Yale University Library Digital Repository Collection Name: Henry A. Kissinger papers, part II Series Title: Series VI. Press Clippings Box: 862 Folder: 21 Folder Title: Clippings Persistent URL: http://yul-fi-prd1.library.yale.internal/catalog/digcoll:557743 Repository: Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library Contact Information Phone: (203) 432-1735 Email: [email protected] Mail: Manuscripts and Archives Sterling Memorial Library Sterling Memorial Library P.O. Box 208240 New Haven, CT 06520 Your use of Yale University Library Digital Repository indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use http://guides.library.yale.edu/about/policies/copyright Find additional works at: http://yul-fi-prd1.library.yale.internal Natioh The Presidency/Hugh Sidey Majesty,Poetry and Power The best a statesman can do is to listen to the rustle ofGod's mantle through his- for,!'and try to catch the hem of for afew steps. Bismarck hen he was a student in the dusty stacks of world affairs, Henry Kissinger Wdiscovered Germany's Iron Chancellor,Otto von Bismarck, who used pow- er ruthlessly and successfully for peace, yet despite his inunense ego, sensed his own insignificance. Kissinger-luur-pondered •Bismarck's observation during his own journey through the corridors of world power. Not surprisingly, he has formed some ideas leadership,ones that could help measure the men running for President "The task of a leader is to get his people from where they are to where they "- have not been," says Kissinger."The public does not fully understand the world 1nto which it is going. Leaders must invoke,an alchemy of great vision. Those '• leaders who do not are ultimately judged failures, even though they may be pop- ' tat the moment"' • t, The requirements-Of office foreshorten the. opportunities foekearning, ar- Kissinger.,."Pre3idéntileini her* to.get , 'on 'the -nightly,nliws ( to influence' people d i '.l'... how, to make decisions. But it. is a myth'that , ,..-.)...( E. he. .., the . presidency'ennobles • a'''‘iiirson,. that .'4::1:44',4".':;;;..... ,.: E - ,".. .,:can earn something mystical once be in of ,, -.1 fice. He cannot learn the substance on the ' i,joEUf a.President fuTives an empty;person, -. 1..-• he leaves as ime.n --(3)''" '''• -).:0.; ' Worthwhile aders;'believes Kissinger, , ;,4-^, may quill before- the Deity in their prayers, .•' '' but on the job they never flinch."To assume 4, i ....;-....J.-4- 6n •.your shoulders the responsibility for the :people Is an act', of airogaacc in itzzlf," da- : -4,....',clares Kissinger:"Most action must be taken 7*hen *leader cannot see his -way clearly'to • in.......the end. What is needed is a curious com- ''bination of egomania and humility. If he is - 4too much impreikd with the size of the chal:. "'' 3 lénge, he does nothing. If he Ls too little im- •,,,,, 'pressed,he gets into trouble." s 7."`:''t-,• . Much must rest, on a "sense of history," 'Bismarck sit:hamOar- (1888) :',. .„ says Kissinger,^citing Harry'Truman. When 'L asked what he considered his greatest accomplishment, Truman told Kissinger: "Totally defeating our enemies in World War II, then reintroducing them into the family of man." Truman realized the necessity of imposing total defeat. "So many leaders think they can take away the curse of hard decisions by-doing • things hesitantly or by half measures,"says Kissinger."There is no reward. for los- ing because of moderation. "The most Important quality ofa leader is courage. He must act in risky sit- uations on the confidence in his own judgment. He has a responsibility to so- ciety not to overstrain its fabric, but he must push it to the limits. He must define that margin where he can influence events. If he exceeds the margin he may bog down. Ube goes below the margin he may become irrelevant If he al- lows it, the public will project its own insecurities on a leader. Politics is thepan- ,agement of people. It is important to understand the psychology as well as the symptoms of problems." ahe search by some modern leaden for the quick fix has oftemagnified the problems,insists Kissingerl"The effective use ofsovernmentill tower today is an accumulation of nuances. It is a hundred things done a little better; failure Is a hundred things done a little worse. Power is not one big breakthrough." Leaden must believe in power, he says. They must have a sense of majesty, possess dignity,a touch ofpoetry and at the same time a tolerance for what is Im- perfect. "Too often these days we have developed self-hatred because we have had to act imperfectly. ."Leadership is not something you do just as a job," says Kissinger. There ust be a clear call, a special spirit that binds men to th • es."We are lc•s- : ing the relationship between men and events," he says. "We must find who can bridge the gap between experience and (to I Iç vision.)n 33 4 • ••••••-•• 4.0 (-0 • r.• -Why Kissinger backs Reagari.,-,,,,- Once the architect of U.S pol- icy in Vietnam, the Middle East and other troubled areas, for- mer Secretary of State.ligruy Kissinger has continued to re- main at the center of debate about U.S. military strength and foreign-policy options. Appear- ing Sunday as part of De Anza's College's Distinguished Speak- ers Lecture series, Kissinger ,was interviewed by Times Trib- une staff writer John Raess- and other reporters.‘'--- Q. Are you formally cam- paigning for Ronald Reagan? A. I am giving a number of speeches, a number of fund- raisers, in support of Gov. Rea- gan. I do support Gov. Reagan for election as president. As you know, he has not always ex- pressed himself about me with unqualified admiration. The fact of my appearing on his behalf indicates how grave I think the (U.S. military)situation is. Q. Would yOu like to work in the White House with Reagan? A. I have worked in the White House. 1 have stilled my ambi- tion. Q. You initiated the SALT I talks. Do you agree with Gov. Reagan's statement Saturday that the SALTI!(Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)accord is ineq- uitable to the United States and should be scrapped? A. I testified before the Senate Foreign Relations committee re- garding SALT H (in July 1979). At the time,!stated three qualifi- cations to the SALT treaty. One was I did not think that the protocol attached to the treaty.was in the national inter- . , est. That protocol was supposed to lapse at the end of 1981. • Second, I believe there were some unequal provisions in the agreement that...were logically unwise. My third concern was to es- tablish a relationship between SALT and Soviet foreign policy conduct. I consider it somewhat cynical • that SALT has now become a po- litical issue in the campaign when it was this administration that delayed three and, one-half . years in negotiating it. And it was this administration•that • withdrew it from the Senate under no pressure from the op- position. Now suddenly, after with- drawing ¡tin January, it is being introduced as a campaign issue in October. Please see Q&A,A-8 eader Lech Walesa on their s ou -- ders in the streets of Kwkow and/ Poland's top prelate gavé the ir4e- pendent union movement full sup-, port in the church's strongest pub:--- lic backing of the non-Communist' labor organization. - Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko arrived Sunday in War- saw — the highest ranking Soviet official to visit the Polish capita pubicly since the summer labor un! rest — to attend a Warsaw Pactfor- eign ministers meeting. A crowd of 30,000 people in Kra4 kow in southern Poland chanted, "Walesa, Walesa" and "Long live, Walesa" as the labor leader stood before an historic plaque in the town's Market Square and de. clared: "I swear that I will not dis- appoint you." Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, 79. met 20 union leaders in his private chapel Sunday and declared:"I am with you." -WHERE EVERYBODY SAVES" E ir V E Fi sts with D "AT. ‘k. OW OUR EVERY- O RAND NAME N ... FOR EXAMPLE G You S ENERIC DRUG SAVE D DROCHLORO- THIAZIDE U S TABLETS 2.95 G ,G 60% S DIPHEN- YDRAMINE CAPSULES ',SG 3.5063% E DRALAZINE TABLETS 4.50 48% V DROCHLORO- THIAZIDE RESktiPINE AND HYDRAL ALM BLETS 001 4.95 67% D ABOUT GENERIC DRUGS! ARMACIST IF A "GENERIC" PRESCRIPTION IS AVAILABLE. ES GUARANTEED THRU DEC. 1, 1980. DERLE GENERICS ing the neutron bomb, stretching out the MX, stretching öut the Q&A cruise missile and either delaying, canceling or stretching out every Continued from A-1 weapons system it inherited. Q.Do you think the Soviet Union Q. Do you think that Reagan's will intervene in Iran? statement in January, to have a A. I do not believe they will. " I blockade against Cuba to force the think the events in the Persian Gulf Russians withdraw their troops are going very well for them.!think from Afghanistan, was well-ad- it is quite possible that Iran will be vised? driven over time in a pro-Soviet di- A. In a primary campaign, many rection anyway. If it isn't, the So- things are said that havé dramatic viets always have the possibility of effect. disintegrating Iran by encouraging To propose one specific military the various nationalities like the move tends to have a sharpness Baluchis and the Kurds to secede. you may not have intended. But the The fact that the Soviet Union general proposition that it isn't feels very confident you can see in possible to permit unlimited mili- that they are maintaining excellent tary aggression on one side and no relations with Syria, Syria's mortal response on the other, that I agree enemy Iraq, and Iraq's mortal with.