Nancy Kissinger, wife of former US Secretary of State, dies at 92
Nancy Kissinger accompanied her husband for decades on his diplomatic missions. The two were among the most prominent couples in political and social circles in the USA. She was known for her familiarity with international issues and her staunch defense of her husband's name.
Nancy Kissinger, wife of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, passed away on Thursday at her home in South Kent, Connecticut. She was 92. Her family announced the news of her death. For nearly half a century, Kissinger shared her husband's turbulent life in the world of international diplomacy, and later his status as a controversial public figure. She was known as a woman with a deep understanding of global issues, political acumen, and a determination to defend her husband's name.
The two married in 1974, after which Kissinger accompanied him on diplomatic trips around the world. When her husband retired from his position three years later, they became a well-known couple in Washington, attending state dinners, embassy parties, and White House events during Republican administrations.
The Kissingers were also among the most prominent couples in New York social life, which was their primary residence. They were seen at museum openings, fashion shows by Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta, and fundraising events. Since the early 1980s, a 300-acre estate in South Kent served as their weekend and summer retreat.
After their marriage, Kissinger joined her husband on his missions to the Middle East. She participated in photo ops with Arab and Israeli leaders in various capitals and attended the media briefings her husband held on the plane. Her presence was covered in newspapers in Israel, the Arab world, and the USA.
In the autumn of that year, she accompanied him to the Soviet Union, where he held talks with communist leader Leonid Brezhnev on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons. From there, she continued to New Delhi as part of a diplomatic trip that lasted three weeks and included more than a dozen countries. Friends said that her composure helped her hide the anxieties she experienced, to the point of being hospitalized for ulcers after their return.
The airport incident
One of the unusual events in her life occurred in 1982, when the couple was passing through a terminal at Newark International Airport. Ellen Kaplan, a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche, hurled insults at them. Witnesses said that Nancy Kissinger grabbed the harasser by the neck and threatened to choke her.
A few months later, Kissinger testified at a trial in Newark Municipal Court. She said she was accompanying her husband on his way to Boston, where he was scheduled to undergo triple bypass surgery, and that his doctors had ordered him to avoid any "excitement of any kind." The judge dismissed the simple assault charge against her, ruling that no physical harm had been caused.
Behind her husband's career
Kissinger also knew her husband professionally. In 1964, she began working for him as part of a Rockefeller task force. After Kissinger left to join the Nixon administration in 1969, she began working at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, having become increasingly interested in foreign affairs.
Henry Kissinger served as Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. During his tenure, he promoted the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, worked to open relations with China, conducted shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East after the Yom Kippur War, and helped negotiate the Paris Peace Accords, which brought an end to American involvement in the Vietnam War. For this activity, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize.
Alongside the achievements, Kissinger remained a controversial figure. Journalists and human rights activists accused him of war crimes due to his support for the bombing of Hanoi and the invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, for encouraging a military coup against the socialist government of Salvador Allende in Chile, and for signals he allegedly gave to the military junta in Argentina regarding the "Dirty War" against opponents of the regime.
The Kissingers had no children. Henry Kissinger passed away in 2023. Nancy Kissinger is survived by two stepchildren, Elizabeth Denmark and David Kissinger, as well as five step-grandchildren. Although she was never officially an American diplomat, her presence alongside her husband made her known around the world.
