has been designated with the name of a former secretary of state. For dessert, the guests get cherries jubilee and the world according to Kissinger. In between sips of coffee, he patiently answers questions from around the yard on the International Monetary Fund, the PLO, the Sicilianistas and his support for Ronald Reagan. On his way out, the piano player offers a soft rendition of "America the Beautiful" and presents Kissinger with a cassette that has two songs on it she wrote just for him.

By 8:15 Thursday morning he is on the go again, covering the same issues he discussed the night before, this time at a breakfast for about 50 people. Though he is scheduled to talk for 30 minutes, the give-and-take stimulates him and he stays for an hour—putting him, as usual, behind schedule for the entire day. He is almost never on time and this seems in some small measure to add to his reputation for arrogance.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE CHINSE

[LC]

arrival. In the limousine on the way to the hotel, Kissinger continues his discussion of Reagan as a leader. "I think President Reagan is a type that is unfamiliar to most of our journalists and most of our intellectuals. First of all, you have to look at his career. To go from his origins to president of the United States is an enormous feat. To keep himself alive as a presidential candidate through four campaigns is extraordinary. This could not have been done by a weak man. Whether you agree with every last thing he does or not, the fact is that government now gives an impression of calm and purpose. He's not an academic type, but he has leadership capabilities."

The key to this discussion is what Kissinger, who has known nearly all of the world's major heads of state over the last 25 years, considers important in a leader. "The most important quality in a leader is courage. Allied with that has to be character, and I would put intelligence third. You can always hire experts. You cannot, however, hire courage or character," he says. "The decisions that come up before a president are the close ones. All of the easy decisions are made at lower levels. So when a decision reaches the president, the pros and cons are very evenly divided. This means that he must have the inward assurance, the moral framework to act in uncertain situations. And no amount of intelligence in the abstract can help you here."

Kissinger checks into the hotel quickly, makes a couple of phone calls in his suite, then heads for the LBJ Library at the University of Texas in Austin. He is scheduled to have lunch with Lady Bird Johnson and then to sit on a panel to discuss nuclear weapons. In the limousine, someone asks Kissinger if he has read the Robert Caro biography of Lyndon Johnson. "I haven't read it," he says, "but a friend of mine just finished it and said he came away with a renewed respect for Johnson. I don't have to worry about that happening to anyone who reads the Seymour Hersh book ("The Price of Power") about me," he says, laughing. When asked if the book's one-sided

impact, Kissinger says, "My concern is not for anyone who reads it now, but for scholars who will use it as research material in the future." To limit its possible detrimental effect on what Kissinger sees as his place in history, he points out that he is having a researcher annotate the book chapter by chapter for the Library of Congress.

Mrs. Johnson is an old friend and their embrace is a warm one. Joining them for lunch are Robert McNamara, Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb and Colorado Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, all of whom will sit on the same panel. In good spirits, Kissinger jokes with the panel's moderator, who is also at the table. "You must make sure that Schroeder comes off as a wild-eyed liberal, Korb as the war-monger and then I will look like the moderate."

Kissinger goes straight from the tacos and enchiladas at lunch to a crowded press conference, and then on to the LBJ auditorium where a standing-room-only audience of 3,000 has gathered for the panel on nuclear arms. Several of the

other panelists speak first and all seems routine enough as the discussion deals with arms limitations, negotiations with the Russians and the possibility of a nuclear freeze.

However, when Kissinger is introduced there is sudden pandemonium in the auditorium. First a woman in the center of the audience stands up and starts screaming at Kissinger about a variety of issues ranging from Vietnam to El Salvador. As she is joined by someone else in her chant, several large banners labeling Kissinger a murderer unfold as if from nowhere. Then several people in white pantomime face makeup start marching down the aisle toward the stage. Quickly, a wall of security men forms at the front of the stage—including Kissinger's own people and Mrs. Johnson's secret service men. The marchers stop in their tracks and in unison all point their right index finger at Kissinger and begin to scream at him. It takes fully 10 minutes to clear the auditorium of the disturbance and in the end 12 people are dragged out and arrested. Throughout the proceed-

> "I think Nixon handled Watergate very erratically and he could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he had been more forthright. But you know, in Greek tragedy a person fulfills his nature."

L to r: With Italian ambassador Rinaldo Petrignand

L to r: With Nancy Reagan at Newsweek's 60th

L to r: With Marella Agnelli at Lincoln

NEGOTIATING WITH THE RUSSIANS

LQ

Despite all the signs to the contrary, Henry Kissinger believes that the Soviet Union will return to the arms negotiations table either just before or just after the U.S. presidential election.

"We hear we're back in the cold war," Kissinger says, "but I don't believe it. Relations are not good at this moment, but except for one brief period during the Nixon administration, they have never been good."

Kissinger's optimism is based on what he sees as the current "realities" of the Soviet situation: political instability within the Soviet system and the continuing slide in the Soviet economy. "The Soviet leaders cannot want a crisis now."

And while the experts often talk about what effect a change in Soviet leadership will have or how the personality of a particular American president will affect relations, and other similar variables, Kissinger maintains that these factors have little or no effect. "The last thing a Soviet leader can say to his fellow Politburo members is that he just met a charming American president. Personal charm and personal relationships don't work. Nixon was the most successful with the Russians and he wouldn't even claim himself that he is personally charming."

Kissinger feels the same rules apply when there is a change in Russian leadership. "Whenever there is a

ings, Kissinger's face remains expressionless. When he is reintroduced, he receives a standing ovation and says, "I would like to point out with respect to the sort of things you see here . . . these methods that were refined in the 1960s and had great success in attacking the motives and purposes of leaders of whatever administration and of whatever party are bound to ruin us."

Despite the trouble, Kissinger stays on the stage when the panel ends, to sign autographs and talk with some members of the audience. On the way back upstairs in an elevator, he says to a reporter traveling with him, "You weren't planning on that kind of excitement, were you?" When it is pointed out that he remained remarkably implacable during the outburst, he simply says, "I'm used to it." In a private room, he and McNamara joke about the incident. "I'm glad that reception was for you. I've had more than my share," McNamara says. Kissinger responds in kind. "Find a member of the local media," he says to no one in particular, "and leak word that the demonstration was orchestrated by McNamara." The joking ends quickly, however, when Kissinger is informed

that he cannot leave the building. Apparently the demonstrators have located his car and are lying down in front of it. "What do you suggest?" he asks his head of security. "We will get another car and you can leave through a different exit," the man responds. This satisfies Kissinger for a moment, but then he says, "If this cannot be done in five minutes, forget it. I will go downstairs and out of the building the way I came in. We will go right through them. I will not allow these people to hold me hostage in this building." The switch is accomplished in time, however, and he is able to leave without further incident.

If nothing else, the trouble at UT points up the reason Kissinger maintains a security staff of five men at a cost of close to $300,000 a year. Though he has been accused of having security simply to massage his ego, the need seems real enough. Armed with .38s in shoulder holsters, the security force also uses .357 magnums, and Israeli-made Uzi nine-millimeter sub-machine guns for international travel. The five men handle the same workload that used to be the province of 45 men when Kissinger was secretary of state. It is an

exhausting duty that entails not only 15-hour days year-round, but the frequent wrath of the boss.

By his own admission, Kissinger is a tough man to work for. A former aide tells a story about his first assignment that illustrates the point. The man had been working for Kissinger for only a short period of time when he was asked to write his first report. After working on it night and day for two weeks, he took it to the boss. Without looking at it, Kissinger asked the aide, "Is this the best possible work that you can do?" Not knowing if he should be bold and say yes or show some humility, the aide replied that he could probably do a little better. "Fine," Kissinger said, "bring it back when it's the very best you can possibly do." Supposedly this process repeated itself 10 times until finally the aide responded that it was his best work and Kissinger said, "Okay, now I'll read it."

"I'm very tough on people of whom I think very highly," Kissinger says. "If people work at the top of what I consider to be their capacity, I leave them alone. I do, however, push people to fulfill the best that is in them and that, I think, is the responsibility of the head of

With Gromyko: the same proposal, day after day

new Soviet leader, our experts speculate about the changes as if one man could change a whole society. In their system, power doesn't even come with the office. It takes many years to acquire," Kissinger says. "When Andropov took over, there were articles written that said he listened to jazz records, he had a stone house and Persian rugs on the floor. Someone should do a study on how many

wars have been started by people with wooden houses and wall-to-wall carpeting versus people with stone houses and rugs on the floor."

Based on his experience sitting across a table from the Russians, Kissinger believes there is only one way to negotiate with them—from strength. "The Russian tactic is always to try to stampede their opponent," he says. "If the Soviets believe we will break every deadlock with a new proposal, there will be plenty of deadlocks. I have spent many years negotiating with Gromyko and in all that time he never once showed any embarrassment about offering the same proposal day after day," Kissinger says. "Try that as an American negotiator and the media will be all over you about offering the same old tired proposals."

And even though the American-Soviet situation remains tense, Kissinger thinks the possibility of a major confrontation is unlikely. "The likelihood of war is extremely low due to the nature of modern weapons."

any organization."

Less than an hour and a half after the demonstration, Kissinger is back at the LBJ Library for cocktails, dinner and an appearance on a cable television broadcast. He is now accompanied by his wife Nancy, who has just arrived in Texas to spend the weekend with her husband at the LBJ ranch. When Nancy is introduced to a reporter who has been traveling with her husband since his arrival in Texas, she smiles and says, "My goodness, you must have nuclear strategy coming out of your ears by now." And when it is pointed out that his hectic schedule is more of a problem than his topics of conversation, she says, "You can imagine what it's like to live with it." "Thanks, Nancy," Kissinger says grinning. "That's a great quote." The day ends at around 10:30 that night without any more surprises.

His schedule for Friday is light, including a breakfast with members of the Austin Council on Foreign Affairs at the home of LBJ's brother-in-law Philip Bobbitt. Kissinger again covers Central America, the Middle East, East-West relations and the coming presidential election. Before he leaves, he takes five minutes to see a litter of newborn puppies in the back of the house. "I'm a dog lover," he says. "It's tough with Tyler (his own dog) because I'm away so often. Tyler gets so depressed when I leave that I've now taken to hiding the suitcases."

Back at the hotel, he has an hour before leaving to go to the LBJ ranch. He takes off his jacket and plops down on one of the couches in his suite. When asked about his relationship with Richard Nixon, Kissinger is direct. "We talk on the telephone every two weeks and we see each other about once a month. We're in close contact." How does Kissinger the historian think Nixon will be treated 20 or 30 years from now? "I said at the time of his departure that history will treat him much better than his contemporaries. As it turns out, he is already being treated better than he was 10 years ago." When Watergate is brought up, Kissinger heaves a heavy sigh. "I think he handled Watergate very erratically and he could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he had been more forthright. But you know, in Greek tragedy a person fulfills his nature."

The discussion of Nixon leads to the issue of public opinion. Kissinger maintains that it must be shaped and guided by those who are in power. "In addition to explaining to the public what's

GREAT LEADERS: KISSINGER'S CHOICES

When Kissinger judges a leader, the first thing he looks for is courage. He most admires these five foreign leaders for their sense of history and their willingness to build a future as well.

Anwar Sadat

Golda Meir

Chou En Lai

Charles de Gaulle

Konrad Adenauer

involved in each issue—because it is difficult in a continental country like the U.S. for them to judge the significance of events in different parts of the world—public opinion must also be analyzed thoughtfully,” he says. “The public will not forgive their leaders for failures even if it appears they recommended those actions that lead to the failures. Because if the public understood the consequences of some of its pressures, they wouldn’t press them in the first place. They do, however, expect their leaders to understand the consequences. It’s a tricky business.”

One that is made even trickier by the democratic process, which relies on an informed public. "It's one of the big problems of the modern world," Kissinger says. "When the democratic system was developed in the 18th and 19th Centuries, there were very few issues and those were relatively simple. On top of that, the franchise was restricted. Now you have mass electorates and extremely complicated issues, and it's a great test for the democratic system." Kissinger is optimistic, however. "There seems to be on the part of the American public a sort of good horse sense. And Americans are not losers. They still believe in their society and they still think that what America does makes a difference."

Nancy walks into the room and the conversation turns to their life in New York. "We have many good friends in New York and what we like about night life is that unlike Washington, it is not an extension of your business life," Kissinger says as his son David, who has also flown in for the weekend, appears. Like any doting father, Kissinger chides his son, who works for member of British Parliament George Walden as an aide, about getting a haircut and tells him to put on a tie.

"In New York you see people at night because you want to see them." For Kissinger this often includes people in show business and fashion, and members of cafe society, a choice of companions that has led some people to question not only his seriousness, but the size of his ego as well. "These are the creative people, the people who make things better," he counters. "For me, they make life very pleasant and political life bearable."

Before leaving for the LBJ ranch, he offers one last thought on his ambitions. "If you ask me what I really want, it is for my son to marry a rich girl." Nancy glares at him for a moment and then they both walk out of the room laughing. M

JULY 1984 M

49