Henry Alfred Kissinger was born in Fuerthr, Germany, on May 27, 1923. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, Kissinger and his family immigrated to the United States in 1938. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1943. During World War II, Kissinger served in the US Army from 1943 to 1946 in the US Counter Intelligence Corps. 

He received a BA summa cum laude from Harvard College (1950), an MA from Harvard (1952), and a PhD from Harvard (1954). Kissinger was a member of Harvard's Department of Government as well as the Center for International Affairs, where he was associate director (1957-1960). He also served as the director of the Harvard Defense Studies Program (1958-1971). 

Kissinger was a consultant to several federal bureaucracies during the 1960s, including the Department of State (1965-1968), the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1961-1968), and the National Security Council (1961-1962).

When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, he made Kissinger his National Security Adviser. In 1973, Nixon appointed Kissinger Secretary of State in addition to his position as National Security Adviser. Kissinger was the first person to ever hold the positions of Secretary of State and National Security Adviser at the same time. When Nixon resigned after the Watergate scandal, President Gerald Ford kept Kissinger in both positions until 1975, when Kissinger resigned as National Security Adviser. Kissinger remained Secretary of State until Ford left office in 1977. Kissinger was influential in US foreign policy and associated with issues such as shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, détente with the Soviet Union, and establishing relations with China. 

He later became a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush (1984-1990). After leaving the government, Kissinger became chairman of Kissinger Associates, an international consulting firm he founded. Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for helping to negotiate a cease fire during the Vietnam War and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. He is the author of many books, including White House Years (1979), Diplomacy (1994), and On China (2011).