: Born in Weimar Germany, Kissinger’s experience with the rise of Nazism and his status as a Jewish refugee fostered a lifelong skepticism of popular democracy and a fear of "democratic weakness".
Kissinger’s strategic philosophy was deeply influenced by his early life and intellectual formation: Henry Kissinger and the American Century
: At Harvard, he studied the 19th-century diplomacy of Metternich and Castlereagh, concluding that international stability depends on a "legitimate" order accepted by major powers, where questions of public opinion and morality are secondary to maintaining the status quo. Henry Kissinger and the American Century : Born in Weimar Germany, Kissinger’s experience with
: His wartime service in the U.S. Army and the discovery of concentration camps reinforced his belief that resisting evil requires physical strength rather than just compromise or norms. : Born in Weimar Germany