Henry Kissinger's Moderation Foreign Policy in International Relations

In 2023, the world marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Henry Al­fred Kissinger - one of the most prominent figures in the history of international re­la­tions and diplomacy, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and one of the leading intellectuals of the second half of the 20th century.       Born in the city of Fürth, Germany, to a schoolteacher’s family, Henry Kissinger rose from the rank of a regular soldier to become the Secretary of State of the world’s leading power - the United States. Among the U.S. Secretaries of State, few have attained the level of international success, trust, and recognition that Kissinger enjoyed. There was a time when his authority among the American public even surpassed that of the president himself. His popularity was largely driven by a foreign policy approach historically known as „détente“ - the policy of reducing international tensions.      Between 1969 and 1973, as U.S. National Security Advisor, Kissinger laid the gro­u­n­dwork for the restoration of U.S.- China diplomatic relations, facilitated the gradual with­dra­wal of the United States from the Vietnam War, and initiated a thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations. From 1973 to 1977, as Secretary of State, he continued these policies – pro­mo­ting Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), conducting successful „shuttle diplomacy“ in the Middle East, and acting as one of the main mediators in the temporary settlement of Arab–Israeli conflicts.       Henry Kissinger was not only a practitioner of politics - he was also a scholar and theorist whose actions were based on academic research and realistic calculations. Alo­n­g­side Hans Morgenthau, he is considered one of the most notable representatives of p­o­litical realism.       This paper aims to analyze one of the key foundations of Henry Kissinger’s success - the policy of détente - and to pay tribute to a statesman whose work significantly con­tri­buted to the preservation of global peace and stability.