state, died last night at the age of 100.

He# reached the peak of his power in the 1970s.

And, as Nick Schifrin reports, he remained# highly influential until the very end.

NICK SCHIFRIN: He was a titan# of American foreign policy,## an American immigrant who# became an American original.

HENRY KISSINGER, Former U.S. Secretary# of State: America has never been true## to itself unless it meant something beyond NICK SCHIFRIN: From China... HENRY KISSINGER: The closest cooperat NICK SCHIFRIN: ... to Chile,# from Vietnam to the Middle East.

HENRY KISSINGER: The United States is committed# to bring about a just and lasting peace.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Kissinger's impact on# American policy is measured in decades,## to his supporters, a hero.

WINSTON LORD, Former U.S. Ambassad of the most important internat NICK SCHIFRIN: To his detractors, a villain.

GREG GRANDIN, Author, "Kissinger's# Shadow: as comparable as Henry Kissinger in# terms NICK SCHIFRIN: Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born# in Germany in 1923 to a Jewish family.

When he## was 15, they fled Nazi Germany for New York.# He was drafted into the American military,## and deployed to his home country# to help with denazification.

He taught at Harvard, giving him access to elite# foreign policy circles, un Nixon named him national security adviser and# later, simultaneously, secretary of state.

HENRY KISSINGER: There is no country in the# world where it is conceivable that a man of## my origins could be standing here next# to the president of the United States.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The moment that would make him# famous led to what Nixon called the week that## changed the world, a secret 1971 trip to Beijing,# ending more than two dec The next year, Nixon made his own trip,# setting a path to U.S.-China normalization.## In that room that day, Kissinger aide and# later Ambassador to China Winston Lord.

WINSTON LORD: Maybe it would# have happened at some point,## but it was still a very courageous and# controversial move This meeting set the stage for the subsequent# discussions and the opening up the relationship,## which had a major impact immediately by# improving relations with the Soviets.

It helped us end the Vietnam War.

It restored# morale in the United States that we were an## able diplomatic actor, despite all our problems.# It restored American credibility around the world.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But before he could end the Vietnam# War, Kissinger had expanded it.

Beginning in 1969,## the U.S. secretly bombed Cambodia to try and# disrupt North Vietnamese supply routes.

The## campaign is estimated to have killed# hundreds of thousands of civilians.

GREG GRANDIN: He had a remarkable# indifference to human suffering.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Greg Grandin is a professor# of history at Yale and aut "Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of# America's Most Controversial Statesman."

He argues Kissinger and Nixon unnecessarily# extended the Vietnam War by four years.

GREG GRANDIN: How many thousands of U.S.# soldiers died as a result of that?

How## many thousands of Vietnamese soldiers# died of that?

His secret bombing of Cambodia resulted in 100,000# civilian deaths.

But, more than that,## it radicalized what had been a small# nucleus of extremely militant communists.

That brought Pol Pot to power.

And# that led to the killing fields and## the millions dead.

I think he does have an# inordinate amount of blood on his hands.

NICK SCHIFRIN: By 1973, Kissinger and his team# negotiated an end to the Vietnam War in Paris,## where Winston Lord was again at his side.

WINSTON LORD: Henry and I went out# in the garden and we sho and he looked me in the eye# and said: "We've done it."

And this had particular poignancy, because# I'd almost quit over our policy to Vietnam a couple of years# earlier on that very subject.

And so,## after all we have been through,# this was a major moment.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The moment allowed# Kissinger to share the Nobel Peac Prize with his North Vietnamese counterpart.# But, and North Vietnam and Vietcong troops# conquered U.S.-ally South Vietnam.

HENRY KISSINGER: The withdrawal from# Vietnam was an American tragedy.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Kissinger never expressed# regret over Vietnam or any decision.

In 2003,## he told Jim Lehrer the priority was to put# Vietnam aside so he could focus elsewhere.

HENRY KISSINGER: All you could# do is try to preserve a minimum## of dignity and save as many lives as you could.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Kissinger's peace efforts# extended to the Middle East.

In October 1973,## Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur.# Kissinger held so many regional meetings,## he helped create the term shuttle diplomacy.

It helped lead to Israeli-Egypt negotiations# and edged the Soviet U East.

Kissinger's concern over communism and# his realpolitik peaked in Chile.

In 1973,## the U.S. helped the military overthrow# the democratically elected socialist## government and install General Augusto# Pinochet.

Pinochet's military dictatorship## caused the death, disappearance, and# torture of more than 40,000 Chileans.

But Kissinger's priority was preventing# communist dominoes from falling,## as he told the "NewsHour"'s# Elizabeth Farnsworth in 2001.

HENRY KISSINGER: First of all, human rights# were not an international issue at the way they have become since.

We believed# that the establishment of a Castroite regime## in Chile would create a sequence of events# in all of at least the southern cone of Latin## America that would be extremely inimical to# the national interests of the United States,## at a time when the Cold War was at its height.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Kissinger's Cold War strategy# called for detente with the Soviet Union.

In 1972,## President Nixon and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev# signed SALT, the first limits on Soviet and U.S.## ballistic missiles and ballistic missile defense.# It opened decades of arms control agreements.

HENRY KISSINGER: The benefits that accrue to the# United States are the benefit that will accrue## to all participants in the international system# from an improvement in the prospects of peace.

NICK SCHIFRIN: By then, Kissinger had reached# his popular and policy peak.

He was charming,## funny, craved proximity to power,# and was, in his supporters' eyes,## a steady steward of American interests.

After Nixon's resignation, he remained# President Ford's WINSTON LORD: I think his most significant# achievement was holding together America and## its foreign policy in the wake of Watergate# and the ending of the Vietnam War.

Kissinger## remained untainted by the scandals, pursued# remarkable diplomacy under the circumstances,## and maintained America's position in the world,## as well as restoring some morale in the United# States itself.

It NICK SCHIFRIN: But, to his critics,# Kissinger symbolized the pursuit of## order over justice and the kind of preemptive# action t GREG GRANDIN: I think he was absolutely# indispensable in creating a sense of keeping## the United States on a permanent# war footing, this war without end,## in which everything is self-defense,# every drone attack can be justified.

NICK SCHIFRIN: His influence endured to the# end, dozens of books, hundreds of speeches,## consultations or advice to 12 presidents.

Perhaps## no single individual before or since has# exercised so much control over U.S. policy.

Henry Kissinger was 100 years old.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.