Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy

by Henry Kissinger

crisp. some aging, skuffs on jacket. binding and text excellent

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

370 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Henry Alfred Kissinger (born Heinz Alfred Kissinger) was a German-born American bureaucrat, diplomat, and 1973 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the Richard Nixon administration. Kissinger emerged unscathed from the Watergate scandal, and maintained his powerful position when Gerald Ford became President.

A proponent of Realpolitik, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente.

During his time in the Nixon and Ford administrations he cut a flamboyant figure, appearing at social occasions with many celebrities. His foreign policy record made him a nemesis to the anti-war left and the anti-communist right alike.

Reviews

[Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kissinger originally wrote this book in 1963, far before he had achieved the foreign policy credentials that defined his later years. In Necessity For Choice, Kissinger looks forward to the foreign policy challenges of the 1960s and makes some interesting predictions. Primarily, Kissinger believes that the primary occupation of the United States in the 1960s will be the competition with the Soviet Union through the nuclear arms race along with the massing of conventional arms such as tanks, artillery and troops on the ground. Kissinger spends much of this book discussing nuclear parity and competition with the Soviets.

However, his third point, once that he de-emphasizes, is what he calls "de-colonization". This concerns the third world which, at the time, the great colonial powers of Britain and France were leaving. The departure of the colonial powers would leave a vacuum in these countries that would be filled either by democracies or by communist governments.

The interesting part of this is that, in fact, the Soviets had begun the process of planting insurgencies in these nations in the 1940s, right after World War II. But by the late 1960s, we had seen all too well that these insurgencies were fully developed into communist revolutions in nations all over Asia, Africa and Latin America. Kissinger didn't see this in 1963. By 1973, it was too late to do anything about it. In my mind, if Kissinger and his fellow foreign policy experts had recognized the Soviet activity in the third world in the 1950s and the early 1960s, and they had advocated doing something about that rather than building more missiles, tanks and ships, it is possible that the Asian wars of the 1960s and 1970s may not have been necessary. I guess hindsight is 20/20.

I would recommend this book as an introduction to the foreign policy mindset of the 1950s with the caveat that this mindset resulted in bad foreign policy in the long run.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great mind. perhaps too great. over thinks everything. I enjoyed every page of this book. The fact that i agree with most of what he wrote may be the reason. I well remember his time in Washington and he was the second most talked about person at the time, at least at the state dept and OEOB. . He is 92 years old now and people still listen to him.

[Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elaborates on themes from Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy, but reconsiders those whack ass ideas about limited nuclear war--for interesting reasons.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirkus

Henry Kissinger is Associate Professor of Government at Harvard and Executive Director of the Harvard International Seminar.

He was also, during 1956-57, director of the Special Studies Project for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. And he is the author of Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy.

This formidable and serious book, addressed only to the politically knowledgeable, is an attempt to define the major issues of foreign policy that will confront America in the sixties.

He deals with the overwhelmingly difficult problems of arms control, the possibility of the reunification of Germany, NATO, the conduct of diplomacy, the concept of limited warfare and the emergence of new nations.

It would be impossible to describe here all the ramifications of Professor Kissinger's thinking on these complex issues for he by no means believes that simple virtue and persistence will eventually lead to easy solutions nor does he believe that policy-making can be approached from an attitude of abstraction.

He does insist, however, that we have come to the end of the policies and of the men who dominated the post-war period and that the past 15 years can be characterized as a decline for the West.

Broadly the direction of the discussion can be indicated: he does not think that the answer to our political problems can be found in reducing our defenses; the problem of NATO cannot be resolved on a national basis; a reunified, neutralized Germany is a feasible proposal; it's impossible to rely on personalities at the Summit; and schemes for arms control should not be considered substitutes for dealing with the political causes of the Cold War.

After dealing with these specific policy dilemmas the author then discusses the process of political evolution — in the Soviet Union and the newly emerging nations.

And he concludes with an examination of the roles of the policymaker and the intellectual in a bureaucratic system. Unquestionably the book is an important one but it is probably not for general readership.

[Bert Corluy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book that was written in 1960, it is surprisingly relevant today. of course his description of issues in those days are largely dated. His focus is on the soviet union, the Berlin question, the position of Iran (back then an staunch US ally), how to approach weapon control talks.... All those things have evolved into very new issues and situations. But his analysis of the west in how democracies approach negotiations with communist dictatorships, how one should look at military and economic power as factors in world stability, what triggers aggression and war is still extremely relevant today. Humanity hasn't changed very much in the decades that separate us from the time this book first appeared. We have the same drives, the same hopes, the same faults, the same needs. Reading Kissinger is always a hard reality check, as his realpolitik brings you back to hard necessities. Especially those who are elected to lead would do well to read his books from time to time and hear again that leaders must lead, not follow and therefore must dare to stand alone from time to time and yet persevere in what they know will benefit the balance. His unique insight remains extremely valuable for everyone who wants to understand better how the world en human beings work and think, who want to ground their personal convictions and ideology on a strong foundation. Because Kissinger is not about absolute solutions, he writes about method, first principles, based on an understanding of the human condition. Even if you don't agree with him, this is essential reading for everyone interested in international relations and politics.

[Jim Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book while preparing for a foreign policy debate when I was in high school. Pretty heavy reading for high school student but reading this book certainly was part of journey in seriously considering the world of geopolitics.