YEARS OF RENEWAL

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Sobering And Informative.
Review: Another good book by Henry Kissinger whose brilliance is only exceeded by the man who appointed him the Honorable Richard M. Nixon. Although Kissinger Balance of Powers doctrine proved to be subordinate to Professor's Strauz`s-Hupe Geopolitics outright confrontation of communism under Reagan that caused the collapse of such an immoral depressive political system, this book is still quite remarkable! The insights, review of policies, personalities and off beat stories only add to this superb book. In any event, Kissinger or Strauz`s-Hupe are far more correct in forming, guiding and creating a foreign policy far better than what is now in existence under Madeline Albright and President Clinton. The book points out several problems that will left to others to clean up after Clinton leaves office. At least under Kissinger we had character, respect and consistent leadership that is required for any successful foreign policy. This book reflects on the very things I have mentioned and does well to being a peering critic of today's failures and miscues by a Secretary of State that flunked Geography. Kissinger will be back to give more informative opinions lets hope the days of Half-Bright will not!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and intense
Review: Brilliant and intense. Like Churchill, Kissinger not only made history, but was able to write about it. Also like Churchill, one must filter some of what one reads through an understanding of its author. Fair enough.

What the reader gets in all three volumes (and, by the way, his book, "Diplomacy") is an insight into how the post-WWII, post-Soviet world was shaped. To his credit, HAK enunciates his principles, exemplifies them in his actions, and champions them passionately both in victory and in defeat. You may not agree with him, but if you disagree, you are forced to review your assumptions about how the world should and does work. I found the sections on the fall of Vietnam particularly harrowing, as it forced me to review the beliefs I espoused during this troubled time.

A lesser, but still fascinating, facet of the work is the character sketches HAK draws of various leaders. From Julius Nyrere to Gerald Ford (whose virtues are seen far to outweigh his faults), they illuminate the often-Byzantine negotiations depicted.

So read it. Make up your own mind. You may be outraged, you may be frustrated. But you will not be bored.

Rating:
Summary: A Remarkable Tour de Force!
Review: Dr. Kissinger, for all of his hubris and arrogance will truly go down in history as a great statesman. His intimate and sometimes self-deprecating writing style will keep the reader at the edge of their seat especially during the end of the Vietnam War and the crisis with Cyprus. All three volumes could very well serve as textbooks for anyone interested in the finer points of statecraft.

Rating:
Summary: "In The Moment of Victory, Button Your Chin Strap!"
Review: Henry Kissinger's book, "Years of Renewal," is a complete review of U.S. foreign policy initiatives while he was Secretary of State under President Gerald R. Ford. In it, he details how they built upon the foreign policy successes of the Nixon Administration and laid the foundation for the resurgence of the American spirit seen during the Reagan Administration. From a diplomatic standpoint, this may have been America's finest hour.

With the possible exception of Lincoln, no U.S. president has inherited a nation as severely divided as Gerald R. Ford. Immediately after assuming office, he faced one international crisis after another with a hostile, "McGovernite Congress," and an emasculated intelligence gathering system that made effective response to even the most extreme provocations virtually impossible. Kissinger says throughout, Ford made decisions solely on what was best for the nation, not on what was politically expedient. His reward for such selfless service: defeat in the next election.

Like Kissinger's other works, this book can be read either in individual chapters or be taken as a whole. In each segment he details, what they did, what their options were, the assumptions their actions were based upon, and if unsuccessful, what their fall back plan was to be. In spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, they were able to hold the Atlantic Alliance together, strengthen our ties to the Peoples Republic of China, and keep the Soviets out of both the Middle East and Africa.

The Chinese war philosopher, Sun Tsu said, "In the moment of victory, button your chin strap." History has proven the Soviets should have listened. Given our national paralysis following Vietnam/Watergate, it seemed they could not be stopped. In the international chess game--that is diplomacy at the highest levels--they were stopped through the efforts of a few, dedicated statesmen who blocked them at every turn. The fall of the Soviet Union and Communism was the ultimate result.

This book is a textbook on how to conduct foreign policy. Enlightening and informative, it has inspired me to read Kissinger's other works, "White House Years," and "Years of Upheaval." I highly recommend it to any serious student of the era.

Rating:
Summary: "In The Moment of Victory, Button Your Chin Strap!"
Review: Henry Kissinger's book, "Years of Renewal," is a complete review of U.S. foreign policy initiatives while he was Secretary of State under President Gerald R. Ford. In it, he details how they built upon the foreign policy successes of the Nixon Administration and laid the foundation for the resurgence of the American spirit seen during the Reagan Administration. From a diplomatic standpoint, this may have been America's finest hour.

With the possible exception of Lincoln, no U.S. president has inherited a nation as severely divided as Gerald R. Ford. Immediately after assuming office, he faced one international crisis after another with a hostile, "McGovernite Congress," and an emasculated intelligence gathering system that made effective response to even the most extreme provocations virtually impossible. Kissinger says throughout, Ford made decisions solely on what was best for the nation, not on what was politically expedient. His reward for such selfless service: defeat in the next election.

Like Kissinger's other works, this book can be read either in individual chapters or be taken as a whole. In each segment he details, what they did, what their options were, the assumptions their actions were based upon, and if unsuccessful, what their fall back plan was to be. In spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, they were able to hold the Atlantic Alliance together, strengthen our ties to the Peoples Republic of China, and keep the Soviets out of both the Middle East and Africa.

The Chinese war philosopher, Sun Tsu said, "In the moment of victory, button your chin strap." History has proven the Soviets should have listened. Given our national paralysis following Vietnam/Watergate, it seemed they could not be stopped. In the international chess game--that is diplomacy at the highest levels--they were stopped through the efforts of a few, dedicated statesmen who blocked them at every turn. The fall of the Soviet Union and Communism was the ultimate result.

This book is a textbook on how to conduct foreign policy. Enlightening and informative, it has inspired me to read Kissinger's other works, "White House Years," and "Years of Upheaval." I highly recommend it to any serious student of the era.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent historic book.
Review: I have admired Henry Kissinger for many years. I think he is one of those limited intellectual diplomacies who really have, not only limited to one's word, a long term vision. It's really enjoyable when you read his book and share his thoughts.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Know What to Believe
Review: It is hard to know what to believe in Henry Kissinger's book "Years of Renewal" regarding either the Vietnam War or the detente policy with the Soviets.

A major problem is that the book contains only unclassified material, and Mr. Kissinger has not sought to de-classify hundreds of secret decision memoranda and rules of engagement that he generated. Without these factual records, there is no way to evaluate much of what he has written.

For instance on the Vietnam War, why was the U.S. government, which had beaten two major powers in Europe and Asia in World War II in four years, unable to defeat the third rate power of North Vietnam in eleven years? Why did he keep the stalemate going so long? And how did North Vietnam come up with $20 billion per year in cash to buy the food, equipment, and ammunition to prosecute the war? No clear answers have ever been forthcoming.

Two concessionary detente projects by Mr. Kissinger continue to occupy the current State Department. In 1972 he compromised the Soviet Lend-Lease debt from World War II from its original $11.3 billion in 1945 ($90 billion in today's dollars) down to $722 million, and it would become payable in installments at 3% interest only when the Soviets received most-favored-nation trade status. Twenty years later in 1992 President George Bush granted MFN to the Russians. However, the State Department refuses to collect any principal or interest on this debt, and conducts an annual renegotiation with the Russians to put off collecting for the American taxpayer.

As a parting shot as Secretary of State in January 1977, Mr. Kissinger conducted a pre-emptory giveaway to the Soviets of eight Alaskan islands in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea including the 200 nautical mile ocean zone around them with billion of dollars of fishing, petroleum, and other resources. He created a maritime boundary line that put all these on the Soviet side. No negotiations, no quid pro quo, no notification to Congress, no participation by State of Alaska, no public debate, no news release. A maritime boundary line should have been a matter of enormous historic and economic discussion. The Soviet official who received the diplomatic note was grateful, but nonplused, as reported by a telegram from the U. S. Embassy in Moscow: "He did ask, as a personal aside, whether it was not customary to negotiate or at least discuss such matters before giving notice about enforcement provisions."

This detente giveaway remains today as an executive agreement with the Russians and is subject to revision at the will of the State Department. The State Legislature of Alaska has wanted to scrap the whole thing for years. Its most recent expression is HJR27 which passed the House nearly unanimously and is pending in the Senate. For the State Department's current stance, Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering is working toward conceding even more sea territory to the Russians in face of their demand for 300 million pounds per year of fishing rights to be taken from American fishermen. His most recent negotiations took place in Seattle in January, but the public, Congress, State of Alaska, and the news media were not invited.

Mr. Kissinger's book has a puzzling silence or vagueness about these detente concessions. The American public deserves more openness.

Sincerely,

Carl Olson Chairman State Department Watch

Rating:
Summary: how the world was run in the ford administration
Review: kissinger details how the white house was run after nixon resigned and ford came into power--the photographs are excellent and the text is inciteful----kissinger has been accused of some very bad decisions inhis time that caused many innocent lives--this book gives the reader for why he made those decisions